What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4726751 about?

The tribunal order states: Property Brokers Canterbury Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $470.44

How much money was awarded in case 4726751?

Cleaning: $450.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4726751?

The primary dispute was Cleanliness.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4726751?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9779839-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4726751 about?

The tribunal order states: Property Brokers Canterbury Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $470.44

How much money was awarded in case 4726751?

Cleaning: $450.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4726751?

The primary dispute was Cleanliness.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4726751?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/9779839-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 4726751 — Cleanliness

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4726751 — net $470.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: Cleaning - Start of Tenancy	$450.00	Cleaning - Start of Tenancy
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$470.44
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$470.44

Order

Property Brokers Canterbury Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $470.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below: DescriptionTenant Compensation: Cleaning - Start of Tenancy $450.00 Filing fee reimbursement $20.44 Total award $470.44 Total payable by Landlord to Tenant $470.44
By declaration, the tenant is responsible for maintaining the lawns in the blue and red areas shown on the attached site plan and the gardens adjacent to (or within) those areas.
By declaration, the landlord is responsible for maintaining the lawns in the orange and yellow areas on the attached site plan and gardens adjacent to (or within) those areas.
The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be completed by 28 December 2023: a. Mow the grass within and immediately adjacent to the areas marked orange and yellow on the attached site plan Appendix A.
As an alternative to compliance with Order 5, the landlord must pay the tenant $500 immediately.
The tenant’s other claims are dismissed.

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing.
The tenant has asked for a work order and compensation for alleged breaches of the landlord’s obligations. In each instance, the applicant has the onus of proving its claims and must provide the evidence necessary to establish both the alleged breach and the loss suffered. Responsibility for Lawn and Garden Work
The tenant’s request for a work order relates to lawn and garden work at the property. This gives rise to preliminary questions; who is responsible for lawns and gardens and what area are they responsible for?
This a rural property. The dwelling is set back from the road. There is a relatively large grass area between the road and the house. There are also plants and trees in that area.
The tenancy agreement provides that the tenants are responsible for the lawns and gardens, and the landlord is responsible for tree maintenance at the property.
The tenancy agreement also records that a contractor will “do the mowing ad gardening on the wider property. This will be charged to the owner and is part of this tenancy agreement.”
The tenants say that they orally agreed with the property manager that they would not be responsible for any lawns at the property. Alternatively, they say they would only be responsible for the area marked in blue in Appendix A.
The landlord says that the tenants were to mow the lawns adjacent to the house.
The tenants strike me as fastidious in documenting what they say has been agreed. Their submission that they are not responsible for any lawns is at odds with the Tenancy Agreement.
I find that it is more likely than not that the tenants are responsible for maintaining the lawn areas adjacent to the house and the landlord is responsible for the grass on the wider property. The tenants claim that the landlord’s area should be mowed fortnightly. There was no agreement to that effect. I find that the landlord area was to be maintained to a reasonable standard. See s78(1)(a) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA). Work Order
The tenant claims that the landlord has not maintained the lawn area. The tenant wants the problem fixed.
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. See sections 78(2AAB) and 78(2AAC)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
The photographs establish that the landlord has not maintained the lawns or grass within or adjacent to the yellow and orange areas on the attached Appendix A. The landlord acknowledged that at the hearing but understood that a contractor had been sent to complete that work.
