Rental case reversal good news for industry
Monday 20 November 2017
Andrew King.
The Dunedin District Court's decision to overturn a Tenancy Tribunal ruling has been lauded by rental industry leaders.
By The Landlord
Dunedin rental property owner Vic Inglis had been ordered by the tribunal to pay back his former tenant Natalie Parry over $10,000 in rent after she discovered some alterations in the rental weren't permitted.
This decision was overturned by Judge Kevin Phillips today, and Parry must pay back the amount she had earlier received from Inglis.
Phillips stated that the tribunal was wrong when they found that what was essentially a technical breach, was "unlawful". He also stated that Parry had not suffered any detriment from this technical breach.
Andrew King from NZ Property Investors Federation says that the outcome is good news for the rental industry,
"While it overturns Vic Inglis Tenancy Tribunal decision, it actually goes quite a bit further.
"It states that the original High Court ruling is not binding on the Tenancy Tribunal, which should mean that adjudicators can make rulings in unlawful premise cases brought before them and can use all of the sections in the RTA when making their decisions."
"This means that they can consider the degree of unlawfulness, the degree of harm caused to tenants, and ensure that resolutions are fair."
King says that he has contacted the principle tenancy adjudicator about the ruling and is confident that they will see a directive from her to adjudicators clarifying how unlawful properties will be handled going forward.
Comments from our readers
Sign In / Register to add your comment
House Prices
Values pick up the pace
There’s a more upbeat feel to the property market and it’s obvious in this month’s QV data which has values firmly on the rise.
Commercial
Commercial disrupter proves popular
New commercial property disrupter, Jasper, has hit the ground running with their first investment offering achieving full subscription in just 36 hours.
Mortgages
Putting the RBNZ's new capital rules into perspective
There's been a lot written about the Reserve Bank's new capital rules for banks and some of it seems to miss the mark. Here's Tarawera Publishing managing director, Philip Macalister's, take after hearing from the governor yesterday.
