What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4824859 about?

The tribunal order states: Reliable Rental Management Limited (T/A Harcourts Manurewa) As Agent For

How much money was awarded in case 4824859?

Compensation: Tree Trimming: $150.00 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4824859?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4824859?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10559293-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4824859 about?

The tribunal order states: Reliable Rental Management Limited (T/A Harcourts Manurewa) As Agent For

How much money was awarded in case 4824859?

Compensation: Tree Trimming: $150.00 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4824859?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4824859?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10559293-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

48A Halsey Road, Manurewa, Auckland 2102 Tenancy Tribunal Case 4824859 — Tenancy dispute

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4824859 — net $150.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: Tree Trimming	$150.00	Tree Trimming
Net award	$150.00
Bond	$721.80
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$150.00

Order

Reliable Rental Management Limited (T/A Harcourts Manurewa) As Agent For Mohammed Ayaz Khan & Jasmin Bano Mohammed must pay [The tenant/s] $150.00 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $721.80 ([Bond number suppressed]) to [The tenant/s] immediately.

Reasons

Both parties attended today’s hearing. Mr Khan attended for the landlord.
The landlord has applied for the cleaning costs and carpet replacement costs and water rates of $21.80.
The tenants dispute that landlord’s claims and also claim costs of tree trimming and carpet cleaning that they paid for during the tenancy. The landlord’s claims

How much is owed for water rates?

The tenancy ended on 28 January 2024, the landlord took a final reading on that date and calculated the amount owed by the tenant as $34.92 which the tenants paid on the 31 January. The landlord then said that when it recalculated the water invoice, they realised that they had undercharged the tenant. The landlord did not provide either of those calculations to support their claim. The landlord provided a water rates bill from Watercare for January/ February but that covers the period that the new tenants were in the property (from the 5 February) and is not evidence of what these tenants used. I do not have enough evidence from the landlord to support the claim for additional water rates and therefore that claim is dismissed.

Did the tenant comply with their obligations at the end of the tenancy?

The obligation on tenants when they leave the tenancy is to leave the property in a reasonably clean and tidy condition (see s40 (1)(e)(i) RTA).
Reasonably clean means clean to the standard an average, reasonable bystander would consider reasonable 1 , not commercially clean 2 , spotless hotel or motel standard. 3 Reasonably clean is not necessarily to the standard a landlord considers acceptable for a new tenant. 4
The landlord has provided a copy of the inspection report at the end of the tenancy. That report shows that the property was cleaned but there were some specific areas were additional cleaning was required such as wiping down some window sills and the inside of some the cupboards.
The tenants say that the landlord pointed out areas that needed remediation and that they cleaned those areas such as the oven. They have provided a copy of the ingoing inspection report that notes fly dirt or marks on walls, ceilings and blinds.
Whilst I accept that there were some specific areas of the property which were not left reasonably clean, I consider that the overall condition of the property was reasonably clean and tidy and any remedial work to clean up the window sills or wipe down drawers that had been missed was minor. The landlord told me that the owner did a small amount of cleaning on top of the cleaning service claimed 1 Housing New Zealand v Holloway TT Auckland TT215/93, 8 February 1993 at 8. 2 Mills v Kiwi Property Care Ltd TT Hamilton 09/01418/HN, 27 July 2009. 3 Richards v Scully TT Christchurch TT2043/98, 21 July 1998. 4 Ace Property Management Ltd v Owens DC Wellington CIV -2008-1441, 17 December 2008 against the tenant. Given the condition of the property it was given to the tenants, I do not consider it fair to expect the tenants to give back the property in a better condition or to a higher standard. I also expect that the landlord will need to do some extra cleaning to bring the property up to standard that it is able to be re- tenanted and that should not necessarily be at the outgoing tenant’s expense. The landlord’s claim for cleaning cost is not proven.

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the carpet?

The landlord is claiming the labour cost ($400) for replacing two areas of carpet one in the lounge and the other a bedroom. The carpet was replaced with a roll of replacement matching carpet that the owner had.
A landlord must prove that damage to the premises occurred during the tenancy and is more than fair wear and tear. If this is established, to avoid liability, the tenant must prove they did not carelessly or intentionally cause or permit the damage. Tenants are liable for the actions of people at the premises with their permission. See sections 40(2)(a), 41 and 49B RTA.
The landlord says that two areas of carpet (one in the lounge and another in the bedroom had to be replaced because of heavy staining). The tenant accepts that the stain in the carpet was caused by a drink spill during their tenancy. However, they say that they should not be responsible for the cost of the replacement carpet as the carpet was very old, and the professional carpet cleaners told them not to use stain remover on the carpet, because it would likely damage the carpet further.
The tenants say that the stain in the bedroom, arose after the tenants were told by the landlord to have the carpet professionally cleaned in January 2023, which they did. The tenant says that the carpet in the bedroom then came out with this ‘dirty stain’ which the tenants say think was caused by water in the carpet. The tenants notified the landlord immediately of the problem.
The carpet is original, the house was built around 1994, meaning the carpet is 30 years old. Even if I found that the tenant had beached an obligation the carpet is well outside its lifespan. The landlord can only be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant not breached their obligations, and should not be better or worse off. If I granted the landlord, the sum requested, then I consider the landlord would be in better position that before the carpet was stained. Therefore, the landlord’s claim for carpet damage fails. The tenants’ claims.
The tenant claims that the landlord requested them to trim trees at the property in January 2023 after a routine inspection, I have seen the correspondence between the tenant and the landlord and it is clear that the landlord requires the tenant to do this work before the 17 January 2023. The tenant did this work, not realising that the trimming of trees is a landlord’s responsibility. The tenant now seeks reimbursement of the amount they paid for this work.
Maintaining trees at a property is a landlord’s obligation. The landlord should reimburse the tenant for this work, and I make an order for reimbursement of the amount paid for this work.
The tenant also says that the landlord made the tenants undertake professional carpet cleaning in January 2024. Unlike the trimming of trees, carpet cleaning can be either a landlord or tenant expense. The tenants have not produced sufficient evidence to satisfy me that the landlord forced them to undertake carpet cleaning when it was not needed or caused by the tenant, and therefore the tenants claim for reimbursement fails. The filing fee
I do not award the filing fee to either party. Name Suppression
The tenants applied for suppression in their application , and as they have been successful in defending the landlord’s claims then I grant them name suppression. Bond
The bond centre is to pay the remaining amount of $721.80 to the tenant.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4824859 — net $150.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Compensation: Tree Trimming	$150.00	Tree Trimming
Net award	$150.00
Bond	$721.80
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$150.00

Order

Reliable Rental Management Limited (T/A Harcourts Manurewa) As Agent For Mohammed Ayaz Khan & Jasmin Bano Mohammed must pay [The tenant/s] $150.00 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $721.80 ([Bond number suppressed]) to [The tenant/s] immediately.

Reasons

Both parties attended today’s hearing. Mr Khan attended for the landlord.
The landlord has applied for the cleaning costs and carpet replacement costs and water rates of $21.80.
The tenants dispute that landlord’s claims and also claim costs of tree trimming and carpet cleaning that they paid for during the tenancy. The landlord’s claims

How much is owed for water rates?

The tenancy ended on 28 January 2024, the landlord took a final reading on that date and calculated the amount owed by the tenant as $34.92 which the tenants paid on the 31 January. The landlord then said that when it recalculated the water invoice, they realised that they had undercharged the tenant. The landlord did not provide either of those calculations to support their claim. The landlord provided a water rates bill from Watercare for January/ February but that covers the period that the new tenants were in the property (from the 5 February) and is not evidence of what these tenants used. I do not have enough evidence from the landlord to support the claim for additional water rates and therefore that claim is dismissed.

Did the tenant comply with their obligations at the end of the tenancy?

