Use the issue schedule to guide the hearing

Start with the lease, the years in issue and the orders sought. Then take the disputed rows in a logical sequence. For each, point to the demand, source evidence, legal issue and your proposed amount.

Prepare a one-page opening and a short list of the decisions the tribunal must make. Do not assume the panel has adopted your arithmetic merely because it is in the bundle.

• One-page opening
• Current issue schedule
• Key lease clauses
• Page references
• Checked calculation
• Separate costs applications
• Notes page for outcomes

Separate what you observed from what a document records and from what you infer. If you do not know, say so. Correct an error promptly.

Where the other side is absent or debarred, the tribunal still has to be satisfied. Take the panel to the evidence; do not treat the absence as proof.

Before the hearing ends, confirm whether the tribunal has dealt with fee reimbursement, section 20C, paragraph 5A and any Rule 13 application. Ask when and how the written decision will be sent, but do not press the panel for an outcome it has reserved.