The landlord must complete mowing in and adjacent to the yellow and orange areas by 28 December 2023. As an alternative, the landlord may pay the tenant $500.00 immediately.
The tenancy will shortly come to an end. In those circumstances, I do not authorise the tenant to undertake the work and charge the landlord the cost of doing so. Compensation Claims
The tenants claim compensation of $4,872.50 for a range of alleged breaches by the landlord. Some of those claims relate to the start of the tenancy. The tenants did not provide a cogent explanation for their delay in seeking to have the issues resolved.
[The tenant/s] claim that the landlord has breached their obligations under section 45 RTA. Under that section, a landlord must provide the premises in a reasonable state of cleanliness and provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair.
The alleged breaches relate to the lawn and grass mowing, the cleanliness of the property at the start of the tenancy, concerns with the Healthy Homes assessment provided by the landlord, allegedly defective solar panels.
In each instance the tenants have the onus of establishing their claims and must provide the evidence necessary to do so. In this case, the tenants provided limited corroborative evidence in support of both the alleged breaches and the loss suffered. Grounds Maintenance Claim
The tenants claim a rent abatement of $3,150 for the lack of lawn or grass maintenance at the property and $221.50 for the purchase of a line trimmer.
The tenants have established the wider lawn area on the property currently requires mowing. They have not established that it is more likely than not the lawns have been unkempt throughout the tenancy, and certainly not to the extent that may give rise to a rent abatement or compensation.
The line trimmer was used for an area of lawn that I have determined the tenants are responsible for.
The claim for compensation for lawn maintenance is dismissed. Solar Panels
The tenants claimed a rent abatement of $480, calculated at $120 per month for the period of time they say that the solar panels were defective.
There does appear to have been an issue with the tenants having the panels connected to a supplier/solar company. However, there is no evidence (other than what the tenants say they were told) as to cause of the issue or whether it was caused by any breach by the landlord.
Furthermore, the tenants could and should have made a realistic calculation of their loss in the period that the solar panels were offline, by reference to their power saving or credit generated once the panels were online. The $120 month claimed was an arbitrary figure without proper explanation.
The claim in relation to solar panels is dismissed. Cleaning Costs
A landlord is required to provide premises in a reasonable state of cleanliness. The tenants claimed cleaning costs of $1,021 for cleaning they say was required at the start of the tenancy in January 2023.
The landlord accepted that there were some issues which required attention at the start of the tenancy and provided invoices and receipts for work done. However, some of those invoices pre-date both the landlord and tenants’ inspections where defects/cleaning was identified.
The tenants claim for compensation was based on an online quote for cleaning. They did not incur the cost of cleaning and do not have a record of the time spent cleaning at the start of the tenancy.
Both parties provided photographs from the start of the tenancy. Having regard to the photographs, the cleaning required and other awards by the Tribunal for cleaning costs, I award the tenants $450. Healthy Homes – Insulation
The tenants questioned the accuracy of a Healthy Homes report provided by the landlord, in so far as it related to insulation. Their submission seemed to be that, given the age and construction of the dwelling, it could not have the insulation recorded in the report. They did not claim any compensation in relation to the insulation.
In King & Yushkova v Greene [2021] NZDC 23637 the District Court confirmed that the only way to establish the insulation would be non-compliant would be “Physical inspection of the insulation to determine where it is located and to what depth”. There was no such evidence in this case. Any claim relating to insulation is dismissed.
As the tenants were partially successful, I have awarded reimbursement of the Tribunal filing fee. Having regard to the respective degrees of success of the parties, I have granted the tenant’s request for suppression of their details, by a very fine margin. See s95A RTA.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4726751 — net $470.44 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: Cleaning - Start of Tenancy	$450.00	Cleaning - Start of Tenancy
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$470.44
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$470.44

Order

Property Brokers Canterbury Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $470.44 immediately, calculated as shown in table below: DescriptionTenant Compensation: Cleaning - Start of Tenancy $450.00 Filing fee reimbursement $20.44 Total award $470.44 Total payable by Landlord to Tenant $470.44
By declaration, the tenant is responsible for maintaining the lawns in the blue and red areas shown on the attached site plan and the gardens adjacent to (or within) those areas.
By declaration, the landlord is responsible for maintaining the lawns in the orange and yellow areas on the attached site plan and gardens adjacent to (or within) those areas.
The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be completed by 28 December 2023: a. Mow the grass within and immediately adjacent to the areas marked orange and yellow on the attached site plan Appendix A.
As an alternative to compliance with Order 5, the landlord must pay the tenant $500 immediately.
The tenant’s other claims are dismissed.

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing.
The tenant has asked for a work order and compensation for alleged breaches of the landlord’s obligations. In each instance, the applicant has the onus of proving its claims and must provide the evidence necessary to establish both the alleged breach and the loss suffered. Responsibility for Lawn and Garden Work
The tenant’s request for a work order relates to lawn and garden work at the property. This gives rise to preliminary questions; who is responsible for lawns and gardens and what area are they responsible for?
This a rural property. The dwelling is set back from the road. There is a relatively large grass area between the road and the house. There are also plants and trees in that area.
The tenancy agreement provides that the tenants are responsible for the lawns and gardens, and the landlord is responsible for tree maintenance at the property.
The tenancy agreement also records that a contractor will “do the mowing ad gardening on the wider property. This will be charged to the owner and is part of this tenancy agreement.”
The tenants say that they orally agreed with the property manager that they would not be responsible for any lawns at the property. Alternatively, they say they would only be responsible for the area marked in blue in Appendix A.
The landlord says that the tenants were to mow the lawns adjacent to the house.
The tenants strike me as fastidious in documenting what they say has been agreed. Their submission that they are not responsible for any lawns is at odds with the Tenancy Agreement.
I find that it is more likely than not that the tenants are responsible for maintaining the lawn areas adjacent to the house and the landlord is responsible for the grass on the wider property. The tenants claim that the landlord’s area should be mowed fortnightly. There was no agreement to that effect. I find that the landlord area was to be maintained to a reasonable standard. See s78(1)(a) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA). Work Order
The tenant claims that the landlord has not maintained the lawn area. The tenant wants the problem fixed.
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. See sections 78(2AAB) and 78(2AAC)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
The photographs establish that the landlord has not maintained the lawns or grass within or adjacent to the yellow and orange areas on the attached Appendix A. The landlord acknowledged that at the hearing but understood that a contractor had been sent to complete that work.
The landlord must complete mowing in and adjacent to the yellow and orange areas by 28 December 2023. As an alternative, the landlord may pay the tenant $500.00 immediately.
The tenancy will shortly come to an end. In those circumstances, I do not authorise the tenant to undertake the work and charge the landlord the cost of doing so. Compensation Claims
The tenants claim compensation of $4,872.50 for a range of alleged breaches by the landlord. Some of those claims relate to the start of the tenancy. The tenants did not provide a cogent explanation for their delay in seeking to have the issues resolved.
[The tenant/s] claim that the landlord has breached their obligations under section 45 RTA. Under that section, a landlord must provide the premises in a reasonable state of cleanliness and provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair.
The alleged breaches relate to the lawn and grass mowing, the cleanliness of the property at the start of the tenancy, concerns with the Healthy Homes assessment provided by the landlord, allegedly defective solar panels.
In each instance the tenants have the onus of establishing their claims and must provide the evidence necessary to do so. In this case, the tenants provided limited corroborative evidence in support of both the alleged breaches and the loss suffered. Grounds Maintenance Claim
The tenants claim a rent abatement of $3,150 for the lack of lawn or grass maintenance at the property and $221.50 for the purchase of a line trimmer.
The tenants have established the wider lawn area on the property currently requires mowing. They have not established that it is more likely than not the lawns have been unkempt throughout the tenancy, and certainly not to the extent that may give rise to a rent abatement or compensation.
The line trimmer was used for an area of lawn that I have determined the tenants are responsible for.
The claim for compensation for lawn maintenance is dismissed. Solar Panels
The tenants claimed a rent abatement of $480, calculated at $120 per month for the period of time they say that the solar panels were defective.
There does appear to have been an issue with the tenants having the panels connected to a supplier/solar company. However, there is no evidence (other than what the tenants say they were told) as to cause of the issue or whether it was caused by any breach by the landlord.
Furthermore, the tenants could and should have made a realistic calculation of their loss in the period that the solar panels were offline, by reference to their power saving or credit generated once the panels were online. The $120 month claimed was an arbitrary figure without proper explanation.
The claim in relation to solar panels is dismissed. Cleaning Costs
A landlord is required to provide premises in a reasonable state of cleanliness. The tenants claimed cleaning costs of $1,021 for cleaning they say was required at the start of the tenancy in January 2023.
The landlord accepted that there were some issues which required attention at the start of the tenancy and provided invoices and receipts for work done. However, some of those invoices pre-date both the landlord and tenants’ inspections where defects/cleaning was identified.
The tenants claim for compensation was based on an online quote for cleaning. They did not incur the cost of cleaning and do not have a record of the time spent cleaning at the start of the tenancy.
Both parties provided photographs from the start of the tenancy. Having regard to the photographs, the cleaning required and other awards by the Tribunal for cleaning costs, I award the tenants $450. Healthy Homes – Insulation
The tenants questioned the accuracy of a Healthy Homes report provided by the landlord, in so far as it related to insulation. Their submission seemed to be that, given the age and construction of the dwelling, it could not have the insulation recorded in the report. They did not claim any compensation in relation to the insulation.
In King & Yushkova v Greene [2021] NZDC 23637 the District Court confirmed that the only way to establish the insulation would be non-compliant would be “Physical inspection of the insulation to determine where it is located and to what depth”. There was no such evidence in this case. Any claim relating to insulation is dismissed.
As the tenants were partially successful, I have awarded reimbursement of the Tribunal filing fee. Having regard to the respective degrees of success of the parties, I have granted the tenant’s request for suppression of their details, by a very fine margin. See s95A RTA.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4726751 — Cleanliness

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4726751 — Cleanliness

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions