Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 5385862 — Rent arrears at Flat 5, 157 Crinan Street, Appleby, Invercargill 9812
Decided 12 Feb 2026 · Published 12 Feb 2026 · Application 5385862
- Rent arrears
Party names are redacted in the official published order.
Order
- An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the Landlord’s name and identifying details.
- The tenancy of Jason Eade at Unit/Flat 5, 157 Crinan Street, Appleby, Invercargill 9812 is terminated, and possession is granted to [The landlord/s], at
- 59pm on Thursday 12 February 2026.
- Jason Eade must pay [The landlord/s] $7,453.00 immediately, calculated as shown in the table below:
Reasons
- Both parties attended the hearing – the landlord by telephone and the tenant by video conference. The hearing was assisted by a Mandarin interpreter.
- The landlord has applied for termination of the tenancy, rent arrears, payment of the bond and reimbursement of the filing fee.
- Rent was at least 21 days in arrears on the date the application was filed and so without the parties being able to come to an alternative agreement, the Tribunal must terminate the tenancy. See section 55(1)(a) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
- The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing as at today’s date - $7,975.00. The last rent payment was made on 15 July 2025.
- I have accepted the tenant’s evidence that at the beginning of the tenancy he paid $550.00 which he says has not been lodged. I have reduced the amount owing in rent arrears to reflect this bond payment.
- I note that the tenant advised that he had stopped paying rent to the agency that had been managing the tenancy because he considered that the agency had not addressed maintenance issues as he had requested.
- The primary obligation is for the tenant to pay rent. If a tenant considers that a landlord has breached the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, then their option is to make a claim to the Tenancy Tribunal – not stopping rent payments.
- I also note that there was confusion about whether an agency was still managing the tenancy. I rang the agent at today’s hearing who advised that he was no longer acting as the agent for the owner.
- The tenant advised that he was not aware that the property had been sold and that he did not have a new tenancy agreement that reflected that the current owner was now the landlord.
- I do not accept that he did not know that there was a new owner. He and the new owner had been communicating.
- Further, even though a written tenancy agreement reflecting the new owner was not in place, a tenancy agreement can be inferred by the conduct of the parties. The tenant was aware of his obligation to pay rent and was also aware that the premises had been sold to a new owner, with whom he had been communicating.
- Section 13C of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 provides that no tenancy agreement, or variation of the tenancy agreement, shall be unenforceable on the grounds that it is not in writing.
- As well as payment of the rent arrears, I am also ordering the tenant to reimburse the filing fee to the landlord because the landlord was wholly successful with the claim against him.
- For the same reason I am allowing the landlord’s application for suppression of his name and identifying details. C ter Haar 12 February 2026