What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4932414 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $1,295.43 from the bond, calculated as

How much money was awarded in case 4932414?

End Of Tenancy Drug Test Of Property: $299.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Owing To 11/07/2024: $996.43 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4932414?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4932414?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/11076852-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4932414 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $1,295.43 from the bond, calculated as

How much money was awarded in case 4932414?

End Of Tenancy Drug Test Of Property: $299.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Owing To 11/07/2024: $996.43 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4932414?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4932414?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/11076852-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 4932414 — Tenancy dispute

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4932414 — net $1,295.43 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent owing to 11/07/2024	$996.43	Rent owing to 11/07/2024
End of tenancy drug test of property	$299.00	End of tenancy drug test of property
Net award	$1,295.43
Bond	$3,100.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$1,295.43

Order

[The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $1,295.43 from the bond, calculated as in the table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $3,100.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) immediately apportioned as follows: [The landlord/s]: $1,295.43 [The tenant/s]: $1,804.57

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing held by video conference. The tenant was assisted by an interpreter of the Russian language. Background
The landlord and tenant signed a tenancy agreement (“contract”) for a fixed term starting on 28 June 2023 and due to end on 27 June 2025.
The tenant’s employment and visa circumstances changed unexpectedly in mid- 2024. The parties met and discussed the situation and the landlord agreed to end the tenancy early.
The tenant moved out on 11 July 2024. Possession was returned to the landlord on 12 July 2024.
The landlord advertised and secured new tenants from 27 July 2024.
The landlord has applied to the Tribunal for:- a. Compensation being the rent payable up to 26 July 2024 on the basis that the landlord expected to receive this under the fixed term contract with the tenant, and b. The cost of an end of tenancy routine drug test of the property as an additional expense incurred because of the early ending of the tenancy.
The tenant has cross-applied as he does not agree with the landlord’s claims. He says that he was told by the landlord’s agent that he would not be liable for any additional costs. He also says that he gave the landlord’s agent the name and contact details for a possible replacement tenant but was told that a transfer of his tenancy was not possible. He notes that the landlord has now re-rented the premises at a higher rent than he was paying. The law on fixed term tenancies
A tenancy for a fixed term is a binding legal contract and, under normal circumstances 1 , cannot be ended by either party giving notice to the other.
In certain circumstances, the Tenancy Tribunal may make an order to reduce a fixed term tenancy; s66 Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA).
A landlord and tenant can agree to end a fixed term tenancy early; section 50(1)(d) RTA. 1 A fixed term tenancy can be terminated by the giving of notice in the specific circumstances listed in section 50(1) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 which include where premises are unlawful, uninhabitable, a tenant has been charged with assault on a landlord, or a tenant has withdrawn from the tenancy due to proven family violence.
A tenant has a legal right to assign a tenancy with the prior written consent of a landlord and in accordance with reasonable conditions attached to that consent by the landlord; section 43B(1) RTA.
An “assignment” of a tenancy is a transfer to a person of all the rights that a tenant has under a tenancy agreement; section 2 RTA.
A landlord is entitled to recover from a tenant any expenses reasonably incurred in respect of an assignment or early ending of the tenancy; s44A RTA.
The Tribunal may award a landlord compensation of the amount of any rent the landlord has lost due to a fixed term tenancy ending early. For example, if there is a period between tenancies where the premises are vacant. Decisions
After considering the oral and written evidence, my decision is that the tenant is liable for rent up to 11 July 2024 and for the cost of the end of tenancy drug test of the premises. The reasons for my decision are:- a. The parties agreed together on the vacate date of 11 July 2024. b. The landlord and tenant agreed that the tenancy would end early. The parties disagree as to whether the tenant was told that he would remain liable for rent until new tenants were found. Where there is a difference in the oral evidence, the Tribunal will look to the written evidence. c. As part of the process of ending the tenancy early, the landlord asked the tenant to sign an “Application for early release on fixed term tenancy” (“the release document”). The release document does not say that the tenant will remain liable for rent until a new tenant is found. d. The release document does say that there may be costs incurred as part of the early release from the tenancy, that the landlord will provide an itemised list of those costs before asking for payment, and that the tenant agrees to pay “costs reasonably incurred”. e. The tenancy agreement includes clause 7, under “Additional terms and conditions”. This clause says that “if the landlord consents to ending the fixed term early, the landlord may place conditions on the consent addressing the matters below ...”. The clause goes on to say that “the landlord and the tenant shall enter into an agreement. The tenant is liable for the rent and other matters contained in the agreement until they have been formally released in terms of the agreement.” f. The release document is the only written record of the conditions of the release from the fixed term tenancy. g. My conclusion is that the landlord has not proven that it was a condition of the tenant being released from the tenancy early that he would remain liable for rent until a new tenancy began. h. In addition, English is not the tenant’s first language which put the tenant at a disadvantage. It adds weight to my decision that the landlord cannot seek to claim lost rent past the date that the tenant vacated the premises because this was not recorded in writing as a condition of that release. i. The early release document did say that that there may be other costs incurred and that the tenant agreed to pay these. The landlord has a statutory right to claim such costs under s44A RTA provided that an itemised account is provided to the tenant before requesting payment. j. I do not know if the landlord had provided the tenant with an itemised account or invoice before the hearing, as required by s44A RTA. However, I agree that the outgoing drug test is an additional expense to the landlord that is directly related to the tenancy ending early. An invoice was supplied at the hearing. I award this claim.
The reasons given above are sufficient to explain my decision. However, I note that there are two other reasons that have influenced my decision and why I consider it fair in this case that the tenant is not required to compensate the landlord for the value of rent from 12 to 26 July 2024 (“the vacant period”). a. Firstly, the tenant says he supplied the landlord with the name and contact details of a tenant who was interested in taking over the tenancy. I accept his oral evidence that he did so. The property managers present at the hearing had no knowledge or recollection of this and a third staff member was not available to ask. I note that a landlord has a legal obligation to respond in writing to any written request by a tenant that includes contact details for a proposed assignee; s43B(4) RTA. There is no evidence that this happened or as to whether the landlord contacted the proposed new tenant. It is at least possible that if the landlord had contacted the proposed new tenant, there may have been a shorter vacant period. Section 43B RTA requires a landlord to be proactive and to act reasonably. b. Secondly, the new tenancy started on 27 July 2024 at a rent which is $50.00 per week higher than that paid by the tenant. The landlord says that it is not necessarily better off because it had the legal right to increase the rent under the tenant’s contract. This is true however the landlord had not done so. The fact is that the landlord is receiving more rent from the new tenants than it was from the tenant. This reduces the landlord’s rent loss over the vacant period to some extent.
Section 85 RTA directs the Tribunal to make its decisions in the way most likely to ensure the fair and expeditious resolution of disputes and these additional reasons support this outcome.
I award compensation to the landlord of the rent payable up to 11 July 2024 which is $996.43 and the invoiced cost of the end of tenancy routine drug test of $299.00. Filing fee and suppression of names
Both parties have been partly successful, so I make no award for the filing fee.
Similarly, both are partly in the right, so I suppress both of their names from the published order.
The bond is refunded in accordance with the order.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4932414 — net $1,295.43 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent owing to 11/07/2024	$996.43	Rent owing to 11/07/2024
End of tenancy drug test of property	$299.00	End of tenancy drug test of property
Net award	$1,295.43
Bond	$3,100.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$1,295.43

Order

[The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $1,295.43 from the bond, calculated as in the table below.
The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $3,100.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) immediately apportioned as follows: [The landlord/s]: $1,295.43 [The tenant/s]: $1,804.57

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing held by video conference. The tenant was assisted by an interpreter of the Russian language. Background
The landlord and tenant signed a tenancy agreement (“contract”) for a fixed term starting on 28 June 2023 and due to end on 27 June 2025.
The tenant’s employment and visa circumstances changed unexpectedly in mid- 2024. The parties met and discussed the situation and the landlord agreed to end the tenancy early.
The tenant moved out on 11 July 2024. Possession was returned to the landlord on 12 July 2024.
The landlord advertised and secured new tenants from 27 July 2024.
The landlord has applied to the Tribunal for:- a. Compensation being the rent payable up to 26 July 2024 on the basis that the landlord expected to receive this under the fixed term contract with the tenant, and b. The cost of an end of tenancy routine drug test of the property as an additional expense incurred because of the early ending of the tenancy.
The tenant has cross-applied as he does not agree with the landlord’s claims. He says that he was told by the landlord’s agent that he would not be liable for any additional costs. He also says that he gave the landlord’s agent the name and contact details for a possible replacement tenant but was told that a transfer of his tenancy was not possible. He notes that the landlord has now re-rented the premises at a higher rent than he was paying. The law on fixed term tenancies
A tenancy for a fixed term is a binding legal contract and, under normal circumstances 1 , cannot be ended by either party giving notice to the other.
In certain circumstances, the Tenancy Tribunal may make an order to reduce a fixed term tenancy; s66 Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA).
A landlord and tenant can agree to end a fixed term tenancy early; section 50(1)(d) RTA. 1 A fixed term tenancy can be terminated by the giving of notice in the specific circumstances listed in section 50(1) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 which include where premises are unlawful, uninhabitable, a tenant has been charged with assault on a landlord, or a tenant has withdrawn from the tenancy due to proven family violence.
A tenant has a legal right to assign a tenancy with the prior written consent of a landlord and in accordance with reasonable conditions attached to that consent by the landlord; section 43B(1) RTA.
An “assignment” of a tenancy is a transfer to a person of all the rights that a tenant has under a tenancy agreement; section 2 RTA.
A landlord is entitled to recover from a tenant any expenses reasonably incurred in respect of an assignment or early ending of the tenancy; s44A RTA.
The Tribunal may award a landlord compensation of the amount of any rent the landlord has lost due to a fixed term tenancy ending early. For example, if there is a period between tenancies where the premises are vacant. Decisions
After considering the oral and written evidence, my decision is that the tenant is liable for rent up to 11 July 2024 and for the cost of the end of tenancy drug test of the premises. The reasons for my decision are:- a. The parties agreed together on the vacate date of 11 July 2024. b. The landlord and tenant agreed that the tenancy would end early. The parties disagree as to whether the tenant was told that he would remain liable for rent until new tenants were found. Where there is a difference in the oral evidence, the Tribunal will look to the written evidence. c. As part of the process of ending the tenancy early, the landlord asked the tenant to sign an “Application for early release on fixed term tenancy” (“the release document”). The release document does not say that the tenant will remain liable for rent until a new tenant is found. d. The release document does say that there may be costs incurred as part of the early release from the tenancy, that the landlord will provide an itemised list of those costs before asking for payment, and that the tenant agrees to pay “costs reasonably incurred”. e. The tenancy agreement includes clause 7, under “Additional terms and conditions”. This clause says that “if the landlord consents to ending the fixed term early, the landlord may place conditions on the consent addressing the matters below ...”. The clause goes on to say that “the landlord and the tenant shall enter into an agreement. The tenant is liable for the rent and other matters contained in the agreement until they have been formally released in terms of the agreement.” f. The release document is the only written record of the conditions of the release from the fixed term tenancy. g. My conclusion is that the landlord has not proven that it was a condition of the tenant being released from the tenancy early that he would remain liable for rent until a new tenancy began. h. In addition, English is not the tenant’s first language which put the tenant at a disadvantage. It adds weight to my decision that the landlord cannot seek to claim lost rent past the date that the tenant vacated the premises because this was not recorded in writing as a condition of that release. i. The early release document did say that that there may be other costs incurred and that the tenant agreed to pay these. The landlord has a statutory right to claim such costs under s44A RTA provided that an itemised account is provided to the tenant before requesting payment. j. I do not know if the landlord had provided the tenant with an itemised account or invoice before the hearing, as required by s44A RTA. However, I agree that the outgoing drug test is an additional expense to the landlord that is directly related to the tenancy ending early. An invoice was supplied at the hearing. I award this claim.
The reasons given above are sufficient to explain my decision. However, I note that there are two other reasons that have influenced my decision and why I consider it fair in this case that the tenant is not required to compensate the landlord for the value of rent from 12 to 26 July 2024 (“the vacant period”). a. Firstly, the tenant says he supplied the landlord with the name and contact details of a tenant who was interested in taking over the tenancy. I accept his oral evidence that he did so. The property managers present at the hearing had no knowledge or recollection of this and a third staff member was not available to ask. I note that a landlord has a legal obligation to respond in writing to any written request by a tenant that includes contact details for a proposed assignee; s43B(4) RTA. There is no evidence that this happened or as to whether the landlord contacted the proposed new tenant. It is at least possible that if the landlord had contacted the proposed new tenant, there may have been a shorter vacant period. Section 43B RTA requires a landlord to be proactive and to act reasonably. b. Secondly, the new tenancy started on 27 July 2024 at a rent which is $50.00 per week higher than that paid by the tenant. The landlord says that it is not necessarily better off because it had the legal right to increase the rent under the tenant’s contract. This is true however the landlord had not done so. The fact is that the landlord is receiving more rent from the new tenants than it was from the tenant. This reduces the landlord’s rent loss over the vacant period to some extent.
Section 85 RTA directs the Tribunal to make its decisions in the way most likely to ensure the fair and expeditious resolution of disputes and these additional reasons support this outcome.
I award compensation to the landlord of the rent payable up to 11 July 2024 which is $996.43 and the invoiced cost of the end of tenancy routine drug test of $299.00. Filing fee and suppression of names
Both parties have been partly successful, so I make no award for the filing fee.
Similarly, both are partly in the right, so I suppress both of their names from the published order.
The bond is refunded in accordance with the order.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4932414 — Tenancy dispute

At a glance

Award balance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4932414 — Tenancy dispute

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Frequently asked questions

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Frequently asked questions