What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5261387 about?

The tribunal order states: An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal

How much money was awarded in case 5261387?

Compensation: Failure To Maintain: $2,000.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $6,428.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5261387?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5261387?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12342236-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5261387 about?

The tribunal order states: An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal

How much money was awarded in case 5261387?

Compensation: Failure To Maintain: $2,000.00 awarded to tenant; Filing Fee: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $27.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $6,428.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5261387?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5261387?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12342236-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 5261387 — Rent arrears

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5261387 — net $428.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
Rent arrears	$6,428.57		9. The amount of rent arrears is proven.
Filing fee	$27.00		25. I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) unti…
Compensation: Failure to maintain		$2,000.00	Failure to maintain
Filing fee		$27.00	25. I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) unti…
Total award	$6,455.57	$2,027.00
Net award	$428.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$428.57

Order

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Tenant and Landlord names and identifying details. 2. 3.

Reasons

Background

This was a fixed term tenancy beginning on 31 May 2024 and ending on 1 June 2025.
The tenants left the tenancy before the end of the fixed term.
The landlord’s application seeks rent arrears.
The tenants’ application seeks compensation / exemplary damages for failure to maintain.
The hearing took place by video conference on 28 August 2025. [The landlord’s representative] (representing the landlords) and [Tenant 1] (representing herself and the other tenants) participated in the hearing. Landlord application
The tenants paid the rent consistently during the tenancy until they left in mid- late April. They then stopped paying rent.
The landlord did not re-let the premises before the end of the fixed term. The landlord did not accept the surrender of the tenancy.
The tenants remained liable for rent to the end of the fixed term tenancy.
The amount of rent arrears is proven. Tenant application
Landlords must provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair. 1
A breach of this duty is an unlawful act. 2 The Tenancy Tribunal may award exemplary damages if the Tribunal is satisfied that a landlord or tenant intentionally committed an unlawful act. The maximum award of exemplary damages for failing to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair is $7,200.
The other type of monetary damages that the Tribunal may award is compensation. The Tribunal does not have to be satisfied that the action was intentional to award compensation.
[Tenant 1] mentioned several maintenance issues that arose during the tenancy, some of which she considered were not addressed in a sufficiently timely manner, but the main issue was to do with the upstairs toilet.
The toilet ran constantly, and it was noisy.
[Tenant 1] said that: 1 Section 45(1)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (“RTA”) 2 Section 45(1A) RTA a. She raised the problem with the property manager at the first property inspection in July 2024. b. The landlord did not take action, and the noise was getting worse. On 11 September 2024, she sent [The landlord’s representative] an email detailing the problem and attaching videos. She also lodged a maintenance request on the landlord’s online portal. c. The next day, [The landlord’s representative] replied “OK I will contact the landlord to get approval to send someone they’ll be in contact with you in the next few days to early next week”. d. She didn’t hear anything further, and she followed up with [The landlord’s representative] on 11 October and 15 October. e. On 16 October, [The landlord’s representative] replied “the toilet doesn’t seem to be affecting your water bills so the landlord doesn’t want to send a plumber unless the sound is super inconvenient”. The same day, [The landlord’s representative] sent another message stating “If the toilet sound is too much you should be able to turn it off at the wall while I convince the owner to fix it but he’s a tough nut to crack”. f. She replied promptly to that message, challenging the comment about her water bills, and confirming that the noise and constant running was very inconvenient. There was no reply. g. She sent a message on 31 October following up on various maintenance issues including the toilet. [The landlord’s representative] replied: “I will be there in about an hour and I will look into these issues”. h. The landlord did not arrange for a plumber or take any action at all. i. [Tenant 2] reminded [The landlord’s representative] about the toilet at an inspection in February 2025. j. In March 2025, contractors came to repair a broken window and put in a drain for the washing machine, but still nothing in respect of the toilet. k. On 17 March, [The landlord’s representative] sent her a message asking about a Tenancy Tribunal application (although she had not filed an application at that time). [The landlord’s representative] message said: “Your Tribunal application went straight to the landlord instead of me so I can’t see the reason for it but he said it was because the toilet is still hissing? Is that correct? If so, I will send a plumber”. l. The next day, she told [The landlord’s representative] that she would be ending the tenancy because “we were over the toilet not getting tended to and fixed”.
[The landlord’s representative] said that when he did his inspections the toilet was not running or making noise. He said that he did not know that [Tenant 1] had turned off the water supply to the toilet.
My finding is that the landlord failed to meet its duty to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair in respect of the toilet.
[The landlord’s representative] explanation of why the toilet was not repaired during the tenancy is unconvincing and inadequate. [Tenant 1] provided [The landlord’s representative] with more than enough information to show the nature and extent of the problem, and her regular follow-ups made it clear that the problem had not gone away.
The landlord’s failure to repair the toilet did not (from a legal perspective) justify termination of the tenancy before the end of the fixed term. However, [Tenant 1] frustration about the lack of action is completely understandable. It should not be necessary for tenants to follow up multiple times about a relatively simple maintenance issue. That frustration was only increased when [The landlord’s representative] offered to send a plumber when he thought that [Tenant 1] had filed a Tenancy Tribunal application, and when the landlord finally repaired the toilet after she left the property.
It is appropriate to make an award of damages for the breach of a legal duty.
As noted above, the Tribunal may make an award of exemplary damages if the Tribunal is satisfied that an unlawful act was committed intentionally.
In this instance, there is some suggestion, particularly in [The landlord’s representative] messages on 16 October, that the owner simply decided that the toilet problem wasn’t serious enough to warrant repair. That type of refusal to maintain would justify an award of exemplary damages. However, there is also a possibility, as [The landlord’s representative] explained, that genuine misunderstanding and confusion played a part.
On balance there is sufficient doubt about whether the breach was intentional that it is, in my view, inappropriate to make an award of exemplary damages.
However, I will make an award of compensation to the tenants. The award takes into account: a. the inconvenience and annoyance of ‘putting up with’ the running and noisy toilet, b. the water lost through the leaking cistern, that the tenants paid for, c. the annoyance and frustration for the tenants of following up about the toilet repair; whilst also recognising that: d. the toilet still functioned, e. the water loss cannot be accurately assessed and is likely to be relatively minimal, and f. the failure to repair did not justify the tenants ‘walking away’ from the tenancy.
I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) until the end of the tenancy, a period of 40 weeks. Total compensation is $2,000.00. Filing fee, bond, name suppression
Both parties were successful in their applications, and both are entitled to be awarded the filing fee of $27.00. 3
Both parties sought name suppression. Name suppression is granted to both on the grounds that they were substantially successful in respect of their applications. 4
The bond will be released to the landlord.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5261387 — net $428.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Tenant	Reason
Rent arrears	$6,428.57		9. The amount of rent arrears is proven.
Filing fee	$27.00		25. I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) unti…
Compensation: Failure to maintain		$2,000.00	Failure to maintain
Filing fee		$27.00	25. I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) unti…
Total award	$6,455.57	$2,027.00
Net award	$428.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$428.57

Order

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Tenant and Landlord names and identifying details. 2. 3.

Reasons

Background

This was a fixed term tenancy beginning on 31 May 2024 and ending on 1 June 2025.
The tenants left the tenancy before the end of the fixed term.
The landlord’s application seeks rent arrears.
The tenants’ application seeks compensation / exemplary damages for failure to maintain.
The hearing took place by video conference on 28 August 2025. [The landlord’s representative] (representing the landlords) and [Tenant 1] (representing herself and the other tenants) participated in the hearing. Landlord application
The tenants paid the rent consistently during the tenancy until they left in mid- late April. They then stopped paying rent.
The landlord did not re-let the premises before the end of the fixed term. The landlord did not accept the surrender of the tenancy.
The tenants remained liable for rent to the end of the fixed term tenancy.
The amount of rent arrears is proven. Tenant application
Landlords must provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair. 1
A breach of this duty is an unlawful act. 2 The Tenancy Tribunal may award exemplary damages if the Tribunal is satisfied that a landlord or tenant intentionally committed an unlawful act. The maximum award of exemplary damages for failing to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair is $7,200.
The other type of monetary damages that the Tribunal may award is compensation. The Tribunal does not have to be satisfied that the action was intentional to award compensation.
[Tenant 1] mentioned several maintenance issues that arose during the tenancy, some of which she considered were not addressed in a sufficiently timely manner, but the main issue was to do with the upstairs toilet.
The toilet ran constantly, and it was noisy.
[Tenant 1] said that: 1 Section 45(1)(b) Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (“RTA”) 2 Section 45(1A) RTA a. She raised the problem with the property manager at the first property inspection in July 2024. b. The landlord did not take action, and the noise was getting worse. On 11 September 2024, she sent [The landlord’s representative] an email detailing the problem and attaching videos. She also lodged a maintenance request on the landlord’s online portal. c. The next day, [The landlord’s representative] replied “OK I will contact the landlord to get approval to send someone they’ll be in contact with you in the next few days to early next week”. d. She didn’t hear anything further, and she followed up with [The landlord’s representative] on 11 October and 15 October. e. On 16 October, [The landlord’s representative] replied “the toilet doesn’t seem to be affecting your water bills so the landlord doesn’t want to send a plumber unless the sound is super inconvenient”. The same day, [The landlord’s representative] sent another message stating “If the toilet sound is too much you should be able to turn it off at the wall while I convince the owner to fix it but he’s a tough nut to crack”. f. She replied promptly to that message, challenging the comment about her water bills, and confirming that the noise and constant running was very inconvenient. There was no reply. g. She sent a message on 31 October following up on various maintenance issues including the toilet. [The landlord’s representative] replied: “I will be there in about an hour and I will look into these issues”. h. The landlord did not arrange for a plumber or take any action at all. i. [Tenant 2] reminded [The landlord’s representative] about the toilet at an inspection in February 2025. j. In March 2025, contractors came to repair a broken window and put in a drain for the washing machine, but still nothing in respect of the toilet. k. On 17 March, [The landlord’s representative] sent her a message asking about a Tenancy Tribunal application (although she had not filed an application at that time). [The landlord’s representative] message said: “Your Tribunal application went straight to the landlord instead of me so I can’t see the reason for it but he said it was because the toilet is still hissing? Is that correct? If so, I will send a plumber”. l. The next day, she told [The landlord’s representative] that she would be ending the tenancy because “we were over the toilet not getting tended to and fixed”.
[The landlord’s representative] said that when he did his inspections the toilet was not running or making noise. He said that he did not know that [Tenant 1] had turned off the water supply to the toilet.
My finding is that the landlord failed to meet its duty to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair in respect of the toilet.
[The landlord’s representative] explanation of why the toilet was not repaired during the tenancy is unconvincing and inadequate. [Tenant 1] provided [The landlord’s representative] with more than enough information to show the nature and extent of the problem, and her regular follow-ups made it clear that the problem had not gone away.
The landlord’s failure to repair the toilet did not (from a legal perspective) justify termination of the tenancy before the end of the fixed term. However, [Tenant 1] frustration about the lack of action is completely understandable. It should not be necessary for tenants to follow up multiple times about a relatively simple maintenance issue. That frustration was only increased when [The landlord’s representative] offered to send a plumber when he thought that [Tenant 1] had filed a Tenancy Tribunal application, and when the landlord finally repaired the toilet after she left the property.
It is appropriate to make an award of damages for the breach of a legal duty.
As noted above, the Tribunal may make an award of exemplary damages if the Tribunal is satisfied that an unlawful act was committed intentionally.
In this instance, there is some suggestion, particularly in [The landlord’s representative] messages on 16 October, that the owner simply decided that the toilet problem wasn’t serious enough to warrant repair. That type of refusal to maintain would justify an award of exemplary damages. However, there is also a possibility, as [The landlord’s representative] explained, that genuine misunderstanding and confusion played a part.
On balance there is sufficient doubt about whether the breach was intentional that it is, in my view, inappropriate to make an award of exemplary damages.
However, I will make an award of compensation to the tenants. The award takes into account: a. the inconvenience and annoyance of ‘putting up with’ the running and noisy toilet, b. the water lost through the leaking cistern, that the tenants paid for, c. the annoyance and frustration for the tenants of following up about the toilet repair; whilst also recognising that: d. the toilet still functioned, e. the water loss cannot be accurately assessed and is likely to be relatively minimal, and f. the failure to repair did not justify the tenants ‘walking away’ from the tenancy.
I will award compensation of $50 per week (5% of the rent) for the period from when the tenants first notified the landlord of the problem (July 2024) until the end of the tenancy, a period of 40 weeks. Total compensation is $2,000.00. Filing fee, bond, name suppression
Both parties were successful in their applications, and both are entitled to be awarded the filing fee of $27.00. 3
Both parties sought name suppression. Name suppression is granted to both on the grounds that they were substantially successful in respect of their applications. 4
The bond will be released to the landlord.

Tenancy Tribunal case 5261387 — Rent arrears

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 5261387 — Rent arrears

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions