Unreasonable request from Tenant, what should I do? Help Please.

[meowmeow]

Hi there, Please help I need your advice.

I have an unit in Auckland for rental, before the tenants moved in, they made a few requests , like renovate the bathroom, replace the flooring in bathroom, clean the carpet.
I have hired the professional cleaner to do cleaning for the flat, plus hiring professional carpet cleaner to steam clean the carpet.
I have done all things requested , and they have carefully inspected the house twice and signed a 1-year contract.

After they moved in for a few days ,they sent me an email raising the below issues:

there are a few stains on the carpet and they request me to change the carpet in the whole flat.
there are a few stains on the kitchen flooring and they request me to replace the flooring.
there are a few stains on the curtains and they request me to replace all the curtains.
there are a few marks on the walls and paint peels. They have asked us to repaint the whole flat.
they complain the shower enclosure door was broken, (but it was fine before they moved in) they want us to replace the shower enclosure.
there are a few stains on the bath tub ,they request us to replace the bath tub.
they said the oven was not working, they request to replace the oven.( it was working before)
the windows are old ,they request to replace all windows.
there are mould on the shower rack, they request to replace the shower rack.
there are a few black spots on the mirror , they request to replace the mirror in bathroom.

They stated that If we are not going to replace it all for them, they will charge court order towards us.
Anyway I paid to replace the oven and the shower enclosure door for them . And told him it's unacceptable for the other things to be all replaced.


The second time we went to the tenancy tribunal ,the adjudicator found in the tenants favour and made an order of us paying them $$$ to compensate for their loss.
almost everything is in tenants favor and we have to pay them every time.

We have a locked bedroom with all my clothings and stuffs stored in it, and it's not for rent, the tenant insisted to inspect the locked bedroom
as the tenant feels that the bedroom could have mould in it which could pose a health issue. (which is quite impossible ) However the adjudicator felt it would be best to check it.

The tenant stated that a breach of the Residential Tenancies act had occurred when a address for service was not provided to him prior to The Barfoot and Thompson agant taking over the management.
I argued that as barfoot and thompson were negotiating with the tenant about managing the property and felt it was not necessary to provide it as barfoot and thompson would be acting on my behalf.
However the adjudicator found in the tenants favour and made an order of $200 to compensate the tenant for this breach.

The tenant claimed that he is sick and our flat is the cause, and we are responsible for that and need to pay him,
he said we should compensate with their loses physically and mentally...

OMG..

Our rent is alrealy quite cheap, with the tenant asking to pay him that and pay him this, fix this, fix that.
it seems like the tenant is not going to stop and going to the tenancy tribunal every month.
They are sending us emails every day to have a whole new list of things waiting to be fixed.

They had inspected the flat carefully TWO times already, according to the barfoot and thompson agent.
If they are so unsatisfied with the condition of the flat, why would they rent it in the first place?

None of the tenants before them had any issues with the flat and were all in good relationship.

I personally feel this tenant is very unreasonable,
I would really appreciate some advice of how to respond to this tenant?
And I want to stop the contract with them, is there any way to do that?

Many thanks in advance.

[Keys]

The crux of the matter to me is that the court found in the tenants favor. Is New Zealand your country of birth? If not, how long have you been here and what are the laws regarding being a landlord in your country?

My advice is to allow Barfoot and Thompson to manage your property.

I tend to agree with your tenants perspective from your post.

[meowmeow]

The crux of the matter to me is that the court found in the tenants favor. Is New Zealand your country of birth? If not, how long have you been here and what are the laws regarding being a landlord in your country?

My advice is to allow Barfoot and Thompson to manage your property.

I tend to agree with your tenants perspective from your post.

Hello Keys.

Thanks for your advice. Barfoot and Thompson is already managing my property .

Yes, you're right , I've been in NZ for 10 years, was born in Hong Kong , In my hometown, landlord usually

just need to provide a clean flat and fix anything that is a safety or usability issue.

But they are requesting replacement to items which do not seem to need any kind of repair , the bath tub was usable , the flooring were all ok ,

the windows were all in working order ,the mirror was just the way it is when I bought the flat , a few small black spots on the edge.

the curtains were quite new and just a bit of cleaning will do, but replace all of that ? err, would you do so if your tenant request you to replace all items in the flat ?

If you caught a cold ,would you blame the landlord's house and request for $$ to compensate ?

absolutely no evidence of the illness related to the condition of the flat ,and the tenant obviously show no sign of illness at all.

It was a clean flat , the furniture might be a little old, but all usable and clean.

I have done all of their request of replacement and clean-up before I rent it to them, (OVER NZD 1500 ,which is almost 2 months rent) or else, they wouldn't have signed the contract.

Barfoot and Thompson agent also thought it was quite unreasonable. not sure why you agree with the tenants .

[Wiz]

The problem you a have here is that it is a fixed term, and therefore not simple to break on either side. How much longer does it have to run?

[Keys]

Thanks for your advice. Barfoot and Thompson is already managing my property .

I suggested that you allow them to manage the property.

not sure why you agree with the tenants .

for the following reason

the adjudicator found in the tenants favour

[Leftette]

It doesn't add up. Are you saying that the demands from these tenants to replace carpet owing to a few stains etc were made and then the adjudicator found in the tenants favour? Or was that previous tenants? I cannot see how those demands could be considered anywhere close to reasonable the way you describe them.

[drelly]

I've had tenants like this and the mistake you made was giving them too much up front. Now they view you as a bottomless pit of cash. In future decide what YOU think needs doing and do that - no more.

As Keys has said, the tribunal ruled against you but I'd be interested to know what their exact findings were. Can you post the order so we can see it? You would probably be able to dispute the ruling if it was really unfair.

If you want them out, I suggest that you tell them that you have absolutely no intention of renewing their tenancy and that if they want to leave, you are willing to break the fixed term. This might be a lot cheaper than following the tribunal order.

[cube]

Make sure you are very familiar with the timing of endng the fixed term, otherwise you may find you have them for 3 months longer than you expected.

What is Barfoots opinion in all this?

[gavinc]

As often with posts like this we do not get the full story. Meoemeow - what are you not telling us?
When the tenants moved in they should have signed off on the existing condition of "stuff" in the flat. It is normal procedure and on the standard tenancy agreement, curtains, shower, bathroom, carpet, observed marks etc.
Was this not done? if it was then they would find it impossible to make the claims they are making now.

[meowmeow]

The problem you a have here is that it is a fixed term, and therefore not simple to break on either side. How much longer does it have to run?

Yes it's a fixed term.

It started on Oct 2013, So about 7 more months to run.

I'd rather pay them some money and let them leave.

[meowmeow]

It doesn't add up. Are you saying that the demands from these tenants to replace carpet owing to a few stains etc were made and then the adjudicator found in the tenants favour? Or was that previous tenants? I cannot see how those demands could be considered anywhere close to reasonable the way you describe them.

the demands from these tenants to replace carpet and stuffs, was brought up in the first time we went to tenancy tribunal .
For the first time the adjudicator just ordered us to replace the shower door and oven, as well as pay the tenant $75 .

for the second time in tenancy tribunal, the adjudicator found in the tenants favour, because they claimed that the address for service was not provided to him, thus we have to pay them $200 .
actually Barfoot and Thompson agent was managing the flat, but they argued that prior to their management we did not provide an adress. anyway, we think it's unfair.

I just felt that they are going on court on every little things and trying to get $$. and the third one is coming up soon.

[meowmeow]

As often with posts like this we do not get the full story. Meoemeow - what are you not telling us?
When the tenants moved in they should have signed off on the existing condition of "stuff" in the flat. It is normal procedure and on the standard tenancy agreement, curtains, shower, bathroom, carpet, observed marks etc.
Was this not done? if it was then they would find it impossible to make the claims they are making now.

Barfoot and thompsons signed the contract with them, however it seems like it was not done. I will ask ....

[meowmeow]

I've had tenants like this and the mistake you made was giving them too much up front. Now they view you as a bottomless pit of cash. In future decide what YOU think needs doing and do that - no more.

As Keys has said, the tribunal ruled against you but I'd be interested to know what their exact findings were. Can you post the order so we can see it? You would probably be able to dispute the ruling if it was really unfair.

If you want them out, I suggest that you tell them that you have absolutely no intention of renewing their tenancy and that if they want to leave, you are willing to break the fixed term. This might be a lot cheaper than following the tribunal order.

Yes, the man seem unemployed and there's nothing better for him to do, he is looking for anything that could go on court and get $. It's a nightmare to us.

I dont have the order , I only have an email from the Barfoot and thompsons agent. Any comments? I don't know much about the NZ property law and didn't know that without providing an address of service was against the law and could charge up to $1000. Nobody asked me for an address before. The agent found the tenant for me, since im overseas atm.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________

I appeared at the tenancy tribunal yesterday for the final part of the application served by the tenant.


There are couple of issues the court made an order on which I have yet to receive but they are


They would like us to inspect the locked bedroom as the tenant feels that the bedroom could have mould in it which could pose a health issue. My argument was that the tenant showed no signs of ill health so did not feel this was necessary however the adjudicator felt it would be best to check it.

The tenant stated that a breach of the Residential Tenancies act had occurred when a address for service was not provided to him prior to us taking over the management. I argued that as we were negotiating with you about us managing the property you felt it was not necessary to provide this as we would be acting on your behalf. However the adjudicator found in the tenants favour and made an order of $200 to compensate the tenant for this breach. The order could be made up to $1000.


The tenant has asked that areas of paint peel be patched as he counted 5 areas in the property. Again I argued that the tenant saw the property twice before moving in and he was prepared to take the property then. The adjudicator felt that paint peel will only get worse and under the Residential Tenancies Act the property should be maintained to a standard.

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[Leftette]

Something about this just doesn't seem right. What are you paying Barfoots for? Are you sure you're not being taken for a ride? Insist on seeing the court/tribunal order # (or whatever it is called).

[speights boy]

Our rent is alrealy quite cheap,

It started on Oct 2013, So about 7 more months to run.

Does your Tenancy Agreement allow for a rent increase ?