Tenancy Tribunal

[GrumpyGoat]

The first rental we lived in here was basically awful. We thought it was decent when we first looked at it but it turned out to be terrible on many levels (no insulation etc). However, the worst part was the landlord.

I want to encourage all of you to READ the Residential Tenancies Act if you are a renter. It is pretty straight forward reading. Here is an overview on the Dept of Building and Housing site

You absolutely need to understand your rights and responsibilities!!

The high points: get a written tenancy agreement, your bond MUST be lodged with the govt in a type of escrow account and can be NO MORE than 4 weeks rent, rent can not be collected more than 2 weeks in advance and more rent can not be collected until ALL of the previous rent has been used, landlords must not harass you and must complete work when requested. Also, you should give 3 weeks notice in writing upon move out.

If you have a conflict with the landlord, you may pay $20 and file an application with the tenancy tribunal. If the landlord files against you, you have the right to file a counter claim.

If both parties agree to meet, you will have a shot at mediation. If settled in mediation, the case ends there. If not settled in mediation, you will go before a judge at the tenancy tribunal which is basically small claims court with no attorneys.

We had all kinds of problems with the landlords. No written agreement (though I kept asking for one), never lodged the bond--told me that this was "optional" (it is NOT!), etc. When we found a new place to move, landlord tried to say that we never gave ANY notice and the bond money should apply to the time AFTER we moved out. (BTW, We gave 3 weeks notice.)

Basically, he tried to scam us for nearly $1000!! He also had possession of some of our items in an inaccessible storage area (suitcases etc) and tried to hold them ransom (highly illegal). The police got a search warrant and retrieved our items.

Next, landlord came to our new house screaming and threatening us over this $1000. He was trying to bully us. Trying to intimidate us into giving him this money!!

I tried to explain to him that he was mistaken in his accounting (record keeping was not his strong suit to say the least). I also explained that he was actually in many breaches of the law and that if he wanted to go to court that he would likely lose. He didn't believe me.

He wanted to go to court.
We tried mediation to no avail.
We went to court.

The judge was a kiwi judge judy. It was a 4 hour ordeal where she berated him endlessly for his lack of knowledge about the Residential Tenancies Act. (by this time I had practically memorized the whole thing)

The final result? He was denied all of his claims.
We won $1500 for his various breaches. (He has not paid us yet and the court has a nice enforcement service that will be collecting soon)

My advice for anyone who is in going to tenancy tribunal:

-Be organized
-Have EVERYTHING written down. I put each breach as the title of an A4 paper and then typed my "speech" on the paper which I read out in court. Way easier to organize your thoughts.
-Be organized
-Have ALL receipts
-Be organized
-use the rent tracking spread sheet to track your payments--it is an excel spreadsheet you can download from the DBH site
-Be calm and unemotional
-Make timelines
-KNOW the Residential Tenancy Act


I think that our status as immigrants makes us easy targets for the unscrupulous. But don't be intimidated. Stand your ground when you know you are right. And trust the system to work.

If anyone finds themselves in a similar predicament, I would be happy to offer any support I can. Please PM me.

[JandM]

Glad to hear you won your case.

[kejktfc]

Given that we intend to rent when first coming over very usefel Grumpy...thanks.


kejktfc

[sophiedb]

Nicely done, Grumpy!

I've had a dodgy landlord before - not quite as bad as this, though she did give random workmen keys to our house so they could let themselves in and do work we hadn't been told about while we were all at work! - and they really do think "my place, my rules".

Good on you for making sure this bloke learns a lesson.. hopefully others haven't fallen victim in the mean time.

[GrumpyGoat]

As much preparing and researching as we did before we moved, I don't know why it never occurred to me to read up on the laws regarding something so big as tenancy!!!
Fortunately, I am pretty obsessive about keeping records (spent too much time in accounting, i guess) so I managed to be OK but just by accident.

When I did a search on here looking for tribunal information, i realized that I was in uncharted (for ENZ) territory. I hope this info is helpful for anyone who gets into a bad situation regarding their tenancy.
Hopefully though, this stuff will NEVER happen to anyone else!!

And, the court records are public and searchable on the internet. That was one of my motivations for taking him to the cleaners (in court)---so that future tenants had access to this info on the website.

If you want to do a search on your landlord or property address, HERE is the online form.

I highly recommend checking out your landlord--just in case.

[KelvinAng]

This is a great thread

I can't believe your ex-landlord is so ignorant of the tenancy act and thinks he can win in court, and even held your possessions ransom! Good to hear that the police is able to obtain a search warrant to recover your items.

As much as most people grumbling about real estate agencies and their fees, I reckon at least they do their jobs properly and within the law. I've always been given sufficient time to respond when they send a tradesman to fix things up etc. I'm just not very comfortable with the idea that any tradesman can call me up, make an appointment, and then go to the agency to pick up keys to my apartment without the agent double-checking with me to see if that tradesman is telling the truth. I guess it's the Kiwi way, and that's a good reason to install a house security system that is not managed by the real estate agency.

[Kewlest]

Great thread. Thank you very much for this information. This is very useful information.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Without going into too much detail, we also had some 'issues' after moving out of our first rental. Our then 2 year old son ripped some wallpaper from the lounge wall. Of course we were happy to pay for getting the wall re-papered and were present when some decorators came round to get quotes. A few days after our final inspection (when no other issues were raised) we found out that the landlady had deducted about 3 times the quotes for redecorating from our bond. When asked for reciepts.....and she kept sending us the wrong ones, from other properties, and then generic reciepts without a breakdown of costs. Anyway.....got some very very good advise from Dept of Building and Housing who told us to keep all communication in writing, rather than verbal and also to mention in those letters that we had taken advice from them, quoting some of the text from their website. We threatened to take her to a tribuneral, after which point the real reciepts materialised. Turns out she had tried to rip us off and charge us for redecorating not only the entire lounge (rather than just the damaged wall) but also one of the bedrooms, then also charge us for cleaning products to clear up after the decorator had been, and for curtain cleaning (despite them being fine when we did our final inspection) and then for some gardening (as a tenant you are not required to do any pruning, only weeding and lawns unless agreed in writing). We got all the money owed back in dribs and drabs eventually....but it was such a hassle and took nearly 5 months after vacating the property.

[PonyGirl]

Thanks for all the advice!! We are going to be stepping out and getting a rental in the next month or two, so it is nice to be informed ahead of time. I generally always do a lot of research before doing these types of things, but I have never been in a rental before as we owned our home in the US before moving here. Will certainly make sure I do all the research!!!

[Wooly_Cow]

Just to add to Goats wise words.....when you go to the renatl before or at handover.....don't just note all defects....take photos of them and copy them to the agent / landlord (digital photo's makes this easy)...then there is proof of how the house was when you went in!