Tenantcheck Insights · Case study

Tenancy Tribunal case 9070164 — Tenancy dispute in Grafton, Auckland

Decided 10 Nov 2025 · Published 10 Nov 2025 · Application 9070164

Costs
Interest
Leaks
Unit Titles

View official order on MoJ →Explore similar cases

At a glance

Key facts from the published tribunal order.

Location

Auckland

Tribunal region

Adjudicator

S Young

Dispute themes

Award balance

Gross awards, any bond applied per the order, and the remaining balance payable.

Gross award: $36,882.47
Total balance for Tenant to pay Landlord: $36,882.47

Claims & awards

What this tenancy cost at tribunal — claim, category, amount, and party awarded, with reconciled net total.

Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 9070164 — net $36,882.47 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.
Claim	Landlord	Reason
Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025	$776.25	Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025
Levy	$23,230.98	Levy
Breaches	$2,546.95	Breaches
On charges	$1,175.98	On charges
Costs: Debt collection

Order

[The party], [The party] must pay Body Corporate 183119 $36,882.47 immediately, calculated as follows: DescriptionsApplicantRespondent Levy$23,230.98 Breaches$2,546.95 On charges$1,175.98 Costs: Debt collection$1,840.00 Further claims since application filed$631.55 Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025 $776.25 Costs: Preparation for this hearing$1,552.50 Costs: Attendance at hearing$517.50 Costs: Title Search$26.00 Filing Fee: x2$1,000.00 Interest: to the date of the hearing$3,584.76 Total award$36,882.47 Total payable by Respondent to Applicant $36,882.47

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing on 6 November 2025. Mr Leishman appeared for the body corporate.
This was a rehearing of a Tribunal order dated 15 September 2025.
The body corporate has applied for recovery of unpaid levies, breaches, charges ,interest, costs and the filing fees from the unit owner.

Does the Unit Owner owe the levies claimed?

A unit owner must pay all body corporate levies and outgoings payable for the unit. See sections 80(1)(f) and 121(1) Unit Titles Act 2010.
The body corporate has determined the levies payable and unit owner's share has been calculated according to their utility interest.
The body corporate has fixed the due date for the levies to be paid, and the unit owner has not paid the levies by that date. See section 124(1) Unit Titles Act 2010. The body corporate has provided records to prove the amount claimed in relation to both operational levies and roof remediation levies.
The owner must pay for outgoings. The body corporate has provided evidence of charges incurred in relation to breaches by the owner’s tenant. That evidence included copies of the breach notices, videos and photos. The owner has now evicted the tenant. The breaches occurred prior to that eviction.
Further charges have been incurred by the body corporate relating to the incidents of that tenant getting onto the roof of the premises and causing damage. Invoices have been provided and the charges are proven.
Further and more recent charges have resulted from the tenant leaving items of rubbish at the premises. Invoices for the costs have been provided by the body corporate. The owner disputed the claims in relation to damage caused by a leak. No supporting evidence was provided. The body corporate is required to prove its claims on the balance of probabilities. In this matter, I prefer the evidence of the body corporate.

Is the Unit owner liable for interest?

If a unit owner fails to pay levies by the due date, interest accrues on the unpaid balance. A body corporate may charge interest up to 10% per annum. See section 128 Unit Titles Act 2010.
The body corporate has resolved to charge interest at 10% per annum on unpaid levies. The Body Corporate has proved the amount of interest owing from the due date to the hearing date.

Is the Unit owner liable for costs?

Pursuant to section 124 UTA, and as resolved at meetings of the Body Corporate, the Body Corporate is entitled to recover any reasonable costs incurred by it in collecting unpaid levies as a debt due by the owner to the Body Corporate. In accordance with the judgments (of the District Court and Court of Appeal respectively) in Body Corporate 162791 v Cheah DC Auckland, CIV2014-004- 0120, 24 June 2014 and Body Corporate 162791 v Gilbert [2015] NZCA 185, the Tribunal must order that the reasonable costs incurred by the Body Corporate in recovering the levies, objectively assessed, be paid by a defaulting unit owner. I am satisfied that the costs ordered above are reasonable.
I consider that the costs incurred by the body corporate in preparing for the original hearing in this matter were reasonable. It was not due to any error on the part of the body corporate that a rehearing was subsequently ordered.
I have ordered costs in favour of the body corporate for preparation and hearing of this matter. Extensive preparation was required.
The body corporate’s claim for costs incurred in relation to the unsuccessful High Court bankruptcy proceedings were withdrawn by the body corporate at the hearing of this matter.
As the body corporate has succeeded with the claim, I have ordered the owner to reimburse the filing fee. Section 176(1) Unit Titles Act 2010 and section 102(4) Residential Tenancies Act 1986. As the body corporate has been successful, I have also ordered the owner to reimburse the filing fee on the earlier application filed in August 2024

Topics & place

Topics are dispute themes across the order (not the same as claim-type money lines).

Costs Interest Leaks Unit Titles Auckland

Residential Tenancies Act sections

s0800, s102(4), s124, s124(1), s128, s176(1), s80(1)

Key findings

Dispute theme: leaks
Dispute theme: unit titles
Dispute theme: costs

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this Tenancy Tribunal case.

What was Tenancy Tribunal case 9070164 about?

The tribunal order states: [The party], [The party] must pay Body Corporate 183119

How much money was awarded in case 9070164?

