Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Western Bay home rental wars

By Teuila Fuatai
Bay of Plenty Times·
15 Apr, 2013 01:14 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Nearly 8000 warring landlords and tenants have battled it out at the Tenancy Tribunal in the Western Bay in the past five years.



Landlords have also told the Bay of Plenty Times of horror stories, including rentals covered in dog excrement, missing light fixtures and curtains, holes
in walls, and piles of furniture and rubbish left behind.

Figures obtained from the Government's Building and Housing group document show nearly 8000 Tenancy Tribunal applications made in the Western Bay in the five years to September 2012.

Most applications, which cost $20 to make, related to unpaid rent, though problems with property damage, abandonment, termination breaches and even assault were also listed.

Others involved bond disputes, reduction of fixed-term tenancies, compensation requests, "squatter or unauthorised occupation" and even "quiet enjoyment" where landlords failed to provide suitable notice to tenants before entering a rental property.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Local community law organisations say inconsiderate neighbours and bond disputes are the most common problems for Western Bay renters.

Citizens Advice Bureau manager Kim Saunders said many people were unaware of proper procedures around lodging a bond. "People find [the bond] was never lodged with the right people and the landlord is actually hanging on to it for some reason."

Baywide Community Law Service case worker Hemi Leef said tenants also sought frequent advice about dealing with troublesome neighbours.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The New Zealand Property Investors Federation said launching a tribunal application was a last resort for most landlords.

But if a large amount of money was owed, or significant damage had occurred to a property, landlords were often left with no choice, president Andrew King said.

In a recent example, a landlord couple had a dwelling behind their house trashed by renters, he said.

"They were on quite a low income and decided to rent that out to help supplement their income." The two tenants fell behind in their rent and then "smashed it all up".

The landlord couple lost the rental income and there was $3000 in damage. Mr King said only one of the tenants, who was a beneficiary, could be located after the incident.

After the case went to the tribunal, the tenant was ordered to contribute $20 a week via payments through Work and Income.

"It was going to take three years to pay off the damage, not even the rent arrears."

Most of last year's Western Bay Tenancy Tribunal applications (643) resulted in hearings and orders.

Hearings were held at a courthouse, presided over by an adjudicator and parties normally represented themselves.

About a third of applications (409) went to "mediation". Resolutions from mediation sessions were legally binding.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Compensation of up to $50,000, or work totalling this amount, can be ordered by the tribunal in both mediations and hearings. The remaining applications (178) were withdrawn.

Nationally, more than 40,000 applications are made to the Tenancy Tribunal each year.

While application numbers dropped substantially in the past five years, there were still more than 43,000 tenants and landlords who took disputes to the tribunal last year.


Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Covid-19 and flu infections rise in Western BOP

01 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

01 Jul 07:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

01 Jul 05:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Covid-19 and flu infections rise in Western BOP

Covid-19 and flu infections rise in Western BOP

01 Jul 06:00 PM

Patients asked to wait in their cars as medical centres deal with winter illness spike.

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

01 Jul 07:00 AM
Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

01 Jul 05:00 AM
Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

01 Jul 03:30 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP