Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4836708 — Tenancy dispute at Unit/Flat 3, 872B Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
Decided 1 Jul 2024 · Published 1 Jul 2024 · Application 4836708
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Order
- Rental Hq Limited As Agent For Anoop Kumar Joshi must pay [The tenant/s] $23.30 immediately, calculated as shown in table below:
Reasons
- Both parties attended the hearing.
- The tenant seeks the return of his bond and compensation for the delay in the refund of his bond.
- The landlord contends that the rent was in arrears of $52.86 at the end of the tenancy on 5 March 2023.
- On reviewing the landlord’s rent summary, I am satisfied that the rent was not in arrears but in credit of $2.86. I therefore award this to the tenant.
- The landlord’s error stems from calculating the rental period from 21 April 2022 instead of 22 April 2022 as per the commencement date as stated on the tenancy agreement.
- I award the tenant the filing fee paid for this application as the tenant has been successful in his claim. I also order the suppression of the tenant’s name.
- However I decline to award any compensation as sought by the tenant.
- The bond has been lodged and the tenant’s money remains safe and secure with the Bond Centre.
- It was in order for the tenant to have made a one party bond refund request with the Bond Centre shortly after the end of the tenant on 5 March 2023. The tenant would have received all or the bulk of his bond monies then even if the landlord had disputed his rent calculations.
- The tenant should have also applied for the return of his bond by filing a claim at the tenancy tribunal in March 2023 and not waited until 14 March 2024 to lodge this claim now before me.
- I do not accept that the landlord has harassed the tenant as submitted by the tenant. Parties can have healthy disagreements on whether any amounts are still owing at the end of the tenancy and those disagreements can be resolved as set out at [9] and [10] above.
- The tenant should have mitigated the effects of the late return of his bond as set out at [9] and [10] above.
- For those reasons I dismiss the tenant’s claim for interest and compensation for the late return of his bond.
- I now direct the bond centre to return the bond to the tenant forthwith.