Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4788022 — Rent arrears
Decided 12 Mar 2024 · Published 12 Mar 2024 · Application 4788022
- Rent arrears
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Order
- The tenant’s name and identifying details including the tenancy address must not be published.
- [The tenant] owes Cotswold Property Management Limited T/A Quinovic Property Management $1,996.86 (“the debt”) as calculated in the table below.
- [The tenant] must pay rent and the debt as follows: a. By 57 weekly payments of $655.00, being $620.00 for rent and $35.00 for the debt. b. A final payment of $621.86, being $620.00 for rent and $1.86 for the debt. c. Payments will be every Thursday, with the first payment on 14/03/2024 and continuing until 17/04/2025.
- Payments will be allocated in the following order: rent, and then the debt
- If the tenant fails to pay rent and the debt within 2 working days of the due dates: a. The tenancy at [Tenancy address suppressed] will terminate and the landlord will have immediate possession of the premises. b. The balance of the debt will be payable immediately.
Reasons
- The hearing was conducted on Microsoft Teams by video.
- Kayla Williams attended the hearing.
- The tenant declined to attend the hearing. It proceeded in her absence.
- Originally, the landlord had applied for termination for the rent being more than 21 days in arrears at the date of application and rent arrears.
- However, Ms Williams says she and the tenant have agreed to the Tribunal ordering only conditional termination of the tenancy, repayment of rent arrears, and rent not in advance and the filing fee by instalment. The tenant wants to repay the debt to avoid immediate termination. The tenant wanted the matter to return to mediation, but Ms Williams wants the matter finalised today.
- I deal with the matter as if it were a mediation.
Should a conditional termination order be made?
- Since the landlord is content with only a conditional order and the tenant has already started repaying the debt, the Tribunal will make the order requested.
- The terms of the order are that tenant pays the weekly rent and arrears at the rate of $35.00 per week or the tenancy will terminate.
- The tenant’s debt will include three days rent to correctly synchronise rent in advance.
- The conditional termination order will lapse if it is fully complied with. If the tenant breaches the order, the possession order may be enforced for 90 days from the first breach. 1 1 See section 64(4)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986. Non-publication
- Ms Williams asks the Tribunal not to publish the tenant’s identifying details.
- The tenant has been made redundant several times recently which has led to the difficulty paying the rent. She had also suffered the bereavement of a close family member.
- Under s 95A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the Tribunal may, on the application of any party to proceedings or on its own initiative, having regard to the interests of the parties and to the public interest, order that the name or any identifying particulars of any party not be published.
- Non-publication is clearly in the parties’ interests. I consider non-publication is in the public interest also. The hearing proceeded as a mediation and ordinarily the outcome of mediations are confidential. The tenant in this case has suffered financial hardship due to redundancy and it would be potentially unfair for her name to be published given she has generally always met her rent obligations. She has also suffered a tragedy which the public interest is broad enough to acknowledge.
- A non-publication order will be made.