What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5359346 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] must pay Mehome Limited As

How much money was awarded in case 5359346?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $575.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $1,428.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5359346?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears. Related themes: Property damage.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5359346?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12779217-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5359346 about?

The tribunal order states: [The tenant/s] and [The tenant/s] must pay Mehome Limited As

How much money was awarded in case 5359346?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Property Damage: $575.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $1,428.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5359346?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears. Related themes: Property damage.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5359346?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12779217-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.

Unit/Flat Flat 612, 11 Union Street, Auckland Central, Tenancy Tribunal Case 5359346 — Rent arrears

Tenantcheck Insights

Reasons

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5359346 — net $31.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 3.8.2025	$1,428.57	Rent arrears to 3.8.2025
Repairs to damaged walls	$575.00	Repairs to damaged walls
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$31.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$31.57

Ms Wen, representing the landlord, attended the teleconference hearing. The phone numbers for the tenants, the last three digits being 222 and 675 respectively, were each called without any response. As the tenants were served, the hearing proceeded in their absence.

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

How much is owed for rent?

The landlord said the tenancy ended on 3 August 2025. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing to 3 August 2025, the end of the tenancy, which is $1,428.57.

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the premises?

A landlord must prove that damage to the premises occurred during the tenancy and is more than fair wear and tear. If this is established, to avoid liability, the tenant must prove they did not carelessly or intentionally cause or permit the damage. Tenants are liable for the actions of people at the premises with their permission. See sections 40(2)(a), 41 and 49B RTA.

Where the damage is careless, and occurs after 27 August 2019, section 49B RTA applies. If the landlord becomes aware of the damage after 27 August, the damage is presumed to have occurred after that date unless the tenant proves otherwise.

Where the damage is caused carelessly, and is covered by the landlord's insurance, the tenant's liability is limited to the lesser of the insurance excess or four weeks' rent (or four weeks' market rent in the case of a tenant paying income-related rent). See section 49B(3)(a) RTA.

Where the damage is careless and is not covered by the landlord's insurance, the tenant's liability is limited to four weeks' rent (or market rent). See section 49B(3)(b) RTA. Where insurance money is irrecoverable because of the tenant's conduct, the property is treated as if it is not insured against the damage. See section 49B(3A)(a) RTA.

Tenants are liable for the cost of repairing damage that is intentional or which results from any activity at the premises that is an imprisonable offence. This applies to anything the tenant does and anything done by a person they are responsible for. See section 49B(1) RTA.

Damage is intentional where a person intends to cause damage and takes the necessary steps to achieve that purpose. Damage is also intentional where a person does something, or allows a situation to continue, knowing that damage is a certainty. See Guo v Korck [2019] NZHC 1541.

The landlord said the tenants had badly plastered a number of areas on several walls throughout the property. The landlord thought it likely that the tenants marked the walls bringing their bike into the property and then tried to cover it up by plastering over the marked areas. The property manager believed this to be so as all the plastered marks on the walls were at around a similar height of that of bike handles. The landlord provided a photograph of the tenants’ bike on the balcony. The landlord also provided before (entry) and after (exit) photographs of 4 walls in the lounge and another wall by the entrance way/kitchen area, all of which had been clean and freshly painted at the start of the tenancy, and which showed several plastered areas on each of these 5 walls at the end of the tenancy.

Whilst the tenants may have brought their bike into the property and carelessly scraped the walls in doing so, from the fact they have plastered over any such scrapes and have done a bad job of this, and from the photographs and other evidence provided, I find the plastering on several walls is intentional damage on the part of the tenants. The tenants could have mentioned any scrapes to the landlord, in which case it might have been careless damage, but in attempting to repair any such damage, the resulting further damage has become intentional damage.

As the damage is intentional, the tenants are liable for the full repair cost less any depreciation. The cap in section 49B does not apply here.

The landlord said they had to have all these walls repaired, sanded down and painted over to bring the walls back to a good condition. The landlord said that, whilst the property was freshly painted before the tenancy started, their repair person did not paint the whole of any of the walls damaged, only sanded, polished and painted over the actual plastered areas with the same paint colour. Thus, as only the smaller damaged areas were painted, not the whole walls anywhere, I do not consider depreciation here.

The landlord paid $575.00 for the damaged plastered parts of the walls to be repaired, and provided an invoice in this amount, which I find to be a reasonable amount to repair the plastered areas of the 5 walls in question.

The damage is more than fair wear and tear, and the tenant has not disproved liability for the damage.

Therefore, I award $575.00 to the landlord to repair the plastered damaged areas of the 5 walls at the end of the tenancy.

The amounts ordered are proved. Refund of the bond

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $2,000.00 (BN-00007888) to Mehome Limited As Agent For C H Liu immediately. Filing fee

As the landlord has been successful with the claims, they are entitled to reimbursement of the filing fee.

Reasons

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5359346 — net $31.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 3.8.2025	$1,428.57	Rent arrears to 3.8.2025
Repairs to damaged walls	$575.00	Repairs to damaged walls
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$31.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$31.57

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

How much is owed for rent?

The landlord said the tenancy ended on 3 August 2025. The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing to 3 August 2025, the end of the tenancy, which is $1,428.57.

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the premises?

As the damage is intentional, the tenants are liable for the full repair cost less any depreciation. The cap in section 49B does not apply here.

The damage is more than fair wear and tear, and the tenant has not disproved liability for the damage.

Therefore, I award $575.00 to the landlord to repair the plastered damaged areas of the 5 walls at the end of the tenancy.

The amounts ordered are proved. Refund of the bond

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $2,000.00 (BN-00007888) to Mehome Limited As Agent For C H Liu immediately. Filing fee

As the landlord has been successful with the claims, they are entitled to reimbursement of the filing fee.

Tenancy Tribunal case 5359346 — Rent arrears at Unit/Flat Flat 612, 11 Union Street, Auckland Central,

At a glance

Tenancy Tribunal case 5359346 — Rent arrears at Unit/Flat Flat 612, 11 Union Street, Auckland Central,

At a glance

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the premises?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Property management

Frequently asked questions

Award balance

Claims & awards

Order

Reasons

How much is owed for rent?

Is the tenant responsible for the damage to the premises?

Topics & place

Residential Tenancies Act sections

Key findings

Property management

Frequently asked questions