Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 5377642 — Rent arrears at 8A Palmer Court, Paraparaumu, Paraparaumu 5032
Published 20 February 2026 · Application 5377642
Landlord favoured
- Rent arrears
- Property damage
Order
- Stacey Temana Fleetwood to pay Property Management Kapiti-Mana Limited T/A Quinovic Property Management Kapiti-Mana as Agent For Gareth Clayton As Trustee For Estate Of Mrs G S Clayton $1,681.14 from the bond.
- The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $2,400.00 (3366770-010) immediately apportioned as follows: Property Management Kapiti-Mana Limited as Agent For Gareth Clayton As Trustee For Estate Of Mrs G S Clayton: $1,681.14 Stacey Temana Fleetwood: $718.86
- The amount to pay is calculated as follows:
Reasons
- Only the landlord attended the hearing.
- The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation, refund of the bond, and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy.
Rent and water rates?
- The tenancy ended on 10 October 2025. The landlord provided rent records and water rates invoices which prove the amount owing at the end of the tenancy.
Did the tenant comply with their obligations at the end of the tenancy?
- At the end of the tenancy the tenant must leave the premises reasonably clean and tidy, remove all rubbish, return all keys and security devices, and leave all chattels provided for their benefit. See section 40(1)(e)(ii)-(v) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
- The tenant did not return the keys at the end of the tenancy.
- The lawns and gardens were not reasonably tidy at the end of the tenancy.
- The amounts ordered are proved. The claim for methamphetamine testing.
- The landlord has claimed the cost of methamphetamine testing at the end of the tenancy.
- The landlord provided a report from RJ Hill Laboratories Ltd regarding methamphetamine tests carried out at the property on or about 22 September 2025. This showed readings above the New Zealand Standard NZS 8510:2017 of 1.5μg/100cm 2 . However none of the readings were above 15μg/100cm 2 .
- It is important to understand why the Tribunal considers that NZS 8510:2017 is an unreliable guide to adverse health effects from methamphetamine residue. Subsequent to the release of this Standard, the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, determined that there was little evidence supporting health risks from exposure to residue from methamphetamine consumption (Report entitled ‘Methamphetamine contamination in residential properties: Exposures, risk levels, and interpretation of standards’, 29 May 2018). The report concluded that any levels below 15μg/100cm 2 were unlikely to cause adverse health effects.
- This District Court in Full Circle Real Estate Limited v Danielle Piper [2019] NZDC 4947 discussed the conflict between the New Zealand Standard and Chief Science Advisor’s report and concluded: “The Tenancy Tribunal was in a difficult position. The best state of knowledge of risk to human health from methamphetamine contamination available to the adjudicator was the Gluckman Report. It would have been bold for the adjudicator to have ignored that report in favour of the New Zealand Standard given that the Gluckman report represents the current scientific knowledge on the risk to human health from methamphetamine contamination in dwellings.”
- Similar decisions of the District Court were reached in Acme Realty Ltd v Alexander Jame Hogg and others [2021] NZDC 3231, and Kukuruzsnayak [2021] NZDC 15210.
- In determining whether a property has been damaged by methamphetamine residue the Tribunal has therefore adopted the 15μg/100cm² threshold contained in the Gluckman report.
- In the present case readings at the premises at the end of the tenancy show residue levels that were unlikely to cause adverse health effects. The tenant has not damaged the premises and therefore the landlord’s claim for testing costs is dismissed. Filing fee
- Because the landlord has been successful with the claim the filing fee of $28.00 is ordered to be paid by the tenant.