Successful exemplary damages claims anybody?

[fatjoez]

Taking a claim to tenancy tribunal (as landlord) for:

Exemplary damages due to
- condition of property during end of tenancy / viewings by new tenants (breach of obligation to keep property reasonably clean tidy)
- consequential rent loss as nobody who viewed property wanted to rent it until cleaned (cleaners organised by us)
- harassment of neighbour - broke into neighbours property and stole items
- use of premises unlawfully - police entered & confiscated drugs

Can anyone make any suggestions or provide relevant cases where landlords have been successful in any of the above.
Or advise what information to present to have better chance of being successful in any of above claims.

I know the tribunal rarely award landlords exemplary damages so any advice appreciatd

Thanks

[Perry]

Even if you get lucky at the TT Kangaroo Kourt, would you ever get anything out of the tenant, without incurring even more expense?

Could be a good pro-LL media story, though, if successful or not.

[fatjoez]

Haha! Well said Perry. Wonder if we should even bother attending the session. The tenant didn't last time.

[Perry]

You must attend, no matter what, or the claim will be vacated.

[Learning]

Fatjoez, have you got all of the tenants details in a safe place? Full name (including middle, all spelt correctly), DOB, copy of drivers licence, photo, benefits client number, place of work, etc? If he does a disappearing act you'll need much if not all of this to get your money out of him. One of my tenants did a runner a few years ago but I had the right info. Four years later he let his guard down. The debt collector caught up with him I got my money less a small fee.

[fatjoez]

Nice well I don't think we have Driver license / Dob etc unfortunately. This is something we are starting to collect now for new tenants.
We will attend of course but I have a fairly educated opinion that there really is no point.

I am still VERY curious to see if anybody has any record or reference to successful exemplary damages claims from landlords as I can't see any way to search for them but am sure they have been awarded in past.

[Lighthouse]

Check this out fatjoez.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/DLM3285790.html

Your best bet is harassment of neighbours and then illegal use. You might get 60% of the maximum amounts possible. How was your compliance with the rules for smoke alarms and bond payments? Often landlords end up paying exemplary damages for non-compliance even when the tenants have made a mess or not paid rent.

Exemplary damages are not awarded automatically (especially if you are a landlord) and you will have to provide sufficient evidence. The adjudicator has to take into account effect of the unlawful act, the interests of the person against whom the unlawful act was committed, and the public interest....

This is the relevant part of the act for you

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/DLM95936.html

Here is a meth case where the landlord was successful.

https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/TTV2/127746510.pdf

[Perry]

Be aware the the TT has a head-in-the-sand, look-the-other-way policy with tenant drug use, unless there is a conviction to prove it.

[Davo36]

Get judgement against them, then if they don't pay, bankrupt the bastards fatjoez.

[Perry]

We will attend of course but I have a fairly educated opinion that there really is no point.

If there is a point, it's that if you don't attend, your claim will be thrown out.

[FJW]

Taking a claim to tenancy tribunal (as landlord) for:

Exemplary damages due to
- condition of property during end of tenancy / viewings by new tenants (breach of obligation to keep property reasonably clean tidy)
- consequential rent loss as nobody who viewed property wanted to rent it until cleaned (cleaners organised by us)
- harassment of neighbour - broke into neighbours property and stole items
- use of premises unlawfully - police entered & confiscated drugs

Can anyone make any suggestions or provide relevant cases where landlords have been successful in any of the above.
Or advise what information to present to have better chance of being successful in any of above claims.

I know the tribunal rarely award landlords exemplary damages so any advice appreciatd

Thanks

Heya Fatjoez,

In terms of the evidence that you need to put forward before the tribunal to come out with a successful outcome is as follows;

Condition of tenancy

Pre move in photographs dated
In going inspection signed by both parties
Inspection reports that picked up that damages and then emails to the tenant expressing your concerns
Defence that proves the damages was intentional
Claim from the insurance to see whether your policy would cover the damages

Reasonably clean and tidy
A statement from the tenant that expressed their concerns about the condition, if you can get them to appear before the tribunal as a witness even better. If they don't feel comfortable then get the statement signed and sworn at the local district court

Photos from inspections showing its not clean along with pre move in photos date stamped

Emails to the tenants expressing your concerns around cleanliness

Harassment of neighbour

Police statement and witness statement from the neighbour, if you an get them to appear as a witness even better

Hope this helps, I go to lots of hearings for tenants not keeping the property clean and tidy as well as damage cases and win them all the time.

If you want to PM me further information don't hesitate to

[fatjoez]

Hi everybody. For the benefit of others I would like to update you that we were awarded exemplary damages in 3 categories.

1. One week rent loss - due to tenant not keeping house clean during end of tenancy / viewings which resulted in lost potential tenants
2. Compensation for interference with neighbour (harassment) - tenant broke into neighbours apartment and stole possessions - police report was submitted
3. Damages for unlawful use of property - drugs posession inside property

We are very surprised to say the least. To help others the evidence we submitted was:

1. The next tenancy agreement cover page showing date the next tenancy started (blanked out the names)
2. Police report showing the break in incident/address (neighbour property)
3. Text message from neighbour talking about the tenant having parties
4. photo of police parking infront of tenants car
5. Email from police confirming posession of drugs by the tenant inside the property
6. security camera footage of the tenant inside the neighbours house (neighbour provided this to us)

On the balance of things based on the comments made by the adjudicator on the day I think the security camera photos won the case.
He was very surprised to hear that the neighbour had a motion detection camera inside his property which sent photos to his mobile app and was intrigued by the technology and commented this to his colleague in the room.

Good luck to everyone else seeking exemplary damages and my advice after this experience is if you think it is relevant claim for it.
You never know when an adjudicator might see in your favour.

Now to try and collect the money lol...

[Keys]

How did you present item 6?

[fatjoez]

Security footage was 6x screenshots of the video printed out.
The adjudicator accepted these though we had the video available also if he hadnt.

Lost tenants we had an email from the real estate agent confirming apartment was dirty (but on the day in tribunal i couldnt find it) though the adjudicator accepted this anyway as he had previously seen photos of the apartment.

Adjudicator had previously accepted tenants verbal submission that they moved out 1 week prior to the true legal end date but later accepted the property was not clean and this would have impacted viewings so awarded 1 week rent on this basis.

[offo]

Excellent outcome well done