How much money was awarded in case 5421524?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $2,602.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5421524?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5421524?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13024617-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

How much money was awarded in case 5421524?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $2,602.00 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5421524?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5421524?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13024617-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 5421524 — Rent arrears

Q: What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5421524 about?

The tribunal order states: An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal

Tenantcheck Insights

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5421524 — net $770.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 1 February 2026	$2,602.00	Rent arrears to 1 February 2026
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$770.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$770.00

An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of the landlords’ names and identifying details.

The tenancy of Tiana McClutchie at [tenancy address suppressed] is terminated, and possession is granted to [the landlord/s], at 11.59pm on Monday 26 January 2026.

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $1,860.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) to [the landlord/s] immediately.

Tiana McClutchie must pay [the landlord/s] $770.00 immediately, calculated as shown in the table below.

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $1,860.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) to [the landlord/s] immediately.

Reasons

The hearing was conducted remotely. The landlords attended by video link. The tenant attended by telephone.

The landlords have applied for termination of the tenancy, rent arrears and payment of the bond. Background

This tenancy began in 2021. It was renewed in August 2025 for a one-year term.

Not long after the renewal, the tenancy became problematic for the landlords as well as for the tenant.

The tenant had previously had her children living with her but after they went to live elsewhere, troublesome people started staying at the premises and visiting them. Some were gang members, and some were young people who the tenant “took on” to try to help them.

There was drinking and drug taking at the premises. The tenant was seriously assaulted by her partner and spent time in hospital. There were complaints from neighbours to the landlords about anti-social behaviour.

The landlords served a 90-day termination notice on the tenant expiring on 15 December 2025. Recently, both the landlords and the tenant have become aware that a landlord cannot terminate a fixed term tenancy by serving such a notice.

The landlords have served breach notices on the tenant for rent arrears and for unlawful subletting. They have also served three anti-social behaviour notices on the tenant.

The landlords have provided a rent statement, which I accept as accurate, showing that there are rent arrears in the sum of $1,912 to 25 January. Another weeks rent fell due today and has not been paid.

The landlords seek immediate termination on the ground of rent arrears and unlawful use of the premises. Law

The Tribunal must make either an outright or conditional termination order where rent was at least 21 days in arrears on the date the application was filed.

The same applies where three or more weeks rent is in arrears at the date of the hearing.

The Tribunal may terminate a tenancy for breach if, due to the nature or extent of the breach, it would be inequitable to refuse to terminate.

Where the breach is capable of remedy the landlord must first serve a notice on the tenant requiring them to remedy the breach within at least 14 days and establish that the tenant has failed to do so. Discussion and Decision

The rent statement shows that rent has been in arrears at least as far back as September 2025. The landlords referred to times when the rent has been more than three weeks in arrears.

Rent was not paid when it fell due on 12 and 19 January, and again today 26 January.

The tenant said that she rang WINZ on Friday 9 January to cancel the redirection of her benefit to pay rent to the landlords. She believed at that time that she would have to leave the premises when the termination notice expired, and she wanted to give WINZ time to stop the rent payments before she vacated.

Later that same day, she said she received a text message from Tenancy Services informing her that the termination notice was not valid and that she should stay in the premises for the time being. She wanted to stay and so she did. But she did not contact WINZ to reinstate the rent payments from her benefit.

She said at first that had forgotten that she had cancelled the rent payments. Later she said that she didn’t reinstate the payments because she was worried about not being able to pay her bills. I should mention here that the tenant came out of hospital on 25 December following her partner’s serious assault on her.

The landlords said that the tenant’s explanations do not make sense. I agree. As soon as the tenant became aware that the termination notice was invalid and she had decided that wanted to contest the landlords’ application, the obvious thing to do was to reinstate her rent payments. By failing to do so, another three weeks rent has not been paid.

Section 33 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (the Act) states that rent accrues from day to day but that relates to apportionment which occurs after termination, not before. In my view where rent is due and unpaid, it is to be counted in full for the purposes of determining whether the arrears require the Tribunal to terminate the tenancy.

It follows that at the time of the hearing, today, rent is more than three weeks in arrears and the Tribunal must make a termination order.

The Tribunal may make a conditional order if it is satisfied that the arrears will be paid in the time allowed by the Tribunal and that there are unlikely to be any further breach. I am not satisfied of either of those things. Moreover, for the reasons given below, it is not appropriate to make a conditional order.

If I am wrong about the three weeks rent arrears, the tenancy should be terminated on the following ground.

The landlords served a 14-day notice on the tenant on 25 January and the tenant has not remedied the breach.

It would be inequitable to refuse to terminate the tenancy for the following reasons. a. The tenant had the opportunity to reinstate the rent payments but did not do so. b. There has been a history of rent arrears. c. This tenancy has been dysfunctional for some time including drug use at the premises and anti-social behaviour at and emanating from the premises. d. I am not satisfied that the situation is likely to markedly improve.

I also rely on the breach of the Act, admitted by the tenant, of unlawful use of the premises using methamphetamine at the premises by persons on the premises with the tenant’s permission. That is a breach incapable of remedy and so no breach notice for it is required. It is incapable of remedy because the stigma associated with such drug use cannot be eradicated.

For these reasons I have made an order for immediate termination and possession of the premises. I have ordered rent arrears to the end of the current rent week because it is unlikely that the tenant will return the premises to the landlord’s possession before then. As well, this is a fixed term tenancy, and this termination is the result of the tenant’s serious breach of the Act and the tenancy agreement. The landlord should therefore be compensated for any loss of rent.

The landlords have succeeded and so I have awarded them the filing fee.

For the same reason I have granted them name suppression.

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5421524 — net $770.00 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 1 February 2026	$2,602.00	Rent arrears to 1 February 2026
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$770.00
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$770.00