Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 5105728 — Rent arrears
Decided 21 May 2025 · Published 21 May 2025 · Application 5105728
- Rent arrears
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Order
- [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $2,219.87 calculated as shown in table below. DescriptionLandlord Rent arrears as of 21 May 2025 Bond $2,192.87 $2,400.00 Filing fee reimbursement$27.00 Total payable by Tenant to Landlord$4,592.87
- The debt in order 1 is to be paid by monthly payments commencing from 17 June 2025, of $200.00 each month, to be paid in addition to the required rental payments. Those additional $200.00 payments are to be made monthly until the debt is paid in full. Failure to make those monthly additional payments will result in the entire debt becoming due for immediate payment.
Reasons
- The Tribunal must consider an application filed by the landlord.
- Both parties appeared at the hearing today.
- The tenancy commenced as a tenancy between the tenants and owners. Things did not go well, in that the tenancy agreement was not signed at that time, and the bond documents not completed or bond paid. But it seems the parties agreed on the full terms of the tenancy such as the rent and need to pay four weeks’ rent as bond.
- During the tenancy the owners appointed a property manager who appears at the hearing today.
APPLICANTS CLAIMS
- At the hearing, the applicant confirmed their claims are as follows: a. Rent arrears b. Bond payment c. Signed agreement.
ANALYSIS
Claim 1 – Rent arrears
- The property manager claims rent arrears, and has provided the rent ledgers
- The tenants agree there are rent arrears, but they disagree that it is $3,600.00 as the landlord states. Analysis
- Following discussion at the hearing, the parties agree that the total amount of the rent that should have been paid is $105,428.57 as of 21 May 2025. There was no dispute that the rent that has been paid is $103,235.70. That means the arrears as of 21 May 2025 are $2,192.87, and that is ordered. Claim 2 - Bond
- The property manager seeks an order for the payment of a bond, but the property manager was not sure what the arrangement was.
- In response the tenant states that at the start of the tenancy the landlord asked that the tenant draft the agreement which he did, and that was provided to the landlord, with the bond documents. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the parties did not execute those documents and the bond was not paid.
- But as I explained to the tenants, the landlord is legally entitled to have the bond in the Bond Centre, so I make the order that be paid to the sum of $2,400.00. Claim 3 – Tenancy agreement
- The landlord seeks to have the tenancy agreement signed. We discussed this at the hearing, and the Tribunal printed a copy for the parties to sign, and I understand they agreed this would be signed in the waiting room following the hearing. Payment of debt
- The tenant owes the landlord rent arrears and the outstanding bond payment. I accept that the tenant is not in a position to make those full payments now. The tenants confirmed they could realistically pay the debt at $200.00 per month, and that seems reasonable. I order monthly payments of $200.00 until the debt is cleared. But if the tenants miss those payments, then the entire balance of the debt will become payable immediately.