Tenantcheck Insights · Case study
Tenancy Tribunal case 5445152 — Tenancy dispute at Room 2, Unit/Flat 611, 74 Taranaki Street, Te Aro,
Decided 11 June 2026 · Published 11 June 2026 · Application 5445152
At a glance
Key facts from the published tribunal order.
Outcome
Dismissed
From published order
Location
Wellington
Tribunal region
Adjudicator
S Munro
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
- The application is dismissed.
Reasons
;
- All parties attended the hearing via video conference, together with support persons with Mr Sun and Mr Sun’s legal representative and an interpreter.
- The applicant claimed costs associated with subletting one of the rooms in his property where he is the tenant. He is not the landlord. Whilst his tenancy agreement prohibits subletting the applicant states he is responsible for the payment of rent but he is able to let out the room and pay the rent to the landlord, but if there is no tenant or the subtenant does not pay he is still required to met the payment of the full rent to the landlord.
- There is no evidence from the landlord confirming consent to sublet.
- The tenant had a verbal agreement in relation to the subletting of the room to the respondent.
- The first issue to be determined is whether the Tribunal has Jurisdiction in relation to this claim.
THE LAW
- Section 77 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) sets out the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, which is limited to disputes between landlords and tenants relating to tenancies covered by the RTA.
- The Tribunals jurisdiction applies to agreements where a landlord grants a tenant the right to occupy the residential premises for consideration of rental payments.
- Room sharing agreements where someone rents a room from another tenant or where people share a room without a formal tenancy agreement are considered flatmate agreements, not tenancies.
- The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction over disputes between flatmate or room sharing agreement unless the agreement is with the landlord.
THE FACTS
- In this case it is clear, there is a tenancy agreement between the applicant and his landlord. He accepts he is not the landlord. Although he considers he has the ability to sublet the room making him the landlord I can not find on the balance of probabilities that this is the situation and therefore I find that the Tenancy Tribunal does not have jurisdiction in this case. The case is therefore dismissed.
- At the conclusion of the hearing, I was advised that the applicant had in fact filed an application in the Disputes Tribunal and that it is set down for tomorrow for hearing in any event.
Topics & place
Topics are dispute themes across the order (not the same as claim-type money lines).
Residential Tenancies Act sections
s10, s77
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this Tenancy Tribunal case.
What was the outcome of Tenancy Tribunal case 5445152?
The tribunal order states: The application is dismissed.
How much money was awarded in case 5445152?
Verified claim lines are listed on this page.
What type of tenancy dispute was case 5445152?
The dispute type was not classified.
Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5445152?
The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13736656-Tenancy_Tribunal_Order.pdf.