Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4647149 — Property damage
Decided 15 Nov 2023 · Published 15 Nov 2023 · Application 4647149
- Property damage
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Order
- The tenant’s name and identifying details, including the premises’ address must not be published.
- Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities must pay [the tenant] $3,699.79 immediately. DescriptionLandlord Loss of amenity – vinyl floor 2%$125.41 Loss of amenity – garage 3.75%$3,553.94 Filing fee$20.44 Total award$3,699.79
Reasons
- The tenant attended the hearing in person with her husband as a support person.
- Jan Maturan attended for the landlord.
- The tenant claims that the landlord did not maintain the premises to a reasonable state of repair in respect to a faulty vinyl floor replacement and a dilapidated garage. Background
- The tenancy began in 1989 and is ongoing.
- The property is publically owned. The landlord is the State housing provider to eligible members of the community who cannot afford market rent.
- The property is 669m 2 . The house is a free-standing, weatherboard state house, and was built in about 1940. The tenant pays an income-related rent. The market rent for the premises is assessed as currently being $838.00. The tenant has been paying $509.00 rent per week since October 2022. Before that, she typically paid no more than $384.00 per week.
- On 21 July 2022, the landlord had a contractor replace the bathroom’s vinyl floor. Unfortunately, the vinyl material and the contractor’s work was not up to an appropriate standard. The tenant slipped on the new flooring and hurt her shoulder. The landlord remediated the poor material choice and work by 10 November 2022.
- The property had a free-standing brick garage with a steel roller door. In recent years particularly, the garage has got run down and the surrounding area has been prone to flooding. On 27 May 2019, the tenant reported that the roller door was inoperable. The landlord eventually decided to replace the garage. By 10 November 2023, a concrete pad was installed along with a new garage.
- The tenant seeks compensation for loss of amenity due to these maintenance issues.
- The landlord does not dispute that the premises were not maintained to the required standard in respect to the vinyl repair and the garage disrepair. It has limited resources that must be allocated judiciously to those most in need.
- The principal issue for determination is therefore quantification of the tenant’s loss of amenity.
What compensation should be ordered for the tenants lost amenity?
- I assess the tenant’s loss of amenity in respect to the incorrect vinyl floor and poor work at 2 per cent of the rent commencing 21 July 2022, when the work was done, and 10 November 2022, when the remediation work was completed.
- Therefore, the Tribunal orders $125.41 for the bathroom flooring issue.
- I assess the amenity of the garage at 5 percent of the premises in total. The tenant only had about 25 percent of the full enjoyment of being able to use the garage. I set the loss of amenity in respect to the garage at 3.75 percent.
- It follows, the Tribunal orders $3,553.94 for the loss of amenity in the use of the garage. Filing fee
- Because the tenant has succeeded in her application, The Tribunal orders the landlord to reimburse her for the cost of the filing fee.