What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5327880 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $13,978.00 immediately,

How much money was awarded in case 5327880?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $13,950.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5327880?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5327880?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12779355-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5327880 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $13,978.00 immediately,

How much money was awarded in case 5327880?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $13,950.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5327880?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5327880?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12779355-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

18 Lambrown Drive, Totara Vale, Auckland 0629 Tenancy Tribunal Case 5327880 — Rent arrears

Reasons

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5327880 — net $13,978.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears (reduced	$13,950.00	The claim for rent arrears is proven. Should the rent arrears be reduced?
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$13,978.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$13,978.00

The landlord attended the hearing via remote teleconference. There was no attendance by the tenant. Two attempts were made to contact the tenant on the telephone number provided. Both attempts went straight to voicemail.

The landlord has applied for rent arrears and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.

How much is owed for rent?

The tenancy ended on 3 September 2025. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing at the end of the tenancy. The rent arrears are significant ($20,925.00) and the landlord has provided a comprehensive rent ledger which clearly sets out the rent payments made by the tenant and the total outstanding arrears.

The claim for rent arrears is proven.

Should the rent arrears be reduced?

The level of the arrears in this case are extraordinary.

Based on the rent ledger, the primary issues with arrears arose over a period between 10 January 2024 and 27 August 2025. Over that period the tenant made payments to the equivalent of 47 weeks of rent leaving a shortfall of a significant amount of rent due.

In my view, a reasonable landlord would not allow a tenant to accrue that level of rent arrears before pursing the matter in the Tribunal.

A prudent landlord would in the first instance work with the tenant to get the arrears addressed, but if that was not successful, then the landlord would bring the matter before the Tribunal for formal orders to address the situation, to avoid the prospect of very high rent arrears arising, that the tenant may be unable to pay.

Furthermore, there was a legal obligation on the landlord to mitigate her loss, as required by section 49 of the RTA. That provision holds: Where any party to a tenancy agreement breaches any of the provisions of the agreement or of this Act, the other party shall take all reasonable steps to limit the damage or loss arising from that breach, in accordance with the rules of law relating to mitigation of loss or damage upon breach of contract.

I cannot see that the landlord has reasonably mitigated its loss or damage arising from the tenant’s non-payment of rent.

I consider that the landlord’s attempts to resolve the issue of rent arrears without resorting to eviction were reasonable. But I qualify that; it is reasonable only up to a point.

Where a tenant repeatedly breaches promises to make up arrears and instead additional arrears are incurred there comes a point when it is being naive to the landlord’s own interests to persist giving the tenant more time to pay.

For that reason, I do not consider that the full arrears can be claimed. In other words, I am satisfied on balance of probabilities that here was some failure to mitigate loss.

Accordingly, I discount the total amount owing by one third for failure to mitigate loss, that is, a reduction of $6,975.00 leaving arrears claimable of $13,950.00 plus the application filing fee.

Because [The landlord/s] has substantially succeeded with the claim I have reimbursed the filing fee.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5327880 — net $13,978.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears (reduced	$13,950.00	The claim for rent arrears is proven. Should the rent arrears be reduced?
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$13,978.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$13,978.00

Order

[The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $13,978.00 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.

Reasons

The landlord attended the hearing via remote teleconference. There was no attendance by the tenant. Two attempts were made to contact the tenant on the telephone number provided. Both attempts went straight to voicemail.
The landlord has applied for rent arrears and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.

How much is owed for rent?

The tenancy ended on 3 September 2025. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing at the end of the tenancy. The rent arrears are significant ($20,925.00) and the landlord has provided a comprehensive rent ledger which clearly sets out the rent payments made by the tenant and the total outstanding arrears.
The claim for rent arrears is proven.

Should the rent arrears be reduced?

The level of the arrears in this case are extraordinary.
Based on the rent ledger, the primary issues with arrears arose over a period between 10 January 2024 and 27 August 2025. Over that period the tenant made payments to the equivalent of 47 weeks of rent leaving a shortfall of a significant amount of rent due.
In my view, a reasonable landlord would not allow a tenant to accrue that level of rent arrears before pursing the matter in the Tribunal.
A prudent landlord would in the first instance work with the tenant to get the arrears addressed, but if that was not successful, then the landlord would bring the matter before the Tribunal for formal orders to address the situation, to avoid the prospect of very high rent arrears arising, that the tenant may be unable to pay.
Furthermore, there was a legal obligation on the landlord to mitigate her loss, as required by section 49 of the RTA. That provision holds: Where any party to a tenancy agreement breaches any of the provisions of the agreement or of this Act, the other party shall take all reasonable steps to limit the damage or loss arising from that breach, in accordance with the rules of law relating to mitigation of loss or damage upon breach of contract.
I cannot see that the landlord has reasonably mitigated its loss or damage arising from the tenant’s non-payment of rent.
I consider that the landlord’s attempts to resolve the issue of rent arrears without resorting to eviction were reasonable. But I qualify that; it is reasonable only up to a point.
Where a tenant repeatedly breaches promises to make up arrears and instead additional arrears are incurred there comes a point when it is being naive to the landlord’s own interests to persist giving the tenant more time to pay.
For that reason, I do not consider that the full arrears can be claimed. In other words, I am satisfied on balance of probabilities that here was some failure to mitigate loss.
Accordingly, I discount the total amount owing by one third for failure to mitigate loss, that is, a reduction of $6,975.00 leaving arrears claimable of $13,950.00 plus the application filing fee.
Because [The landlord/s] has substantially succeeded with the claim I have reimbursed the filing fee.

Tenancy Tribunal case 5327880 — Rent arrears at 18 Lambrown Drive, Totara Vale, Auckland 0629

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 5327880 — Rent arrears at 18 Lambrown Drive, Totara Vale, Auckland 0629

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

Should the rent arrears be reduced?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

Should the rent arrears be reduced?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Frequently asked questions