What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4829142 about?

The tribunal order states: Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita,

How much money was awarded in case 4829142?

Cleaning: $784.88 awarded to landlord; Expenses Due To Ending Fixed Term Te…: $659.53 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $436.43 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Credit: $1,071.43 awarded to tenant; Minor: $269.10 awarded to landlord; Rubbish Removal: $149.50 awarded to landlord; Smoke Alarms: $1,000.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4829142?

The primary dispute was Smoke alarms. Related themes: Cleanliness, Property damage.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4829142?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10424617-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4829142 about?

The tribunal order states: Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita,

How much money was awarded in case 4829142?

Cleaning: $784.88 awarded to landlord; Expenses Due To Ending Fixed Term Te…: $659.53 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $20.44 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $436.43 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Credit: $1,071.43 awarded to tenant; Minor: $269.10 awarded to landlord; Rubbish Removal: $149.50 awarded to landlord; Smoke Alarms: $1,000.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4829142?

The primary dispute was Smoke alarms. Related themes: Cleanliness, Property damage.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4829142?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10424617-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

11B Greensboro Street, Hamilton East, Hamilton 3216 Tenancy Tribunal Case 4829142 — Smoke alarms

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4829142 — net $2,275.45 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
Cleaning	$784.88		Cleaning
Lock/key replacement: garage remote	$436.43		Lock/key replacement: garage remote
Repairs: minor	$269.10		Repairs: minor
Rubbish removal: and lightbulbs	$149.50		Rubbish removal: and lightbulbs
Lock/key replacement: replace 3 keys	$27.00		Lock/key replacement: replace 3 keys
Expenses due to ending fixed term tenancy early	$659.53		Expenses due to ending fixed term tenancy early
Exemplary damages interference with smoke alarm	$1,000.00		Exemplary damages interference with smoke alarm
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44		Filing fee reimbursement
Rent credit		$1,071.43	Rent credit
Total award	$3,346.88	$1,071.43
Net award	$2,275.45
Bond	$3,000.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$2,275.45

Order

Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita, Ngarangi Tumoana and Jessica Jackson to pay [The landlord/s] $2,275.45 from the bond, calculated as shown in table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $3,000.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) immediately apportioned as follows: [The landlord/s]: $2,275.45 Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita, Ngarangi Tumoana and Jessica Jackson: $724.55

Reasons

The landlord’s representative attended the hearing. There was no appearance for or by the tenants and the Tribunal has not received a request to attend by phone. I continued with only the landlord present because all tenants have been sent notice of the hearing date and time to their email addresses for service.
The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, refund of the bond, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.
This tenancy was for a fixed term which started on 23 February 2023 with the term to end on 7 February 2024.
A tenancy for a fixed term is a binding promise by the landlord that the tenancy will not end before the term end date, and by the tenants to pay rent until the end date.
Tenants can give notice to end a fixed term tenancy on the end date but must do so at least 28 days beforehand.
Under the current law, landlords can only end a tenancy at the end of a fixed term for one of the reasons listed in section 51(1) and 51(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA). These include where the landlord is selling or has sold the property, is carrying out extensive repairs or redevelopment and it wouldn’t be practicable for the tenant to live there while the work is being done, or requires the premises for family members to live in. Agreement to end the tenancy before the end of the fixed term
The tenants contacted the landlord in early October 2023 to ask about ending the tenancy before the end of the fixed term.
A landlord does not have to agree to end a fixed term tenancy early. In this case, the landlord did agree on condition that the tenants remain liable for rent until a new tenancy started and pay reasonable expenses incurred. All tenants agreed.
The landlord’s oral evidence is that a new tenancy started on 8 January 2024 and that rent has been charged to the tenants up to 7 January 2024.
The landlord’s record of tenancy invoices shows a rent credit of $1,071.43. The landlord says that the tenants agree to this being applied to any amounts owing by them. The credit is shown in the table in this order. End of tenancy costs
The photographs, invoices and communication between the parties satisfy me that:- a. Parts of the premises were not left reasonably clean and tidy. This is a large house, so the invoice is reasonable for the work done including shampooing an area of carpet. b. A small number of unwanted belongings were left behind and were removed by the landlord and donated. c. The landlord replaced missing or blown lightbulbs. d. One garage remote was not returned. This could not be easily replaced, and the landlord had to upgrade part of the door mechanism. I award 50% of this cost. It is reasonable that the tenants pay part of the cost because they did not return the remote. It is also fair that the landlord cover some of the cost as the remotes can now be reprogrammed if needed in the future. e. The landlord replaced three missing keys. f. Minor repairs were required due to damage during the tenancy that was more than wear and tear: finishing a repair where a TV bracket had been put up, reinstating a doorstop that had been knocked crooked, and removing and patching large screws in the toilet wall. I am not satisfied that the skirting board or shower dome repair were due to more than normal wear and tear. I have reduced the invoice to allow for this. Break lease expenses
A landlord is entitled to recover expenses reasonably incurred by the landlord in respect of the early termination of the tenancy; see section 44A RTA.
The landlord provided an estimate of these expenses prior to the parties coming to agreement to end the tenancy early. The tenants noted that this seemed expensive and asked questions about how to reduce it, saying: “You would be putting new tenants in the flat anyway in February so it really seems unfair that you want to charge us so much money for doing this only a few weeks earlier ...”
This raises a good point and one that I agree is relevant. Consideration of how near it is to the end of the fixed term may be part of the assessment of whether expenses are “reasonably incurred”. A tenant can end a tenancy at the end of a fixed term by giving at least 28 days’ notice beforehand. If they do so, the landlord meets the cost of all usual end of tenancy and re-tenanting expenses.
The landlord did revise her estimate and the tenants confirmed in writing that they agreed to this. 1 Their agreement is relevant but not determinative. The Tribunal must agree that the expenses are recoverable. 2
The purpose of s44A RTA is that a landlord can recover any expenses due to the early termination that they would not have otherwise incurred.
The tenants moved out in mid-December 2023. All the expenses and most of the time spent by the landlord related to usual end of tenancy and re-letting tasks that would have been required in January and February 2024 if the tenancy had continued until the end of the term.
In other words, the re-letting activities happened about a month before they would have otherwise. I agree that some of the work done was to arrange the early termination (such as replying to their enquiry and advising of estimated expenses).
For the above reasons, my decision is to allow recovery of:- a. One quarter of the advertising, credit checks and between tenancy meth testing expenses. This is $164.59. GST is included as these are external expenses. b. One quarter of the time recorded by the landlord’s agent. This is 4.8 hours and allows for the time to process and negotiate ending the tenancy early. I allow 4.8 hours. I accept the hourly rate charged of $75.00+GST as the work had to be done over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. This is $414.00. c. One round trip for mileage which is $80.94. One trip to arrange the early termination is reasonable. d. This is a total of $659.53. Tampering with a smoke alarm
The landlord says that one of the three smoke alarms in the house was tampered with. She noticed that the alarm on the ground floor hallway ceiling was not working during the first inspection in late May 2023. On checking this, she found 1 The estimate was for total expenses of $2,289.16. 2 Usually, parties to contracts are free to agree as they choose. The RTA is more restrictive. In general, any agreement that is inconsistent with the RTA is of no effect although the Tribunal may choose to permit it for good reason; see s11 RTA. the back of the alarm had been damaged so that it did not operate and could not be turned on. Her evidence is that the alarm is a sealed unit, long-life battery type which cannot be easily damaged. She says that the tenants denied tampering with the alarm.
The landlord says there was evidence of smoking including cigarette butts and a smell of smoke in the garage. The smoke alarm that had been disabled was in the hallway leading to the garage and to bedrooms.
The landlord issued a formal notice of breach on 1 June 2023 which emphasised the importance of not removing or tampering with smoke alarms and that to do so is a breach of the RTA and of the tenancy agreement.
A tenant must not cause or permit any interference with, or render inoperative, any means of escape from fire within the meaning of the Building Act 2004. See section 40(2)(ab) Residential Tenancies Act 1986. The definition of “means of escape” includes “all active and passive protection features required to warn people of fire...”, which covers smoke alarms.
Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $4,000.00. See section 40(3A)(b) and Schedule 1A Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
I find it to be more probable than not that the tenants, or someone present at the premises with their permission, tampered with the smoke alarm. The tenants have not offered any evidence to refute this.
This is an unlawful act.
Where a party has committed an unlawful act intentionally, the Tribunal may award exemplary damages where it is satisfied that it would be just to do so, having regard to the party’s intent, the effect of the unlawful act, the interests of the other party, and the public interest. See section 109(3) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
I accept the oral evidence that the smoke alarm could not have been disabled without intentional action to do so.
It seems likely that the intent was to allow smoking in the garage without the alarm going off. Smoking is not permitted under the tenancy agreement. The landlord said that there were no further incidents of this kind and that the tenants paid the cost to replace the disabled smoke alarm.
The effect of disabling the alarm was to put the lives of everyone at the premises at risk. The alarm was on the ground floor of a three-level townhouse and smoking was probably happening nearby. There could have been a tragedy.
The interests of the landlord are that smoke alarms remain operable and in place to avoid death or injury, to comply with tenancy requirements and to safeguard their property.
There is a public interest in this. It is not uncommon to hear of death and injury from house fires in Aotearoa. There has been publicity and regulation to emphasise that smoke alarms are one of the most effective ways of saving lives and property.
Exemplary damages are like a fine and one of the aims is to deter certain behaviour. I do consider it just to award exemplary damages of $1,000.00. This is at the lower end of the scale to recognise that the tenants paid attention to the breach notice but is appropriate to signal how important this issue is. Breach of quiet enjoyment of neighbours
The landlord also says that the tenants interfered with the reasonable peace and comfort of neighbours by holding a noisy and messy party at the end of August 2023.
A notice of breach was given to the tenants. The landlord says that at least two neighbours also complained to her.
The evidence is insufficient to establish interference with the peace and comfort of neighbours. I agree with the landlord that an occasional party is to be expected but when houses are near to one another, and third-party contractors come to the address to maintain the property, tenants need to be mindful of noise and careful not to leave dangerous items lying around.
This claim is dismissed. I note that exemplary damages will not be awarded unless evidence shows harassment of another tenant or neighbour; see s40(3A)(d) RTA. Filing fee and suppression
The landlord is substantially successful. I award the filing fee and suppress its name, as applied for.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4829142 — net $2,275.45 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
Cleaning	$784.88		Cleaning
Lock/key replacement: garage remote	$436.43		Lock/key replacement: garage remote
Repairs: minor	$269.10		Repairs: minor
Rubbish removal: and lightbulbs	$149.50		Rubbish removal: and lightbulbs
Lock/key replacement: replace 3 keys	$27.00		Lock/key replacement: replace 3 keys
Expenses due to ending fixed term tenancy early	$659.53		Expenses due to ending fixed term tenancy early
Exemplary damages interference with smoke alarm	$1,000.00		Exemplary damages interference with smoke alarm
Filing fee reimbursement	$20.44		Filing fee reimbursement
Rent credit		$1,071.43	Rent credit
Total award	$3,346.88	$1,071.43
Net award	$2,275.45
Bond	$3,000.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$2,275.45

Order

Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita, Ngarangi Tumoana and Jessica Jackson to pay [The landlord/s] $2,275.45 from the bond, calculated as shown in table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $3,000.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) immediately apportioned as follows: [The landlord/s]: $2,275.45 Te Aorangi-kowhai Morini, Paige Mereana Wilson, Araraina Takuira-Mita, Ngarangi Tumoana and Jessica Jackson: $724.55

Reasons

The landlord’s representative attended the hearing. There was no appearance for or by the tenants and the Tribunal has not received a request to attend by phone. I continued with only the landlord present because all tenants have been sent notice of the hearing date and time to their email addresses for service.
The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, refund of the bond, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.
This tenancy was for a fixed term which started on 23 February 2023 with the term to end on 7 February 2024.
A tenancy for a fixed term is a binding promise by the landlord that the tenancy will not end before the term end date, and by the tenants to pay rent until the end date.
Tenants can give notice to end a fixed term tenancy on the end date but must do so at least 28 days beforehand.
Under the current law, landlords can only end a tenancy at the end of a fixed term for one of the reasons listed in section 51(1) and 51(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA). These include where the landlord is selling or has sold the property, is carrying out extensive repairs or redevelopment and it wouldn’t be practicable for the tenant to live there while the work is being done, or requires the premises for family members to live in. Agreement to end the tenancy before the end of the fixed term
The tenants contacted the landlord in early October 2023 to ask about ending the tenancy before the end of the fixed term.
A landlord does not have to agree to end a fixed term tenancy early. In this case, the landlord did agree on condition that the tenants remain liable for rent until a new tenancy started and pay reasonable expenses incurred. All tenants agreed.
The landlord’s oral evidence is that a new tenancy started on 8 January 2024 and that rent has been charged to the tenants up to 7 January 2024.
The landlord’s record of tenancy invoices shows a rent credit of $1,071.43. The landlord says that the tenants agree to this being applied to any amounts owing by them. The credit is shown in the table in this order. End of tenancy costs
The photographs, invoices and communication between the parties satisfy me that:- a. Parts of the premises were not left reasonably clean and tidy. This is a large house, so the invoice is reasonable for the work done including shampooing an area of carpet. b. A small number of unwanted belongings were left behind and were removed by the landlord and donated. c. The landlord replaced missing or blown lightbulbs. d. One garage remote was not returned. This could not be easily replaced, and the landlord had to upgrade part of the door mechanism. I award 50% of this cost. It is reasonable that the tenants pay part of the cost because they did not return the remote. It is also fair that the landlord cover some of the cost as the remotes can now be reprogrammed if needed in the future. e. The landlord replaced three missing keys. f. Minor repairs were required due to damage during the tenancy that was more than wear and tear: finishing a repair where a TV bracket had been put up, reinstating a doorstop that had been knocked crooked, and removing and patching large screws in the toilet wall. I am not satisfied that the skirting board or shower dome repair were due to more than normal wear and tear. I have reduced the invoice to allow for this. Break lease expenses
A landlord is entitled to recover expenses reasonably incurred by the landlord in respect of the early termination of the tenancy; see section 44A RTA.
The landlord provided an estimate of these expenses prior to the parties coming to agreement to end the tenancy early. The tenants noted that this seemed expensive and asked questions about how to reduce it, saying: “You would be putting new tenants in the flat anyway in February so it really seems unfair that you want to charge us so much money for doing this only a few weeks earlier ...”
This raises a good point and one that I agree is relevant. Consideration of how near it is to the end of the fixed term may be part of the assessment of whether expenses are “reasonably incurred”. A tenant can end a tenancy at the end of a fixed term by giving at least 28 days’ notice beforehand. If they do so, the landlord meets the cost of all usual end of tenancy and re-tenanting expenses.
The landlord did revise her estimate and the tenants confirmed in writing that they agreed to this. 1 Their agreement is relevant but not determinative. The Tribunal must agree that the expenses are recoverable. 2
The purpose of s44A RTA is that a landlord can recover any expenses due to the early termination that they would not have otherwise incurred.
The tenants moved out in mid-December 2023. All the expenses and most of the time spent by the landlord related to usual end of tenancy and re-letting tasks that would have been required in January and February 2024 if the tenancy had continued until the end of the term.
In other words, the re-letting activities happened about a month before they would have otherwise. I agree that some of the work done was to arrange the early termination (such as replying to their enquiry and advising of estimated expenses).
