What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4548055 about?

The tribunal order states: An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal

How much money was awarded in case 4548055?

Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $10,400.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4548055?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4548055?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9152549-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4548055 about?

The tribunal order states: An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal

How much money was awarded in case 4548055?

Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $10,400.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4548055?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4548055?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9152549-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

Pukekohe, Auckland Tenancy Tribunal Case 4548055 — Rent arrears

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4548055 — net $9,120.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
16 weeks of rent arrears to 28/11/22	$10,400.00		16 weeks of rent arrears to 28/11/22
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44		Filing fee reimbursement
Bond already refunded to the landlord		$1,300.00	Bond already refunded to the landlord
Total award	$10,420.44	$1,300.00
Net award	$9,120.44
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$9,120.44

Order

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Landlord name and identifying details.
[The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $9,120.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.
All other claims are dismissed.

Reasons

The landlord attended the hearing.
The tenants were telephoned on the numbers provided and they did not answer the calls made to their phones.
I was satisfied at the first hearing that one of the tenants was served at an address for service provided to the landlord in writing within two months of the application being filed. This is sufficient service for the hearing to go ahead without the tenants.
The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.

How much is owed for rent?

The tenancy ended on 28 November 2023. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing at the end of the tenancy. The landlord’s original claim was for rent arrears of $13,130.00. As discussed at the hearing, the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) requires that a party mitigate their loss, which means in short that that they must take actions to limit any loss from a breach of the other party. When rent arrears occur, a reasonable landlord will mitigate that loss by applying to the Tenancy Tribunal for appropriate orders.
In this case the landlord did not apply to the Tribunal until after the tenancy ended. By that time the tenants were behind in their rent by 20 weeks. As I noted during the hearing, the Tribunal would usually see a landlord having applied for orders within say three months.
The landlord submitted he had received advice from Tenancy Services that he was not allowed to make application to the Tribunal for orders to end the tenancy because the tenants were suffering from hardship. It seems highly unlikely to me that Tenancy Services would have given this advice because the RTA not only allows landlords to end tenancies when rent is not paid, it also requires landlords to mitigate loss. I was also provided with copies of texts and emails where the landlord chased the missing rent, and accepted many arrangements for payment.
In the circumstances, I consider the landlord has not mitigated his loss, so I will only consider rent arrears for 16 weeks. This is the three months a prudent landlord usually takes to file an application, plus a month because of the circumstances of this tenancy, including the baby born during the tenancy.

How much is owed for water rates?

The landlord provided copies of the water rates invoices and claimed around $780 for water charges during the whole tenancy. At the hearing we discussed that my calculations of the volumetric charges – which is all the tenants had to pay – came to around $490. This was accepted by the landlord.
We also discussed notifying the tenants about the water rates. The District Court held in Woollams v Simpson (DC Auckland CIV-2005-004-1583, 16 March 2006), that there was an implied term in the tenancy agreement that the landlord would provide water accounts at regular intervals, and within a reasonable time, to enable payment to be made. The Court determined that, because the landlord had failed to do so, the tenant was only required to pay the last two accounts, which covered a period of just over four months.
The landlord referred me to an email sent in February where the tenants agreed they would access the water rates bills online after the landlord gave the tenants access. Without hearing from the tenants, it sems to me that access online would satisfy the requirement to provide the water bills at regular intervals.
The landlord’s supporting information about the water bills is inconsistent and I am not persuaded he has proved this claim. His early emails refer to an amount paid for water, and this was not taken into account in the claim. There are emails and texts from the tenants proposing extra payments for rent and water and broadband, and the landlord was not confident in his evidence about whether these extra payments were made. Further, in two emails sent in October and November 2022 the landlord advised the tenants they owed $106 for water rates. For these reasons the claim for water rates is dismissed.

How much is owed for broadband?

The landlord provided invoices for broadband which he said he provided during the tenancy at a cost of $85 a month. This was not a term of the tenancy agreement. The landlord referred me to the texts and emails where the tenants agreed to pay internet charges and I read these carefully after the hearing.
On 3 February 2022 the landlord advised the tenants that they owed 2 x $85 for broadband for the first two months of the tenancy. He also advised that there would be changes to the internet. The tenants replied “No problem regarding the internet we can set that up too”. They also agreed to pay the amounts due for the internet at that date. I take this email to mean the tenants agreed to pay the two broadband bills and set up their own internet account.
This email from the tenants does not support the landlord’s submission that the emails he provided were sufficient proof of an agreement the tenants would pay the landlord $85 each month for broadband. Further, I do not have any evidence in the emails and texts that the bills were not paid in February 2022. This claim is not proved and it is dismissed. Other orders
Because the landlord has substantially succeeded with the claim I have reimbursed the filing fee.
The landlord’s application for suppression is allowed because the landlord is the most successful party.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4548055 — net $9,120.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
16 weeks of rent arrears to 28/11/22	$10,400.00		16 weeks of rent arrears to 28/11/22
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44		Filing fee reimbursement
Bond already refunded to the landlord		$1,300.00	Bond already refunded to the landlord
Total award	$10,420.44	$1,300.00
Net award	$9,120.44
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$9,120.44

Order

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Landlord name and identifying details.
[The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $9,120.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.
All other claims are dismissed.

Reasons

The landlord attended the hearing.
The tenants were telephoned on the numbers provided and they did not answer the calls made to their phones.
I was satisfied at the first hearing that one of the tenants was served at an address for service provided to the landlord in writing within two months of the application being filed. This is sufficient service for the hearing to go ahead without the tenants.
The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.

How much is owed for rent?

The tenancy ended on 28 November 2023. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing at the end of the tenancy. The landlord’s original claim was for rent arrears of $13,130.00. As discussed at the hearing, the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) requires that a party mitigate their loss, which means in short that that they must take actions to limit any loss from a breach of the other party. When rent arrears occur, a reasonable landlord will mitigate that loss by applying to the Tenancy Tribunal for appropriate orders.
In this case the landlord did not apply to the Tribunal until after the tenancy ended. By that time the tenants were behind in their rent by 20 weeks. As I noted during the hearing, the Tribunal would usually see a landlord having applied for orders within say three months.
The landlord submitted he had received advice from Tenancy Services that he was not allowed to make application to the Tribunal for orders to end the tenancy because the tenants were suffering from hardship. It seems highly unlikely to me that Tenancy Services would have given this advice because the RTA not only allows landlords to end tenancies when rent is not paid, it also requires landlords to mitigate loss. I was also provided with copies of texts and emails where the landlord chased the missing rent, and accepted many arrangements for payment.
In the circumstances, I consider the landlord has not mitigated his loss, so I will only consider rent arrears for 16 weeks. This is the three months a prudent landlord usually takes to file an application, plus a month because of the circumstances of this tenancy, including the baby born during the tenancy.

How much is owed for water rates?

The landlord provided copies of the water rates invoices and claimed around $780 for water charges during the whole tenancy. At the hearing we discussed that my calculations of the volumetric charges – which is all the tenants had to pay – came to around $490. This was accepted by the landlord.
We also discussed notifying the tenants about the water rates. The District Court held in Woollams v Simpson (DC Auckland CIV-2005-004-1583, 16 March 2006), that there was an implied term in the tenancy agreement that the landlord would provide water accounts at regular intervals, and within a reasonable time, to enable payment to be made. The Court determined that, because the landlord had failed to do so, the tenant was only required to pay the last two accounts, which covered a period of just over four months.
The landlord referred me to an email sent in February where the tenants agreed they would access the water rates bills online after the landlord gave the tenants access. Without hearing from the tenants, it sems to me that access online would satisfy the requirement to provide the water bills at regular intervals.
The landlord’s supporting information about the water bills is inconsistent and I am not persuaded he has proved this claim. His early emails refer to an amount paid for water, and this was not taken into account in the claim. There are emails and texts from the tenants proposing extra payments for rent and water and broadband, and the landlord was not confident in his evidence about whether these extra payments were made. Further, in two emails sent in October and November 2022 the landlord advised the tenants they owed $106 for water rates. For these reasons the claim for water rates is dismissed.

How much is owed for broadband?

The landlord provided invoices for broadband which he said he provided during the tenancy at a cost of $85 a month. This was not a term of the tenancy agreement. The landlord referred me to the texts and emails where the tenants agreed to pay internet charges and I read these carefully after the hearing.
On 3 February 2022 the landlord advised the tenants that they owed 2 x $85 for broadband for the first two months of the tenancy. He also advised that there would be changes to the internet. The tenants replied “No problem regarding the internet we can set that up too”. They also agreed to pay the amounts due for the internet at that date. I take this email to mean the tenants agreed to pay the two broadband bills and set up their own internet account.
This email from the tenants does not support the landlord’s submission that the emails he provided were sufficient proof of an agreement the tenants would pay the landlord $85 each month for broadband. Further, I do not have any evidence in the emails and texts that the bills were not paid in February 2022. This claim is not proved and it is dismissed. Other orders
Because the landlord has substantially succeeded with the claim I have reimbursed the filing fee.
The landlord’s application for suppression is allowed because the landlord is the most successful party.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4548055 — Rent arrears in Pukekohe, Auckland

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4548055 — Rent arrears in Pukekohe, Auckland

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

How much is owed for water rates?

How much is owed for broadband?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

How much is owed for water rates?

How much is owed for broadband?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions