Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 4936474 — Rent arrears at 13 Foyle Place, Glendene, Auckland 0602
Decided 14 Oct 2024 · Published 14 Oct 2024 · Application 4936474
Landlord favoured
- Rent arrears
- Cleanliness
- Property damage
Order
- Shankaran Mudaliar Kumar must pay Buy West Realty Limited $8,410.43 immediately, calculated as shown in the table below:
- This order incorporates the Tribunal order made on 27 June 2024 under application 4882041.
- The application for compensation for garden and lawn work is dismissed.
Reasons
- The landlord attended the hearing. The tenant did not attend the hearing. The tenant has not communicated with the Tribunal as to why he would not attend the hearing and the hearing proceeded in his absence.
- The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.
- The landlord had applied for an order to dispose of the tenant’s belongings. However, at the hearing, the landlord advised that the belongings had already been disposed of and this claim was withdrawn.
How much is owed for rent?
- On 27 June 2024 Tribunal made an order relating to this tenancy, for rent arrears to 27 June 2024 and reimbursement of the filing fee. The previous order, less the bond which has been paid to the landlord, is incorporated into this order for enforcement purposes.
- The tenancy ended on 09 July 2024. The landlord provided rent records in the form of a rent ledger which prove the amount owing from and including 28 June 2024 to 09 July 2024.
Did the tenant comply with his obligations at the end of the tenancy?
- Section 40(1)(e)(ii)-(v) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) provides that at the end of the tenancy the tenant must leave the premises reasonably clean and tidy, remove all rubbish, return all keys and security devices, and leave all chattels provided for their benefit.
- The landlord has provided an invoice for $2990.00 (including GST) which states it is for the following: Eviction Clean (Stage-1) *(Internal House Partially Deep Clean, Rubbish Removal, lawnmowing and gardening $1200.00 Eviction Clean (Stage-2) *(Full House deep sanitise clean from top to bottom including walls, Ceiling, Carpets deep shampoo clean and Furniture removal) $940.00 Eviction Clean (Hire Waste Disposal Bin)$460.00
- The landlord says, and I accept, that two skip bins were required at the cost of $460 plus GST each and that part of the sum of $1200.00 (see above) is hiring of the bins.
- The landlord has also provided a further invoice for collection of rubbish ($303.48 including GST).
- The tenant was evicted from the premises. The landlord has provided photographs which show that the tenant’s belongings were left behind and there was some rubbish in the house. While I accept that there would have been a significant amount of worked involved in sorting and removing the tenant’s property and rubbish, I decline to award the full sum sought for the following reasons: a. Part of the claim is for “lawnmowing & gardening”. The time spent is not particularised in the invoice, so it is not possible to state how much time was spent on lawnmowing and gardening. I have not been provided with any photographs from the end of the tenancy showing that the garden required work. The claim for lawnmowing and gardening is dismissed. b. There is insufficient evidence to support such a large invoice for cleaning: at the hearing, the landlord provided 5 photographs to support its claim that the premises were not left reasonably clean and tidy. However, these photographs were taken before the tenant’s property was removed and it is impossible to see if, for example, the carpet required “a deep shampoo clean”. There is a photograph of the toilet but there are no photographs of the bathroom or the kitchen.
- I accept two skip bins would have been required. I consider that 20 hours work at $50 plus GST per hour would have been sufficient to move and sort the tenant’s belongings and rubbish and to carry out the cleaning. I award the sum of $1,058.00 (including GST) for the skip bins, $303.48 (including GST) for rubbish removal and $1,150.00 (including GST) for sorting and removing the tenant’s belongings and rubbish and cleaning.
- The tenant did not return the keys. The claim for changing the locks and keys is proved and I award $245.00 (inclusive of GST) for this claim. Other claims:
- The landlord has provided an invoice proving that an eviction warrant was obtained and the fee that was paid for this warrant. This claim is proved, and I award the sum of $258.00 (including GST) for this claim.
- The landlord claimed for $280 (including GST) in respect of lawnmowing during the tenancy. I have dismissed this claim as well as the post tenancy claim for garden work (as set out above) because there was no evidence that the tenant had agreed to pay this work or photographic evidence showing it was necessary for the work to be performed.
- Buy West Realty Limited has substantially succeeded with the claim. For this reason, I have ordered reimbursement of the filing fee.