The Court refused leave to appeal from VCAT's decision granting only a 21-day extension (rather than an indefinite extension) of the storage period for goods left behind under Part 9 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic). The Court held that a landlord's need to relet the property is a relevant consideration in exercising the discretion to extend storage periods, that s 386(3) confers a permissive power on the owner to remove goods and does not empower VCAT to compel removal, and that s 97 of the VCAT Act does not regulate the legal relevance of considerations in the exercise of discretion. The Court left open whether 'reclaim' in ss 387 and 391 extends beyond physical collection to include a mere demand for return of goods.
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