What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4994590 about?

The tribunal order states: The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be

How much money was awarded in case 4994590?

Property Damage: $500.00 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4994590?

The primary dispute was Healthy homes.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4994590?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10943618-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 4994590 about?

The tribunal order states: The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be

How much money was awarded in case 4994590?

Property Damage: $500.00 awarded to tenant

What type of tenancy dispute was case 4994590?

The primary dispute was Healthy homes.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 4994590?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/10943618-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

Room 5, Unit/Flat 5, 12 Abbotsford Street, Whitiora, Tenancy Tribunal Case 4994590 — Healthy homes

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4994590 — net $500.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Exemplary damages: Breach Healthy Homes Standards	$500.00	Breach Healthy Homes Standards
Net award	$500.00
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$500.00

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 4994590 — net $500.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Tenant	Reason
Exemplary damages: Breach Healthy Homes Standards	$500.00	Breach Healthy Homes Standards
Net award	$500.00
Total payable by Landlord to Tenant	$500.00

Order

The landlord must carry out the following work to the premises, which must be completed by 11 November 2024. a. The gutters at the premises must checked and cleaned if necessary.
If the landlord fails to comply with either Order 2 above by the specified date, then the tenant may undertake the work and charge the landlord the costs of this work up to $500.00. These costs may be set off against rent payable.
The tenant is to allow access to the premises for contractors, once correct notice is given.
Milburn Property Management Limited must pay [The tenant/s] $300.00 immediately.

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing. This is a current tenancy that began on 14 January 2023.The tenant filed claims for compensation and exemplary damages. Did the premises comply with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) 2019 Ventilation
[The tenant/s] claims that the landlord has breached the landlord’s obligations under section 45(1)(bb) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA), which requires compliance with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) 2019 (HHS). [The tenant/s] considers that the landlord has failed to comply with the HHS ventilation standard.
Compliance dates for the HHS vary depending on the tenancy: a. For private rentals i. If the tenancy commenced between 28 August 2022 but before 3 March 2025, the rental must comply within 120 days of the commencement of any new or renewed tenancy. ii. All private rentals must comply by 1 July 2025.
The ventilation standard sets out minimum expectations around windows and doors, and in particular the area of doors and windows that are openable. The standard also requires that each kitchen and bathroom have extractor fans installed with a minimum defined extraction capacity.
The HHS does provide exemptions in specific circumstances.
Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45(1A).
It was agreed that the premises did not have a kitchen extractor fan. The tenant said that the bathroom fan never worked but no evidence was provided supporting this. No emails or 14-day notice to repair were provided.
The landlords said the bathroom fan worked but had stopped. It is agreed that new extractor fans have recently been installed in both areas. The landlord said that they were frustrated as they had been trying to attend to these but had been stopped by the tenant failing to allow access to contractors. In support of this they produced a letter form Tim Richardson builder dated 9 October 2024 who wrote I was asked some time ...’ price to do up the bathroom, fit ventilation to the bathroom and kitchen areas, and check all the window lectures. Trying to communicate and gain access to this property this time and in the past has proven to be difficult with a tenant either working or not responding...... We would like to have been able to repair this earlier but we were unable to get access to the property. In my time working with Melbourne properties urgent maintenance like this has always been done as soon as possibly possible".
The tenant said that he had never denied access and the landlord had a key to enter.
The landlords said that the owners were considering upgrading the kitchen and bathroom, but they needed to comply with the RTA so decided to have the extractor fans installed.
I find Milburn Property Management Limited committed an unlawful act.
Where a party has committed an unlawful act intentionally, the Tribunal may award exemplary damages where it is satisfied it would be just to do so, having regard to the party’s intent, the effect of the unlawful act, the interest of the other party, and the public interest. See section 109(3) RTA.
The landlords have had well over a year to comply with the ventilation standard and I find that although some of the delay was due to the tenant’s unavailability there was no evidence of emails or notices issued to the tenant requesting entry and no application to the Tribunal for orders of this nature. There was also a delay while it was decided whether to wait until the premises were renovated to comply.
The HHS have a time period for compliance which is not negotiable. I find that the landlord knew about the requirements but failed to comply. I find it just to award exemplary damages of $250.00 for this breach. Heating
[The tenant/s] claims that the landlord has breached the landlord’s obligations under section 45(1)(bb) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA), which requires compliance with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) 2019 (HHS). [The tenant/s] considers that the landlord has failed to comply with the HHS heating standard.
Compliance dates for the HHS vary depending on the tenancy: a. For private rentals i. If the tenancy commenced between 28 August 2022 but before 3 March 2025, the rental must comply within 120 days of the commencement of any new or renewed tenancy. ii. All private rentals must comply by 1 July 2025.
The heating standard requires landlords to provide one or more ‘qualifying heaters’, with a capacity to heat the room to a required level. The heating standard defines what a qualifying heater would be and confirms that certain types of heaters are unacceptable heaters for the purpose of the HHS.
The heating standard requires that heaters in the particular tenancy have a minimum heating capacity. An on-line calculator has been produced in order to determine what level of heating is required for any particular premises, and that can be found at https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/heating-tool/
The HHS does provide exemptions in specific circumstances.
Breaching this obligation is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45(1A).
In this case I have determined that the landlord failed to comply with the heating standard. A hard-wired heater was put into the property in 2018 and they did not know that it had become non-compliant. Once they were made aware of the requirements, a heat pump was installed.
I find Milburn Property Management Limited committed an unlawful act.
Where a party has committed an unlawful act intentionally, the Tribunal may award exemplary damages where it is satisfied it would be just to do so, having regard to the party’s intent, the effect of the unlawful act, the interest of the other party, and the public interest. See section 109(3) RTA.
The landlord is required to know and comply with the requirements of the RTA. The HHS were introduced to ensure that tenants had healthy warm homes. Not knowing the law is no excuse and I find it just to award exemplary damages of $250.00 for this breach.

Has the landlord failed to comply with their obligations?

[The tenant/s] claims that the landlord has breached their obligations under section 45 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
Under section 45, a landlord must provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair having regard to the age and character of the premises and the period during which the premises are likely to remain habitable and available for residential purposes.
Breaching any of these obligations is an unlawful act for which exemplary damages may be awarded up to a maximum of $7,200.00. See section 45(1A) and Schedule 1A Residential Tenancies Act 1986. Carpet.
The tenant claimed that the carpet was old, very thin and hard to clean. Photographs of the carpet were provided showing it was older with a few stains.
The landlords said that the photos were a fair representation of the carpet that was about 20 years old. They disputed that it was not in a reasonable state of repair and said the carpet was old but not threadbare and was serviceable.
I agree with the landlords the carpet is older but there was no evidence that it was in an unreasonable condition or in need of any repairs.
This claim is dismissed. Bathroom and kitchen
The tenant claimed that the bathroom was old and needed replacing. The seals were failing, and the vinyl flooring was deteriorating. Photograph were produced. He said that the kitchen was also old, and the floor was marked and hard to clean.
The landlords said prior to the tenant moving in the owners were considering doing up the bathroom and kitchen areas but the tenancy would have to end for this renovation. They believed that the areas were reasonable and usable and would look better if cleaned by the tenant.
The landlords provided photographs which show an older but maintained kitchen.
The tenant said his issue was with the inside of the cupboards, but there was no evidence provided in support of this.
Throughout the hearing the tenant repeatedly offered to upgrade the bathroom and kitchen himself as he said that he was a builder and capable of doing the work. He said that he could do the work and have the value of his labour taken off the rent.
The landlords said that there would be a conflict and were not interested in the tenants offer. They also had instructions that the owners did not want the tenant working on the premises.
I find that having regard to the age and character of the premises the evidence provided by the tenant did not support his claims that the kitchen and bathroom were not in a reasonable state of repair.
This claim is dismissed. Window latches and stays.
The tenant provided copies of a Police acknowledgement form recording that his property was burgled and another incident where his van was stolen. He believed that the premises were accessed via a window because of the loose latches and window stays.
The landlords said they were never told about the incidents from the tenant. They have been trying to get access to the premises to check the latches and stays but the tenant has prevented them doing this.
The burglary at the premises is important information that the landlord should have been made aware of. At the hearing, the tenant agreed to give contractors access to attend to the window latches. A landlord has a responsibility to provide and maintain a premises and correspondingly a tenant has the responsibility to tell the landlord when maintenance is required. See section 40(1)(d) RTA.
This claim is dismissed.
The landlord said that they would raise the tenants request to have wardrobe doors fitted in the bedrooms. Gutters
The tenant claims that the landlord did not clear the gutters at the premises, which overflow if there is a lot of rain. The tenant wants the problem fixed.
Under section 45(1)(a) - (ca) Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the landlord has an obligation to provide and maintain certain standards and to comply with applicable requirements.
Where the Tribunal finds, the landlord has failed to comply with any of these obligations, it may make an order for the landlord to carry out the work. See section 78(1)(e) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
A work order may also authorise the tenant to undertake the work and charge the landlord the costs of doing the work if the landlord should fail to comply with the work order. A monetary limit must be imposed by the Tribunal on the amount of costs that can be charged. These costs can be set off by the tenant against rent payable. See sections 78(2AAB) and 78(2AAC)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
The landlord agreed to have the gutters cleaned and said that this would happen within a month.
The claim for insulation breach is dismissed. The tenant did not provide any evidence and the landlord provided evidence that the insulation complied with the HHS.
I do not find that there are grounds to reduce the rent during the period that the premises did not comply with the HHS as some of the delay I find were due to the tenant’s unavailability. This claim is dismissed.
Name suppression was sought by the tenant and because he was mostly successful it is granted. See section 95 RTA.

Tenancy Tribunal case 4994590 — Healthy homes at Room 5, Unit/Flat 5, 12 Abbotsford Street, Whitiora,

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 4994590 — Healthy homes at Room 5, Unit/Flat 5, 12 Abbotsford Street, Whitiora,

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

Has the landlord failed to comply with their obligations?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Dismissed claims

Order

Reasons

Has the landlord failed to comply with their obligations?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions