Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4907534 — Exemplary damages at Room 6, 312 Waiwhetu Road, Fairfield, Lower Hutt 5011
Decided 30 Oct 2024 · Published 30 Oct 2024 · Application 4907534
Tenant favoured
- Exemplary damages
Order
Al Burchell must pay Shayne Robin Kane $3,340.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below:
Reasons
Note: Only the tenant attended the hearing. Al Burchell was phoned twice at the time of the hearing but did not answer either call. The first call rang until it cut off automatically after almost a minute. A second call was made at 9:42am. It was cut off after about 10 seconds.
- Shayne Robin Kane claims the landlord has not returned his bond to him at the end of the tenancy and did not lodge the bond with the Bond Centre. Was a bond paid to the landlord for Shayne’s tenancy?
- At a previous hearing Al Burchell disputed that a bond had been paid. However Shayne has provided evidence from the Ministry of Social Development proving that on 7 July 2023 MSD paid $1,820.00 to Al Burchell for S. Kane’s bond. The payment was a special needs grant. The MSD payment was by direct credit to the landlord’s account. It was not paid to Shane as Al submitted at the previous hearing.
- Al Burchell has failed to repay the bond he received and is therefore ordered to make that payment 0f $1,820.00 to Shayne Kane.
Should exemplary damages be ordered?
- A landlord must send any bond payment to the Bond Centre within 23 working days after the payment is received. See section 19(1) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
- Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which the Tribunal may award exemplary damages up to a maximum of $1,500.00. See section 19(2) and Schedule 1A Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
- The landlord has failed to lodge the MSD payment with the Bond Centre at any time since 7 July 2023. I find Al Burchell has committed an unlawful act.
- Where a party has committed an unlawful act intentionally, the Tribunal may award exemplary damages where it is satisfied it would be just to do so, having regard to the party’s intent, the effect of the unlawful act, the interests of the other party, and the public interest. See section 109(3) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
- I am satisfied that the Al Burchell failed to lodge the bond intentionally. His denial that the bond was received proves this intention. Al Burchell was fully aware that the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 required him to lodge the bond. There were two other cases in the Tribunal prior to this tenancy where Al Burchell failed to lodge a tenant’s bond and the Tribunal ordered him to pay exemplary damages.
- The effect on the failure to lodge the bond is that the tenant has been without a significant amount of money to assist his living. In addition, he has had to attend the Tribunal on several occasions to recover his bond. He has been through significant stress.
- It is in the public interest that landlords comply with their responsibilities regarding tenant’s money. The functioning of the rental system depends on bond money being secure in the Bond Centre.
- Having considered the actions of Al Burchell and that this his failure to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 is an ongoing pattern of unlawful acts, it is appropriate to order the maximum exemplary damages, $1,500.00. Filing Fee
- Because the tenant has been wholly successful with the claim, the filing fee of $20.44 is ordered.