The Minister's power under s 23 of the Housing Act 1982 (NT) to determine rent for remote public housing dwellings is not constrained by s 41 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT), because the Minister is not the 'landlord' and the power is statutory rather than contractual. Ministerial rent determinations under s 23 are legislative in character and do not attract a duty of procedural fairness. NTCAT has no jurisdiction under s 42 of the RTA to declare excessive rent fixed by Ministerial determination, as the market-based assessment framework in s 42 is incompatible with the Minister's singular statutory power to fix social housing rents. The adoption of a uniform cost-based per-bedroom model for remote social housing rent, developed through stakeholder consultation and endorsed by Cabinet, is not legally unreasonable even though it does not account for individual dwelling condition or proximity to services.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 3 later cases that cite this judgment.