Tenantcheck Insights · Case study
Tenancy Tribunal case 5407075 — Tenancy dispute
Decided 23 Feb 2026 · Published 23 Feb 2026 · Application 5407075
- Cleanliness
Party names are redacted in the official published order. This page summarises the dispute only — not individual identities.
At a glance
Key facts from the published tribunal order.
Adjudicator
T Prowse
Claims & awards
What this tenancy cost at tribunal — claim, category, amount, and party awarded, with reconciled net total.
No individual claim amounts were reconciled for this order. View the official Ministry of Justice PDF for full detail.
Order
- An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of both parties’ names and identifying details.
- The tenancy terminated on the 12 September 2025.
- The landlord is to pay any rent credit to the Bond Centre to be held with [Bond number suppressed].
Reasons
- The landlord is seeking an order from the Tribunal as to when this tenancy terminated.
- The tenant lived in the tenancy from 2007 until his death on the 13 August 2025.
- The landlord was notified of the tenant’s death on the 21 August 2025 by a friend of the tenant who came into the landlord’s [Location suppressed] offices and advised the landlord of the tenant’s death and handed back the keys to his unit. The unit was inspected and found to have been cleared of the tenant’s belongings and had been cleaned.
- The landlord rang [the funeral home], who confirmed that the deceased had died and had been cremated but could not give any further details of family members to the landlord.
- The landlord has been unable to locate the tenant’s family members.
- Rent was paid by MSD until the 26 October 2025.
- Section 50A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) sets out what happens when a sole tenant dies: Termination following death of sole tenant (1) On the death of a sole tenant under a tenancy agreement (whether for a fixed- term tenancy or a periodic tenancy), the tenancy agreement terminates on the earliest of the following dates: (a) the date that is the 21st day after the date on which the personal representative of the tenant or a person who is the tenant’s next of kin gives the landlord written notice of the death of the tenant: (b) the date that is the 21st day after the landlord gives the personal representative of the tenant or a person who is the tenant’s next of kin written notice to vacate the premises that are the subject of the tenancy agreement: (c) The date that is agreed in writing by the landlord with the personal representative of the tenant or with a person who is the tenant’s next of kin: (d) the date determined as the termination date of the tenancy agreement by the Tribunal on the application of the landlord under subsection (2). (2) If a landlord is unable to give notice to vacate under subsection (1)(b), the landlord may apply, without notice, to the Tribunal for an order to terminate the tenancy.
- In Kipa v Housing New Zealand 1 , DCJ Sharp said As a matter of law the personal representative of the deceased person, who was the tenant, becomes the tenant but that is purely for administrative purposes and only until the tenanted property is made ready for vacancy and handed over to Housing New Zealand.
- The landlord took possession of the property on or about the 3 September 2025 and began to renovate the property in October.
- I consider that the landlord first became aware of the death of the tenant on the 21 August 2025, and that the tenancy terminated on the 21 st day after that date being the 12 September 2025. 1 Kipa v Housing New Zealand, DC Auckland CIV-2006-004-1031, 18 May 2006.
- The landlord says that the there is a rent credit owed to the tenant. I order that any monies owed to the tenant by the landlord should be deposited into the Bond Centre to be held with the tenant’s [bond number suppressed]. This will allow a personal representative to access the bond, if a personal representative is appointed.
- Both parties are entitled to suppression as requested. This decision discusses personal details of the deceased.