Kaitāia court rules Northerner Motor Inn must follow tenancy laws

Kaitāia District Court has dismissed the Northerner Motor Inn's appeal on tenancy laws.

The Kaitāia District Court has dismissed an appeal by the owners of the Northerner Motor Inn, reinforcing that the landlords cannot bypass tenancy laws by claiming to provide emergency housing.

Zan Investment Limited and Robert Thomas Reeves appealed against a Tenancy Tribunal order that they were operating a boarding house at the Northerner Motor Inn and were not exempt from complying with the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

The owners have since taken their fight to the High Court. They declined to comment, saying the matter was sub judice.

“No comment will be made as it is being appealed through the High Court for determination,” they said.

In September last year, the tribunal ruled that 51 current and former tenancies at the Northerner were boarding house tenancies and not excluded from the RTA, despite the landlords’ claim that they were providing emergency or transitional housing.

The tribunal also found that the accommodation was not Government-funded for emergency or transitional housing; that tenants paid from their own MSD benefits; that the average stay was 247 days, longer than typical for transitional housing; and that Zan Investment Limited had deregistered as an emergency housing provider with no contracts with MSD or the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The landlords appealed against the decision. In a recently released judgment, District Court Judge Philip Rzepecky found that the tribunal had correctly ruled that Zan and Reeves were not operating emergency or transitional housing at the Northerner, and were therefore not exempt from complying with the RTA.

In its judgment, the court emphasised that having vulnerable tenants, or tenants who received MSD support, did not exempt a landlord from tenancy law. The ruling reinforces that emergency and transitional housing have specific definitions and requirements, including formal registration and funding arrangements.

MBIE’s tenancy compliance and investigations team (TCIT) first began investigating the Northerner Motor Inn in July 2022 after receiving information from a third party, and lodged a Tenancy Tribunal application in 2023. TCIT national manager Brett Wilson said the District Court judgment sent a clear message to landlords operating boarding houses.

“Landlords cannot simply claim exemption from tenancy law because their tenants receive MSD support. The law is clear: unless the accommodation is formally funded and approved as emergency or transitional housing, the Residential Tenancies Act applies.

“This decision protects vulnerable tenants and ensures they have access to the rights and remedies provided under the act.”