Tenantcheck Insights · Case study
Tenancy Tribunal case 5460254 — Rent arrears at 390 Puketaha Road, Puketaha, Hamilton 3281
Published 29 April 2026 · Application 5460254
Landlord favoured
- Rent arrears
At a glance
Key facts from the published tribunal order.
Outcome
Landlord favoured
From published order
Location
Hamilton
Tribunal region
Adjudicator
C Price
Dispute themes
Award balance
Gross awards, any bond applied per the order, and the remaining balance payable.
- Gross award
- $413.71
- Total balance for Tenant to pay Landlord
- $413.71
Claims & awards
What this tenancy cost at tribunal — claim, category, amount, and party awarded, with reconciled net total.
| Claim | Landlord | Tenant | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent arrears to 29.4.2026 | $385.71 | Rent arrears to 29.4.2026 | |
| Filing fee reimbursement | $28.00 | Filing fee reimbursement | |
| Net award | $413.71 | ||
| Total payable by Tenant to Landlord | $413.71 |
Claims and awards for application 5460254 — net $413.71 NZD. Verify on MoJ.
Rent arrears to 29.4.2026
- Amount
- $385.71
- Awarded to
- Landlord
- Reason
- Rent arrears to 29.4.2026
Filing fee reimbursement
- Amount
- $28.00
- Awarded to
- Landlord
- Reason
- Filing fee reimbursement
Net award
Landlord $413.71
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord
Landlord $413.71
Claim types — money lines allowed on this order
Order
- The tenancy of Monique Owen and Andre Goodwin at 390 Puketaha Road, Puketaha, Hamilton 3281 is terminated, and possession is granted to Specialist Marketing Limited As Agent For Kennard/Purcell Farm Trust, immediately.
- Monique Owen and Andre Goodwin must pay Specialist Marketing Limited As Agent For Kennard/Purcell Farm Trust $413.71 immediately, calculated as shown in the table below:
Reasons
- Mr Fyfe and Ms Lawson, representing the landlord, attended the video conference hearing. The tenants did not join the hearing as per the instructions in the Notice of Hearing and so did not attend the hearing. As the tenants were served, the hearing proceeded in their absence.
- The landlord has applied for termination of the tenancy for the tenant causing substantial damage to the premises and for breach of the tenant’s obligations, rent arrears and compensation. During the hearing, the landlord withdrew the compensation claim and made an oral application also for reimbursement of the filing fee.
Should the tenancy be terminated?
- The Tribunal shall terminate a tenancy if satisfied that the tenant has caused or permitted any other person to cause, or has threatened to cause, substantial damage to the premises. See section 55(1)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (“RTA”).
- Subsection 55(2) RTA provides that the Tribunal may refuse to make an order under subsection (1) if, but only if, it is satisfied that the breach has been remedied (where it is capable of remedy), the landlord has been compensated for any loss arising from the breach, and it is unlikely that the tenant will commit any further breach of a kind to which this section applies.
- The landlord said the tenant has caused substantial damage to the property. The landlord explained that between inspections and visits to the property between March and April 2026, the tenant caused substantial damage to two parts of the garage on separate occasions and also damaged the front of the house under the bay windows. The landlord believed that, as they attended the property on 17 March 2026 for a routine inspection and attended the property again to deal with a maintenance issue on 1 April 2026, when the landlord said the property was not damaged, that the damage must have occurred between 1 April 2026 and 16 April 2026, which was their next routine inspection at the property, where the damage was discovered by the property manager. The landlord said the tenants did not notify them of any of this damage before it was discovered by the landlord at the 16 April 2026 inspection.
- The landlord provided copies of their routine inspection reports dated 17 March 2026 and 16 April 2026, with photographs attached to each inspection report. The landlord highlighted the photographs in detail during the hearing of the damage. It was clear from the photographs that showed a large dent and a split in the side of the garage, 3 broken windows in a window frame at the side of the garage, where the flashing had come off, and also showed cladding which had come off the front of the garage and a damaged garage door at the front of the garage, which was held in place with clamps that the landlord said the tenants had rigged up. There was a large tarpaulin shown in the photographs over one half of the front of the garage, which the landlord said covered the whole area where the cladding had come off.
- The landlord also highlighted photographs showing wooden framing that had come off the corner of the side of the house under the bay windows, stretching from the ground up to just underneath the bay windows.
- The landlord said that initially one of the tenants told a property manager that all the damage to the garage and to the front of the house had happened during a cyclone. Another property manager said that he then attended the property on 23 April 2026 to deal with a request by the tenant and was told by one of the tenants that the other tenant had actually crashed a vehicle into the side of the garage and then separately on another occasion crashed a vehicle again into the front of the garage, and separately backed a trailer into the side of the house under the bay windows. The property manager explained the lay-out of the property, in that the driveway comes up to the house and around to face the front of the garage, and the garage faces the back of the house. For the tenant to crash into the side of the garage, the property manager said she would have had to leave the driveway, drive over the lawn and past an area near the septic which the tenants knew they could not drive over or park on, for the crash to have occurred.
- Similarly, the property manager said the driveway is around 8-10 metres away from the side of the front of the house where the damage occurred under the bay windows, so the tenant who apparently backed a trailer into the front of the house under the bay windows must have been driving off the driveway, with no apparent reason for doing so.
- Related to this, the property manager said that, during his visit to the property on 23 April 2026, the tenant mentioned a concern about a hole in the oven. When the property manager opened the oven, he said he discovered a large knife, which had white stains and colouring on it. He then said he noticed that one of the stove hob elements had white ash all over it. The landlord provided photographs of the knife found and the stove element with white ash on it. The property manager said this was consistent with what people use as drug paraphernalia to spot marijuana on a stovetop element. This was also one of the grounds upon which the landlord sought termination of the tenancy as a breach incapable of remedy, dealt with below.
- Given the knife markings and white ash on the stove element, the nature and position of the damage caused by the tenant, which likely meant the tenant had to come off the main driveway to cause the damage to the side of the garage and to the front of the house under the bay windows, the property manager submitted that the damage caused by the tenant was not only substantial but was also likely caused by the tenant being impaired whilst causing the damage, not on one occasion but on three separate occasions. The property manager confirmed one of the tenants had told him the other tenant caused this damage on three separate occasions.
- The landlord said they visited the property on 23 April 2026 with a builder, who was there to assess the damage and arrange for a quote to repair the damage. The landlord said they have not yet received this quote, but the builder had told them it would likely be a significant amount to repair, and it was possible they would need to file an insurance claim.
- The landlord said there was another incident where the garage door was damaged to the point of it requiring a tradesperson to repair it in September 2025, when the same tenant who caused this damage to the garage door and front of the house, earlier had damaged the garage door to get in when she could not find a padlock for it. The property manager said this tenant told her she had done this damage around 19 September 2025 and it was repaired after that. The landlord provided an invoice for this repair in October 2025 with a narrative outlining the repair work carried out.
- After viewing the landlord’s photographs of the details of the damage to the side of the garage, with a huge dent in the garage, and windows there all broken, and the damage to the front of the garage, half of which was held on with clamps and the other half being covered by a tarpaulin due to missing cladding, and the damage to the front of the house, I am satisfied the tenant has caused substantial damage to the premises.
- Given the evidence of the knife and white ash on the stove element, photographs of which were provided, that the significant damage for each incident occurred on three separate occasions, and that there was at least one other occasion of damage by the same tenant likely in September 2025, I am not satisfied it is unlikely that the tenant would commit any further breach of this kind, as this appears to be behaviour that is not isolated or one-off, but rather would likely be considered intentional.
- The breach has not been remedied nor the landlord compensated, and after considering all the evidence, as outlined above, I am not satisfied it is unlikely that the tenant would commit any further breach of this kind.
- Therefore, the tenancy is terminated.
- The landlord also sought termination of the tenancy for the tenant failing to comply with their obligations and for a breach incapable of remedy. The landlord provided copies of several 14-day notices for rent arrears, for not cleaning the property, for the tenants parking on the septic system field where they should not, and for other issues.
- As I am terminating the tenancy based on the tenant causing substantial damage to the premises, I do not need to consider the other grounds for termination of the tenancy put forward by the landlord. Filing fee
- Because Specialist Marketing Limited As Agent For Kennard/Purcell Farm Trust has been successful with the claim I must reimburse the filing fee.
Topics & place
Topics are dispute themes across the order (not the same as claim-type money lines).
Residential Tenancies Act sections
s55(1), s55(2)
Key findings
- Dispute theme: rent arrears
Property management
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this Tenancy Tribunal case.
What was the outcome of Tenancy Tribunal case 5460254?
The tribunal order states: The tenancy of Monique Owen and Andre Goodwin at 390 Puketaha Road,
How much money was awarded in case 5460254?
Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $385.71 awarded to landlord
What type of tenancy dispute was case 5460254?
The primary dispute was Rent arrears.
Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5460254?
The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13516186-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.