Tenantcheck Insights · Case study
Tenancy Tribunal case 5436813 — Rent arrears at 43B Peter Snell Road, Ruakaka 0116
Decided 24 March 2026 · Published 24 March 2026 · Application 5436813
- Rent arrears
At a glance
Key facts from the published tribunal order.
Outcome
Landlord favoured
From published order
Location
Ruakaka
Tribunal region
Adjudicator
M Steens
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
- Dismissed.
Reasons
- The Landlord’s application for termination is dismissed.
- The Landlord says the tenancy should be terminated because the Tenants were more than 21 days behind in rent. That has not been established on the figures (rent summary and bank statements) before the Tribunal.
- The tenancy agreement records weekly rent of $455.00. It also records a general bond of $1,820.00 and a pet bond of $910.00. The application was filed on 1 February 2026. By that date, six weeks’ rent had fallen due, being $2,730.00.
- The rent summary and bank statement show payments of $910.00 and $455.00 on 24 December 2025, followed by payments of $800.00 on 8 January 2026, $500.00 on 10 January 2026, $455.00 on 14 January 2026, and $455.00 on 23 January 2026. Later payments of $300.00 on 16 February 2026 and $455.00 on 20 February 2026 are also shown.
- The difficulty for the Landlord is that the running balance on the rent summary is not a rent-only ledger. It includes the separate bond claim of $2,730.00, described as bond due including dog bond, and then deducts later payments from that combined figure. The sheet is therefore not a reliable statement of rent arrears alone.
- Once bond is separated from rent, the arrears do not reach the required level. If the $910.00 paid on 24 December 2025 is treated as the pet bond, and the remaining pre-filing payments are treated as rent, then arrears at filing were only $65.00. Even if both payments made on 24 December 2025 are excluded from rent entirely, arrears at filing were $520.00. Either way, that is well short of 21 days’ rent.
- The hearing was on 25 February 2026. By then, nine weeks’ rent had fallen due, totalling $4,095.00. Even excluding both payments made on 24 December 2025 from rent, the arrears at that point were $1,130.00, still less than 21 days’ rent.
- In simple terms, the Landlord cannot succeed because its records do not prove that the Tenants were 21 days behind in rent. The material instead shows that the Landlord’s summary mixed bond and rent together. When that is corrected, the statutory threshold is not met.
- The application for termination is refused.
- The Landlord is strongly encouraged to enlist the support of a professional property manager.
Topics & place
Topics are dispute themes across the order (not the same as claim-type money lines).
Residential Tenancies Act sections
s24
Key findings
- Dispute theme: rent arrears
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this Tenancy Tribunal case.
What was the outcome of Tenancy Tribunal case 5436813?
The tribunal order states: Dismissed.
How much money was awarded in case 5436813?
Verified claim lines are listed on this page.
What type of tenancy dispute was case 5436813?
The primary dispute was Rent arrears.
Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5436813?
The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13276752-Tribunal_Order.pdf.