For the above reasons, my decision is to allow recovery of:- a. One quarter of the advertising, credit checks and between tenancy meth testing expenses. This is $164.59. GST is included as these are external expenses. b. One quarter of the time recorded by the landlord’s agent. This is 4.8 hours and allows for the time to process and negotiate ending the tenancy early. I allow 4.8 hours. I accept the hourly rate charged of $75.00+GST as the work had to be done over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. This is $414.00. c. One round trip for mileage which is $80.94. One trip to arrange the early termination is reasonable. d. This is a total of $659.53. Tampering with a smoke alarm
The landlord says that one of the three smoke alarms in the house was tampered with. She noticed that the alarm on the ground floor hallway ceiling was not working during the first inspection in late May 2023. On checking this, she found 1 The estimate was for total expenses of $2,289.16. 2 Usually, parties to contracts are free to agree as they choose. The RTA is more restrictive. In general, any agreement that is inconsistent with the RTA is of no effect although the Tribunal may choose to permit it for good reason; see s11 RTA. the back of the alarm had been damaged so that it did not operate and could not be turned on. Her evidence is that the alarm is a sealed unit, long-life battery type which cannot be easily damaged. She says that the tenants denied tampering with the alarm.
The landlord says there was evidence of smoking including cigarette butts and a smell of smoke in the garage. The smoke alarm that had been disabled was in the hallway leading to the garage and to bedrooms.
The landlord issued a formal notice of breach on 1 June 2023 which emphasised the importance of not removing or tampering with smoke alarms and that to do so is a breach of the RTA and of the tenancy agreement.
A tenant must not cause or permit any interference with, or render inoperative, any means of escape from fire within the meaning of the Building Act 2004. See section 40(2)(ab) Residential Tenancies Act 1986. The definition of “means of escape” includes “all active and passive protection features required to warn people of fire...”, which covers smoke alarms.
Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $4,000.00. See section 40(3A)(b) and Schedule 1A Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
I find it to be more probable than not that the tenants, or someone present at the premises with their permission, tampered with the smoke alarm. The tenants have not offered any evidence to refute this.
This is an unlawful act.
Where a party has committed an unlawful act intentionally, the Tribunal may award exemplary damages where it is satisfied that it would be just to do so, having regard to the party’s intent, the effect of the unlawful act, the interests of the other party, and the public interest. See section 109(3) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
I accept the oral evidence that the smoke alarm could not have been disabled without intentional action to do so.
It seems likely that the intent was to allow smoking in the garage without the alarm going off. Smoking is not permitted under the tenancy agreement. The landlord said that there were no further incidents of this kind and that the tenants paid the cost to replace the disabled smoke alarm.
The effect of disabling the alarm was to put the lives of everyone at the premises at risk. The alarm was on the ground floor of a three-level townhouse and smoking was probably happening nearby. There could have been a tragedy.
The interests of the landlord are that smoke alarms remain operable and in place to avoid death or injury, to comply with tenancy requirements and to safeguard their property.
There is a public interest in this. It is not uncommon to hear of death and injury from house fires in Aotearoa. There has been publicity and regulation to emphasise that smoke alarms are one of the most effective ways of saving lives and property.
Exemplary damages are like a fine and one of the aims is to deter certain behaviour. I do consider it just to award exemplary damages of $1,000.00. This is at the lower end of the scale to recognise that the tenants paid attention to the breach notice but is appropriate to signal how important this issue is. Breach of quiet enjoyment of neighbours
The landlord also says that the tenants interfered with the reasonable peace and comfort of neighbours by holding a noisy and messy party at the end of August 2023.
A notice of breach was given to the tenants. The landlord says that at least two neighbours also complained to her.
The evidence is insufficient to establish interference with the peace and comfort of neighbours. I agree with the landlord that an occasional party is to be expected but when houses are near to one another, and third-party contractors come to the address to maintain the property, tenants need to be mindful of noise and careful not to leave dangerous items lying around.
This claim is dismissed. I note that exemplary damages will not be awarded unless evidence shows harassment of another tenant or neighbour; see s40(3A)(d) RTA. Filing fee and suppression
The landlord is substantially successful. I award the filing fee and suppress its name, as applied for.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4829142 — Smoke alarms at 11B Greensboro Street, Hamilton East, Hamilton 3216

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4829142 — Smoke alarms at 11B Greensboro Street, Hamilton East, Hamilton 3216

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions