How much money was awarded in case 4638159?

Compensation: for loss of amenity, i…: $2,000.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4638159?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4638159?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9346043-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

How much money was awarded in case 4638159?

Compensation: for loss of amenity, i…: $2,000.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4638159?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4638159?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9346043-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 4638159 — Tenancy dispute

Q: What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4638159 about?

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

Tenantcheck Insights

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4638159 — net $2,020.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: for loss of amenity, inconvenience, stress and emotional distress	$2,000.00	for loss of amenity, inconvenience, stress and emotional distress
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$2,020.44
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$2,020.44

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Tenant name and identifying details.

BY CONSENT - The tenancy of [The tenant/s] at [Tenancy address suppressed] will end on at 11.59 pm on Tuesday 26 September 2023 and possession is granted to Comprende Real Estate Limited, at that time.

Comprende Real Estate Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $2,020.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below:

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing. The landlord was represented by its property manager, Ms Hingston.

The tenant signed a fixed term tenancy agreement and moved into an apartment in April. The apartment complex is undergoing a major remediation project of the hot water system which requires trades people to access apartments for the “duration of the project”. The tenant was not told about this before she signed the tenancy agreement.

Since she moved in workers have accessed her apartment without giving proper notice, and there have been many days where the water was turned off from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. The tenant said she never would have signed the tenancy agreement if she had known about the work, particularly because she mostly works from home. The landlord did not dispute any of this.

The tenant wants the fixed term tenancy to end. She also wants $2000 in compensation. The parties reached an agreement before the hearing that the tenancy will end on 26 September 2023. The remaining question of compensation is to be decided by the Tribunal.

Should the tenant get compensation?

The tenant submitted she felt unsafe and uncomfortable when workers accessed her apartment. I note the tenant was not notified about this access, as is required by section 48(2)(d) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA).

The water outages meant she could not use the toilet or the kitchen while working from home. The work involved cutting holes in the walls and ceiling in the bathroom. It was noisy and messy. She had to move her personal belongings out of the bathroom each day and carry out extra cleaning.

There was most definitely a breach of her quiet enjoyment, as set out in section 38 RTA, which provides that a landlord must not interfere with the reasonable peace, comfort or privacy of the tenant in their use of the premises. The tenant feels so uncomfortable that she has set up a camera in her lounge so she can record who comes into the apartment.

The property manager who appeared for the landlord has only recently returned to work and was not the property manager who showed the tenant the apartment. She submitted that the work was arranged by the body corporate (BC) and there was poor communication from the BC manager. I was also provided with a copy of an email where the BC manager stated that it was “impractical” to give notifications to apartment occupiers during the project.

While the BC manager seems to be little understanding of the RTA, and in particular the requirement to give notice before entering a tenanted apartment, I find the landlord did have notice of the work. The BC manager sent an email to the landlord on 13 January 2023 advising: “... As from Monday, the 16 th of January 2023, [redacted] will require access into each of the apartments for the duration of the project to enable them to complete the work in a timely and organised fashion. Initially, they will be cutting exploratory access to assess the existing pipe routes and then programme the works to completion. Landlords please advise your tenants of this important update as they will be impacted with water outages and access to their apartments...”

The landlord should have considered this tenant’s rights under the RTA before the apartment was rented out. The ongoing building work should have been disclosed to the tenant before she signed the tenancy agreement. I find there has been a breach by the landlord.

I found the tenant’s testimony about the effect of the building work to be credible. I am persuaded I should allow the claim for compensation in the amount of $2000. This is because there has been a loss of amenity, the tenant has been inconvenienced and stressed, she has lived in the apartment for around 17 weeks paying $650 a week in rent, and there is no application for exemplary damages. Other orders

Because the tenant has wholly succeeded with the claim I must reimburse the filing fee.

The tenant’s application for suppression is allowed because she is the most successful party.

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4638159 — net $2,020.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: for loss of amenity, inconvenience, stress and emotional distress	$2,000.00	for loss of amenity, inconvenience, stress and emotional distress
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$2,020.44
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$2,020.44

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Tenant name and identifying details.

Comprende Real Estate Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $2,020.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below:

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing. The landlord was represented by its property manager, Ms Hingston.

Should the tenant get compensation?

Because the tenant has wholly succeeded with the claim I must reimburse the filing fee.

The tenant’s application for suppression is allowed because she is the most successful party.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4638159 — Tenancy dispute

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4638159 — Tenancy dispute

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Should the tenant get compensation?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Should the tenant get compensation?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions