How much money was awarded in case 4609189?

Verified claim lines are listed on this page.

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4609189?

The primary dispute was 14-day notice. Related themes: Smoke alarms, Healthy homes, Exemplary damages, Leaks, Boarding House.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4609189?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9317193-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

How much money was awarded in case 4609189?

Verified claim lines are listed on this page.

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4609189?

The primary dispute was 14-day notice. Related themes: Smoke alarms, Healthy homes, Exemplary damages, Leaks, Boarding House.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4609189?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9317193-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

93 Earn Street, Appleby, Invercargill 9812 Tenancy Tribunal Case 4609189 — 14-day notice

Q: What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4609189 about?

The tribunal order states: No application for suppression has been made in this case and no suppression

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Order

No application for suppression has been made in this case and no suppression orders apply around publication of this decision.

The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be completed by Friday 8 th September 2023. a. The iron from the broken fence is to be removed. b. Remove the green waste from the recently cut hedge and trees.

As an alternative to compliance with Order 2, the landlord must pay the tenant $150.00 immediately.

If the landlord fails to comply with either Order 2 or 3 above, then the tenant may undertake the work and charge the landlord the costs of this work up to $150.00. These costs may be set off against rent payable.

The remainder of the tenant’s application is dismissed.

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing. The tenants made an application to be represented by Mr Sadler’s brother, Mr Philip Sadler. This was not opposed.

By way of a summary, the tenants moved into the property on 1 May 2022. The tenancy is current.

The tenant’s application refers to breaches of ‘all’ the healthy homes standards. There is no independent evidence submitted and little photo evidence to support each claim. However, I shall go through each of the claims.

The property management company was represented by Mr Lyons. He attended the hearing an hour late. The tenants claimed that their calls to the property manager and messages always go unanswered. The case had been allocated a day I did not want to lose the ability of hearing this matter and trying to bring the matter to conclusion today.

A number of attempts were made to contact Mr Lyons and when he was able to be reached, he agreed to attend and have the hearing completed today. He advised he had it in his diary for another day.

I am advised that there has been one property inspection, in April, by the owner himself when he attended the property with a representative from the Invercargill City Counsel who attended the property following an anonymous complaint about the weatherboards. Neither of those two gave evidence today.

Neither the tenants nor the property manager where aware of any further action taken by the Council. There is no evidence before me of any of the issues that may or may not have been apparent. I raise this due to the type of claims the tenants are making and lack of evidence to support those claims. Exemplary damages for the clean up of the section/broken fence and resent green waste removal

The tenant claims that the landlord did not arrange the removal of a broken fence nor the green waste from the recently cut trees/hedge. The tenant wants the problem fixed.

The tenant claims that when they moved into the property in May 2022 the section was a mess and is still a mess. One of the tenants claims that she tripped on the mess that resulted in a significant injury to herself.

However, there is no evidence of the state of the section when they moved in, and the photos supplied showed what the section is like now, some fifteen months later. To be clear, the order I have made is in relation to the clean up of the hedge and trees, recently trimmed in the last three months. The tenants have a responsibility to maintain the section and need to ensure they do so before the tenancy comes to an end.

I make an order to ensure the recently felled green waste is cleaned up by the landlord.

Further there was photo evidence submitted of an iron fence that had fallen down in the wind. To ensure the tenant is not held liable at the end of the tenancy it needs to be removed or remedied. The tenant advised that this had been discussed with the other property manager and remains in a dangerous state.

It is appropriate for the landlord to remedy this. Exemplary damages for Failing to maintain

Under section 45(1)(a) - (ca) Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the landlord has an obligation to provide and maintain certain standards and to comply with applicable requirements.

Where the Tribunal finds the landlord has failed to comply with any of these obligations, it may make an order for the landlord to carry out the work. See section 78(1)(e) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

If the work order is not being made by consent of both parties, the Tribunal must also make a monetary order as an alternative to compliance with the work order. This provision does not apply to any work order, or part of a work order, in relation to smoke alarms, insulation, a failure to comply with a standard of fitness under section 120C Health Act 1956, or a failure to comply with any health or safety legislative requirement. See sections 78(2) and 78(2AA) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

A work order may also authorise the tenant to undertake the work and charge the landlord the costs of doing the work, if the landlord should fail to comply with the work order and alternative monetary order. A monetary limit must be imposed by the Tribunal on the amount of costs that can be charged. These costs can be set off by the tenant against rent payable. See sections 78(2AAB) and 78(2AAC)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

The tenants advise that they tried to get a 14 day notice to remedy ‘a number of issues’ to the landlord but that he would not answer his calls to go and collect it from them. They did not deliver to his letterbox and there is no evidence of text messages nor is there the notice itself presented in evidence. This is in relation to all of the claims I am about to cover.

However, I urge the landlord now to act on these issues raised today to avoid the matter returning to the tribunal. There must be appropriate notice and inspections carried out with the outcome of the inspection advised to the tenant of work that is required.

The tenants claim that there is a leak around the fireplace flu and water leaks down. There is no photo evidence of this, and the landlord has not been notified as stated above.

The applicant is required to establish the claim to the civil law standard of proof, on the balance of probabilities.

There is insufficient evidence to award exemplary damages. Breaches of the Healthy Homes Standards

[The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] claims that the landlord has breached the obligations under section 45(1)(bb) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 by failing to insulate the premises in accordance with the Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016.

From 1 July 2019, all residential premises must be insulated to a minimum standard. Where the premises were insulated before 1 July 2016, the ceiling insulation must have an R-value of at least 1.9 (or 1.5 for houses of a brick or concrete block construction). The underfloor insulation must have an R-value of at least 0.9. The insulation must be in reasonable condition.

Where insulation is installed after 1 July 2016, the minimum R-value for ceiling insulation is 2.9 in Zones 1 and 2, and 3.3 for Zone 3 (Zone 3 covers the South Island and central North Island). The minimum R-value for underfloor insulation is 1.3.

There are exceptions to these requirements, for example, where it is not reasonably practicable, or where there is a habitable space above or below the ceiling or floor that would otherwise have to be insulated.

Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45 (1)(A) and Schedule 1A RTA.

Mr Lyons states that the requirements are outlined in the tenancy agreement, and further that the appropriate insulation is in the home and in relation to the flooring, it is impracticable to do so.

There is no independent evidence submitted at all. Not reports, photos or other evidence I would expect to see in support of the claim. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities the claim must be dismissed.

[The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] further claim that the landlord has breached the landlord’s obligations under section 45(1)(bb) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA), which requires compliance with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) 2019 (HHS). [The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] considers that the landlord has failed to comply with the HHS heating standard.

Compliance dates for the HHS vary depending on the tenancy: a. All private rentals must comply within 90 days of any new or renewed tenancy after 1 July 2021, with all private rentals complying by 1 July 2024. b. All boarding houses must comply by 1 July 2021. c. All houses rented by Kāinga Ora and registered Community Housing Providers must comply by 1 July 2023.

The heating standard requires landlords to provide one or more ‘qualifying heaters’, with a capacity to heat the room to a required level. The heating standard defines what a qualifying heater would be and confirms that certain types of heaters are unacceptable heaters for the purpose of the HHS.

The heating standard requires that heaters in the particular tenancy have a minimum heating capacity. An on-line calculator has been produced in order to determine what level of heating is required for any particular premises, and that can be found at https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/heating-tool/

The HHS does provide exemptions in specific circumstances.

Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45(1A).

Again, there is no supporting evidence submitted to support the breach and again the claim must be dismissed. The tenant claims that they thought every home needed a heat pump. This is incorrect.

[The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] claims that the landlord has breached the landlord’s obligations under section 45(1)(bb) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA), which requires compliance with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) 2019 (HHS). [The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] considers that the landlord has failed to comply with the HHS ventilation standard.

The ventilation standard sets out minimum expectations around windows and doors, and in particular the area of doors and windows that are openable. The standard also requires that each kitchen and bathroom have extractor fans installed with a minimum defined extraction capacity.

Again, there is simply no evidence to support this widespread claim that ‘all’ healthy homes standards have been breached.

The draught stopping standard requires that residential premises be free from unreasonable gaps and holes that are not an intentional part of the building, which allow draughts to arise.

The HHS does provide exemptions in specific circumstances.

Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45(1A).

The tenants claim that there are weeds growing up to the window and that its draughty.

Again, there are no photos, no independent reports, and a lack of information to support this claim.

Whilst there is a significant amount of evidence missing to support the claims before me, if such issues are apparent, I urge the landlord to rectify going forward as a matter of urgency and to avoid this property coming back to the tribunal. I encourage the tenants and the landlord to take advise on their rights and responsibilities and the process of dealing with issues under the Residential Tenancies Act.

Order