Breaches: $2,546.95 awarded to landlord; Costs: Attendance At Hearing: $517.50 awarded to landlord; Costs: Debt Collection: $1,840.00 awarded to landlord; Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 Se…: $776.25 awarded to landlord; Costs: Preparation For This Hearing: $1,552.50 awarded to landlord; Costs: Title Search: $26.00 awarded to landlord; Filing Fee: $1,000.00 awarded to landlord; Further Claims Since Application Fil…: $631.55 awarded to landlord; Interest: To The Date Of The Hearing: $3,584.76 awarded to landlord; Levy: $23,230.98 awarded to landlord; On Charges: $1,175.98 awarded to landlord

What type of tenancy dispute was case 9070164?

The dispute type was not classified.

Where can I read the official tribunal order for case 9070164?

The official Ministry of Justice published order is available at https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/PDF/12678876-Tribunal_Order.pdf.

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Claims and awards in Tenancy Tribunal application 9070164 — net $36,882.47 NZD. Amounts reconciled from the published order (claims sum and net total). Verify on MoJ.

Claim

Landlord

Tenant

Reason

Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025

$776.25

Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025

Levy

$23,230.98

Levy

Breaches

$2,546.95

Breaches

On charges

$1,175.98

On charges

Costs: Debt collection

Order

[The party], [The party] must pay Body Corporate 183119 $36,882.47 immediately, calculated as follows: DescriptionsApplicantRespondent Levy$23,230.98 Breaches$2,546.95 On charges$1,175.98 Costs: Debt collection$1,840.00 Further claims since application filed$631.55 Costs: Preparation for hearing 15 September 2025 $776.25 Costs: Preparation for this hearing$1,552.50 Costs: Attendance at hearing$517.50 Costs: Title Search$26.00 Filing Fee: x2$1,000.00 Interest: to the date of the hearing$3,584.76 Total award$36,882.47 Total payable by Respondent to Applicant $36,882.47

Reasons

Both parties attended the hearing on 6 November 2025. Mr Leishman appeared for the body corporate.

This was a rehearing of a Tribunal order dated 15 September 2025.

The body corporate has applied for recovery of unpaid levies, breaches, charges ,interest, costs and the filing fees from the unit owner.

Does the Unit Owner owe the levies claimed?

A unit owner must pay all body corporate levies and outgoings payable for the unit. See sections 80(1)(f) and 121(1) Unit Titles Act 2010.

The body corporate has determined the levies payable and unit owner's share has been calculated according to their utility interest.

The body corporate has fixed the due date for the levies to be paid, and the unit owner has not paid the levies by that date. See section 124(1) Unit Titles Act 2010. The body corporate has provided records to prove the amount claimed in relation to both operational levies and roof remediation levies.

The owner must pay for outgoings. The body corporate has provided evidence of charges incurred in relation to breaches by the owner’s tenant. That evidence included copies of the breach notices, videos and photos. The owner has now evicted the tenant. The breaches occurred prior to that eviction.

Further charges have been incurred by the body corporate relating to the incidents of that tenant getting onto the roof of the premises and causing damage. Invoices have been provided and the charges are proven.

Further and more recent charges have resulted from the tenant leaving items of rubbish at the premises. Invoices for the costs have been provided by the body corporate. The owner disputed the claims in relation to damage caused by a leak. No supporting evidence was provided. The body corporate is required to prove its claims on the balance of probabilities. In this matter, I prefer the evidence of the body corporate.

Is the Unit owner liable for interest?

If a unit owner fails to pay levies by the due date, interest accrues on the unpaid balance. A body corporate may charge interest up to 10% per annum. See section 128 Unit Titles Act 2010.

The body corporate has resolved to charge interest at 10% per annum on unpaid levies. The Body Corporate has proved the amount of interest owing from the due date to the hearing date.

Is the Unit owner liable for costs?

Pursuant to section 124 UTA, and as resolved at meetings of the Body Corporate, the Body Corporate is entitled to recover any reasonable costs incurred by it in collecting unpaid levies as a debt due by the owner to the Body Corporate. In accordance with the judgments (of the District Court and Court of Appeal respectively) in Body Corporate 162791 v Cheah DC Auckland, CIV2014-004- 0120, 24 June 2014 and Body Corporate 162791 v Gilbert [2015] NZCA 185, the Tribunal must order that the reasonable costs incurred by the Body Corporate in recovering the levies, objectively assessed, be paid by a defaulting unit owner. I am satisfied that the costs ordered above are reasonable.

I consider that the costs incurred by the body corporate in preparing for the original hearing in this matter were reasonable. It was not due to any error on the part of the body corporate that a rehearing was subsequently ordered.

I have ordered costs in favour of the body corporate for preparation and hearing of this matter. Extensive preparation was required.

The body corporate’s claim for costs incurred in relation to the unsuccessful High Court bankruptcy proceedings were withdrawn by the body corporate at the hearing of this matter.

As the body corporate has succeeded with the claim, I have ordered the owner to reimburse the filing fee. Section 176(1) Unit Titles Act 2010 and section 102(4) Residential Tenancies Act 1986. As the body corporate has been successful, I have also ordered the owner to reimburse the filing fee on the earlier application filed in August 2024

Net award	$36,882.47
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$36,882.47

Net award

$36,882.47

Total payable by Tenant to Landlord

$36,882.47

Net award	$36,882.47
Total payable by Tenant to Landlord	$36,882.47

Net award

$36,882.47

Total payable by Tenant to Landlord

$36,882.47