Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4650216 — Tenancy dispute
Decided 10 Nov 2023 · Published 10 Nov 2023 · Application 4650216
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Reasons
- Both parties attended the hearing.
- The tenant claims the landlord misled her in that it did not inform her prior to her taking up the tenancy that the roof of the premises needed major repair and that her use of amenities and her quiet enjoyment of the property may be impacted during the repairs. She claims she would never have taken on the tenancy had she been made aware of this.
- The tenant applied for compensation from the landlord for: a. The personal property that was damaged when the house flooded during the roof being replaced rather than repaired; b. The cost of putting her dog in kennels during the roof replacement, as it could not be safely left with contractors coming in and out of the premises while she was at work; c. The increase in power consumption because of two large commercial fans drying the premises after the flooding; and d. Loss of amenities and quiet enjoyment of the property for the 5 weeks and 5 days the contractors were undertaking an assessment of the roof and then replacing the roof.
- The tenant did not hold contents insurance for her personal property. The roofing contractor has gone into liquidation and cannot be pursued for the damage it caused through what the tenant states was its negligence when carrying out the roof replacement. Therefore, she has sought reimbursement of those costs from the landlord.
- The landlord did not have insurance that covered the damage to the tenant’s personal belongings and is not required by law to do so. It did however submit a claim for the tenant’s damaged personal property with its claims for damage to the premises. The insurance company declined the claim it submitted on the tenant’s behalf.
- A tenant is responsible for insuring their own personal property and a landlord cannot be held responsible for damages to a tenant’s personal property that occur as a result an accident/incident outside of its control. Therefore, I cannot award the tenant the compensation she is seeking for replacement or repair of her personal property damaged during the flood.
- It was not disputed that the roof replacement caused the tenant inconvenience including loss of amenities and loss of quiet enjoyment of the property. However, the tenant was adequately compensated for these losses by the 100% rent reduction she was given for the 5 weeks and 5 days the roofing project took to complete. The reduction she received amounted to $4,514.32 that was paid into the tenant’s account on 25 January 2023. The cost of putting her dog in boarding kennels, the loss of use of the driveway when it was filled with roofing products and any other losses of quiet enjoyment and amenities is more than covered by this rent reduction.
- The tenant has proven the amount of increased power usage she is claiming, and the landlord did not dispute this cost was incurred by her as a direct result of the fans used post the flooding. I have accordingly awarded the tenant $208.14 in compensation for that proven cost.
- Because [The applicant/s] has substantially succeeded with the claim I have reimbursed the filing fee.