What was the outcome of Tenancy Tribunal case 4847202?

The tribunal order states: Nicole Amy Fraser and Rebecca Fraser to pay Rentworks Property

How much money was awarded in case 4847202?

Cleaning: $90.00 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $200.00 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $250.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4847202?

The primary dispute was Property damage. Related themes: Cleanliness.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4847202?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10330605-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

What was the outcome of Tenancy Tribunal case 4847202?

The tribunal order states: Nicole Amy Fraser and Rebecca Fraser to pay Rentworks Property

How much money was awarded in case 4847202?

Cleaning: $90.00 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $200.00 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $250.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4847202?

The primary dispute was Property damage. Related themes: Cleanliness.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4847202?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10330605-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

5 Hornsby Street, Bishopdale, Christchurch 8053 Tenancy Tribunal Case 4847202 — Property damage

Tenantcheck Insights

Loading insights…

Pulling tribunal records

Loading insights…

Pulling tribunal records

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4847202 — net $560.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Wall repairs and painting	$200.00	Wall repairs and painting
Cleaning	$90.00	Cleaning
Benchtop damage	$250.00	Benchtop damage
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$560.44
Bond	$1,500.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$560.44

Nicole Amy Fraser and Rebecca Fraser to pay Rentworks Property Management 2018 Limited Acting as Agent for Ross Aikman and Michelle Aikman $560.44 from the bond, calculated as shown in the table below.

The landlord’s claims are otherwise dismissed.

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $1,500.00 (3063419-008) immediately apportioned as follows: Rentworks Property Management 2018 Limited as Agent for Ross Aikman and Michelle Aikman: $560.44 Nicole Amy Fraser and Rebecca Fraser: $939.56

Reasons

The parties attended the hearing. Ms Green represented the landlord.

The landlord has applied for compensation, payment of the bond, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy. Background

This was a four-year tenancy from February 2020.

Rentworks was not the agent at the start of the tenancy. They took over in 2022. Ms Green had no personal knowledge of the tenancy and relied on the documents including ingoing and outgoing reports and photographs.

The premises were not reasonably clean and tidy when they were provided to the tenants and rubbish had not been removed. The landlord had to arrange for cleaning and rubbish removal after the tenancy began.

The tenants also pointed out damage to the landlord that had not been identified in the ingoing report. Legal Principles

At the end of the tenancy the tenant must leave the premises reasonably clean and tidy and remove all rubbish.

Tenants must not carelessly or intentionally damage the premises.

A landlord must prove that damage to the premises occurred during the tenancy and is more than fair wear and tear. If this is established, to avoid liability, the tenant must prove they did not carelessly or intentionally cause or permit the damage. Tenants are liable for the actions of people at the premises with their permission.

Where the damage is caused carelessly, and is covered by the landlord's insurance, the tenant's liability is limited to the lesser of the insurance excess or four weeks' rent (or four weeks' market rent in the case of a tenant paying income-related rent).

Where the damage is careless and is not covered by the landlord's insurance, the tenant's liability is limited to four weeks' rent (or market rent).

Tenants are liable for the cost of repairing damage that is intentional or which results from any activity at the premises that is an imprisonable offence. This applies to anything the tenant does and anything done by a person they are responsible for. Claims Lounge Curtains

The landlord claims $268 for cleaning and removing mould from two lounge curtains.

The tenants denied liability and said that curtains in the premises were not clean at the start of the tenancy.

There are no photographs taken at the start of the tenancy showing the backs of the curtains where mould is shown in the outgoing photographs. There was also no indication from the intermediate inspections that there was a mould issue in the premises during the tenancy.

I cannot be satisfied on the evidence that the tenants are responsible for the condition of the curtains and so the claim is dismissed. Wall Damage

The landlord claims $594.21 for the cost of repairing and painting wall damage in two bedrooms and the hallway.

There was a shelf in the hallway that the tenants removed and did not put back up. The wall was repaired and painted because there were no brackets for the shelf.

I accept that the shelf did not have brackets. It was direct fixed to the walls by screws or bolts. Therefore, there was no need for the repair and painting of the wall.

There was no damage to the walls of the main bedroom beyond fair wear and tear. The photographs that the landlord relied on were not of the main bedroom.

I accept that there was damage in one of the other bedrooms that was beyond fair and tear consisting of pinholes. It was minor but it was reasonable for the landlord to repair and paint two walls.

I also accept that the cuttings that the tenants left in the garden were from work that the tenants did but which was the landlord’s responsibility. The tenants were not, therefore, responsible for removing the cuttings.

I have awarded $200 for the cost of repair and painting. Cleaning

The tenants did a substantial amount of cleaning at the end of the tenancy. The cleaning issues picked up by the landlord were minor.

I accept that the stove top was left reasonably clean. The photographs show that two of the gas burners had baked-on material on them at the start of the tenancy.

But I accept that in some respects, some further cleaning was required to meet the standard. Some shelving for example. I have therefore awarded $90 for cleaning. Benchtop Damage

The landlord claims $550 insurance excess for a burn mark on the kitchen benchtop. A quote to replace the benchtop well exceeded that.

I am satisfied that there was damage to the laminate benchtop during the tenancy. The ingoing photographs do not show damage. If the damage had been there at the start of the tenancy, the tenants would have picked up on it.

The damage is minor, and an award of compensation based on the cost of replacing the benchtop would be out of proportion and unreasonable.

Ms Green said that it would cost at least $1,000 to repair it but there was no evidence of that. My sense is that at the very least, the appearance of the benchtop where the damage is could be easily improved.

I am fortified in that view by the fact that the landlord was not going to make any claim for the benchtop initially. The claim came after the tenants refused to meet any of the landlord’s other claims. Plainly the landlord must have thought that the damage was minor.

It is more appropriate to make an award after an assessment based on some improvement in the appearance of the benchtop and some minor residual blemish. An award of $250 is sufficient. Filing Fee

The landlord has had some success and so I have awarded the filing fee. Bond

The bond has been split to give effect to by decision.

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4847202 — net $560.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Wall repairs and painting	$200.00	Wall repairs and painting
Cleaning	$90.00	Cleaning
Benchtop damage	$250.00	Benchtop damage
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$560.44
Bond	$1,500.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$560.44