What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5527527 about?

The tribunal order states: [The landlord/s] is granted possession of the boarding house room and all

How much money was awarded in case 5527527?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $2,908.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5527527?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5527527?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13871096-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 5527527 about?

The tribunal order states: [The landlord/s] is granted possession of the boarding house room and all

How much money was awarded in case 5527527?

Filing Fee: $28.00 awarded to landlord; Rent Arrears: $2,908.57 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 5527527?

The primary dispute was Rent arrears.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 5527527?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/13871096-Tribunal_Order_Redacted.pdf.

New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal Case 5527527 — Rent arrears

Tenantcheck Insights

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5527527 — net $2,016.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 9 July 2026	$2,908.57	Rent arrears to 9 July 2026
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$2,016.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$2,016.57

[The landlord/s] is granted possession of the boarding house room and all facilities of the boarding house at [Tenancy address suppressed] at 12.00 midnight on Thursday 9 July 2026.

[The tenant/s] must pay [The landlord/s] $2,016.57 immediately, calculated as shown in table below.

The Bond Centre is to pay the bond of $920.00 ([Bond number suppressed]) to [The landlord/s] immediately.

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing which was held remotely. The tenant had a support person with him during the hearing.

The landlord has applied for possession of the premises following the termination of the tenancy, rent arrears, bond and reimbursement of the filing fee.

The landlord has given the tenant notice terminating the tenancy and the tenant has not quit the premises within the period specified in the notice, being 22 May 2026. See section 66Y Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA).

The landlord is entitled to an order for possession of the premises. See section 66Y Residential Tenancies Act 1986. How much is owed for rent

The landlord provided rent records which prove the amount owing to 9 July 2026, being the date the landlord is granted possession. Issues raised by the tenant

The tenant raised the following issues in his defence of the landlord’s claim. These issues have been considered in making my decision. A. Notices not received:

The tenant said the email address the landlord sent the rent arrears and termination notice to 1 was an out of date email that he did not have access to after he replaced his phone earlier in 2026. He said at the time he advised the landlord of his new phone number he also gave the landlord his new email address. He says he has not received any of the rent arrears notices or the termination notice.

The landlord says he sent all notices to the email address recorded on the tenancy agreement, which was able to be used as an address for service. The landlord agrees that he has the new email address (which was also provided in the tenancy application) but disputes that he was told not to use the old email address. The landlord could not recall when he was given the new email address.

The landlord’s evidence establishes the tenant informed him of his new phone number on 8 April 2026 by email, from the email address recorded on the tenancy agreement.

The tenant did not provide any evidence of when the new email address was provided to the landlord or that he told the landlord his original email address was no longer to be used. In the absence of such evidence I am satisfied that 1 Notices under s 66U RTA the landlord was entitled to use the email address recorded on the tenancy agreement to serve the rent arrears and termination notices.

I note the notice of hearing and this application were also sent to the tenant via the email address on the tenancy agreement as well as being posted to the tenant. B. Verbal agreement to pay rent arrears.

The tenant said the landlord agreed he could pay the rent arrears owed by paying an extra $50.00 a week. He says the agreement was verbal and that the landlord has gone back on his agreement by filing his claim with the Tribunal.

The rent summary establishes that the tenant did pay $50.00 in addition to his rent for two weeks, being the weeks commencing 28 May 2026 and 4 June 2026. However since the rent payment made on 3 June 2026 the tenant has paid no rent. Accordingly I find the tenant breached any agreement he had with the landlord and the landlord is entitled to have filed its claim for possession. C. Bond paid not fully accounted for and the bond not lodged the Bond Centre as required

The tenant originally rented Room 11 and paid bond of $920.00. He moved into Room 3 on 27 June 2025. He said he paid an additional $240.00 in bond when he changed rooms, but that this is not reflected in the bond amount recorded by the landlord or paid to the Bond Centre.

The tenant also raised that he was notified that the bond was not received by the Bond Centre until a long time after his tenancy had started. He thought it was about 5 weeks ago.

The landlord said a payment of $240.00 was made by the tenant which was applied as rent on 8 July 2025.

The bond record available to me shows the bond was lodged against Room 3 on 18 November 2025.

There maybe some validity to the tenant’s claims, particularly the issues relating to the bond as set out above.

As explained to the parties in the hearing, the Tribunal must consider whether any issues raised by a tenant should fairly be taken into account before it makes a termination or rent arrears decision 2 . This is called ‘equitable set-off’.

An equitable set off is a closely linked claim, “a claim which so affects the [landlord’s] claim that it would be unjust to allow the [landlord] to have judgment without bringing the 2 See O’Shea v Brown (HC Auckland, AP110-PL01, 14 December 2001) cross-claim to account” 3 . A tenant does not have to file a claim to establish an equitable set-off because it is a defence and not a claim. If the tenant is entitled to set off, any such amount can be set-off against the rent payable for the purposes of a section 55 calculation.

Here I needed to consider whether any issues raised by the tenant if he was successful in his claims would reduce his arrears to an amount that would mean the landlord was not entitled to have terminated the tenancy for rent arrears under s 66U(1)(i) RTA.

I am satisfied the only issues raised by the tenant they could result in a reduction in the rent owed, if he was successful in proving his claim, is that the bond may not have been forwarded to the Bond Centre within 23 workings of the landlord receiving the bond.

If the tenant was successful in proving that was the case, he could apply for exemplary damages. The maximum amount the Tribunal can award in that instance is $1,500.00. The Tribunal would be unlikely to award the maximum, however erven if it did the tenant has owed more than $1,500.00 since 5 May 2026.

I am not satisfied that any award in his favour would reduce the rent arrears owed to the extent that the landlord was not entitled to give the rent notices that have been served and entitled to terminate under section 66U(1)(a)(i) RTA.

Therefore I am satisfied that the extent of the arrears in this case is such that the principle of set-off does not have any application. Accordingly the tenancy I find the landlord’s termination of the tenancy is valid and that the landlord is entitled to possession.

This does not deny the tenant the opportunity to pursue an application with the Tribunal. If the tenant wants to do so, it would be in the tenants’ best interests to file an application as soon as possible.

For completion I note that the parties agree the tenancy of Room 3 commenced on 27 June 2025, regardless that the landlord has recorded on the tenancy agreement that it commenced on 16 September 2025.

As the landlord has wholly succeeded with the claim I must reimburse the filing fee. 3 Grant v NZMC Ltd [1989] 1 NZLR 8 (CA) at 12-13.

Suppression: Under section 95A, RTA the Tribunal must on the application of a party that has wholly or substantially succeeded in the claim order that the party’s name or identifying details not be published unless it considers publication is in the public interest or justified by the party’s conduct or other circumstances of the case. The landlord is the successful party and has applied for suppression of its name and identifying details. Accordingly suppression is granted.

Order

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 5527527 — net $2,016.57 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Rent arrears to 9 July 2026	$2,908.57	Rent arrears to 9 July 2026
Filing fee reimbursement	$28.00	Filing fee reimbursement
Net award	$2,016.57
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$2,016.57