The obligation on tenants when they leave the tenancy is to leave the property in a reasonably clean and tidy condition (see s40 (1)(e)(i) RTA).
Reasonably clean means clean to the standard an average, reasonable bystander would consider reasonable 1 , not commercially clean 2 , spotless hotel or motel standard. 3 Reasonably clean is not necessarily to the standard a landlord considers acceptable for a new tenant. 4
The landlord has provided a copy of the inspection report at the end of the tenancy. That report shows that the property was cleaned but there were some specific areas were additional cleaning was required such as wiping down some window sills and the inside of some the cupboards.
The tenants say that the landlord pointed out areas that needed remediation and that they cleaned those areas such as the oven. They have provided a copy of the ingoing inspection report that notes fly dirt or marks on walls, ceilings and blinds.
Whilst I accept that there were some specific areas of the property which were not left reasonably clean, I consider that the overall condition of the property was reasonably clean and tidy and any remedial work to clean up the window sills or wipe down drawers that had been missed was minor. The landlord told me that the owner did a small amount of cleaning on top of the cleaning service claimed 1 Housing New Zealand v Holloway TT Auckland TT215/93, 8 February 1993 at 8. 2 Mills v Kiwi Property Care Ltd TT Hamilton 09/01418/HN, 27 July 2009. 3 Richards v Scully TT Christchurch TT2043/98, 21 July 1998. 4 Ace Property Management Ltd v Owens DC Wellington CIV -2008-1441, 17 December 2008 against the tenant. Given the condition of the property it was given to the tenants, I do not consider it fair to expect the tenants to give back the property in a better condition or to a higher standard. I also expect that the landlord will need to do some extra cleaning to bring the property up to standard that it is able to be re- tenanted and that should not necessarily be at the outgoing tenant’s expense. The landlord’s claim for cleaning cost is not proven.

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the carpet?

The landlord is claiming the labour cost ($400) for replacing two areas of carpet one in the lounge and the other a bedroom. The carpet was replaced with a roll of replacement matching carpet that the owner had.
A landlord must prove that damage to the premises occurred during the tenancy and is more than fair wear and tear. If this is established, to avoid liability, the tenant must prove they did not carelessly or intentionally cause or permit the damage. Tenants are liable for the actions of people at the premises with their permission. See sections 40(2)(a), 41 and 49B RTA.
The landlord says that two areas of carpet (one in the lounge and another in the bedroom had to be replaced because of heavy staining). The tenant accepts that the stain in the carpet was caused by a drink spill during their tenancy. However, they say that they should not be responsible for the cost of the replacement carpet as the carpet was very old, and the professional carpet cleaners told them not to use stain remover on the carpet, because it would likely damage the carpet further.
The tenants say that the stain in the bedroom, arose after the tenants were told by the landlord to have the carpet professionally cleaned in January 2023, which they did. The tenant says that the carpet in the bedroom then came out with this ‘dirty stain’ which the tenants say think was caused by water in the carpet. The tenants notified the landlord immediately of the problem.
The carpet is original, the house was built around 1994, meaning the carpet is 30 years old. Even if I found that the tenant had beached an obligation the carpet is well outside its lifespan. The landlord can only be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant not breached their obligations, and should not be better or worse off. If I granted the landlord, the sum requested, then I consider the landlord would be in better position that before the carpet was stained. Therefore, the landlord’s claim for carpet damage fails. The tenants’ claims.
The tenant claims that the landlord requested them to trim trees at the property in January 2023 after a routine inspection, I have seen the correspondence between the tenant and the landlord and it is clear that the landlord requires the tenant to do this work before the 17 January 2023. The tenant did this work, not realising that the trimming of trees is a landlord’s responsibility. The tenant now seeks reimbursement of the amount they paid for this work.
Maintaining trees at a property is a landlord’s obligation. The landlord should reimburse the tenant for this work, and I make an order for reimbursement of the amount paid for this work.
The tenant also says that the landlord made the tenants undertake professional carpet cleaning in January 2024. Unlike the trimming of trees, carpet cleaning can be either a landlord or tenant expense. The tenants have not produced sufficient evidence to satisfy me that the landlord forced them to undertake carpet cleaning when it was not needed or caused by the tenant, and therefore the tenants claim for reimbursement fails. The filing fee
I do not award the filing fee to either party. Name Suppression
The tenants applied for suppression in their application , and as they have been successful in defending the landlord’s claims then I grant them name suppression. Bond
The bond centre is to pay the remaining amount of $721.80 to the tenant.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4824859 — Tenancy dispute at 48A Halsey Road, Manurewa, Auckland 2102

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4824859 — Tenancy dispute at 48A Halsey Road, Manurewa, Auckland 2102

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for water rates?

Did the tenant comply with their obligations at the end of the tenancy?

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the carpet?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for water rates?

Did the tenant comply with their obligations at the end of the tenancy?

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the carpet?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions