According to the recently released decision, the tribunal heard there had been two tenancy agreements.
Moran had completed part of one tenancy agreement, sent to her as a “blank” with other documents.
The Northland school’s caretaker completed other parts of it when they met to hand over the keys to the house.
Moran signed it but it was never countersigned by the school.
The other tenancy agreement, a document prepared by the school that it uses for all of its tenancies, was signed by her and the board of trustees.
According to the decision, both parties understood they had entered into a one-year fixed-term tenancy with the opportunity to “review” at the end of the term.
In February, Moran wrote to the school asking for an extension of the tenancy, preferably for a further two years.
About two weeks later, the school replied, saying: “Due to the appointment of a new principal, we kindly ask that you vacate the property by April 13, 2025.”
That was when Moran applied to the tribunal. When doing so, she also raised issues about smoke alarms and an entry into the premises in late February when an applicant for the principal’s position turned up to look at the house.
Tribunal says board got it wrong
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Nicholas Blake found there were administrative issues in the two written agreements, resulting in it not being a fixed tenancy.
“Firstly, there are two written tenancy agreements; the agreement that is on the Tenancy Services template does not record a fixed-term tenancy.
“Secondly, the school’s agreement, which was signed by both parties, states that it is ‘a tenancy with a term of one year, the end date for this tenancy is April 19, 2025′, but it also gives the landlord the power to terminate the tenancy by 24 hours’ notice in certain circumstances. By definition, a fixed-term tenancy cannot be ended by notice.
“It is arguable that this was always a periodic tenancy. Even if it was a fixed-term tenancy, fixed-term tenancies automatically become periodic tenancies at the end of the fixed term unless either the landlord or tenant gives a valid notice to terminate the tenancy before the end of the fixed term.”
The board of trustees had not given effective notice, with an attempted notice in March giving the wrong date for the end of the fixed-term tenancy, Blake said in the order.
He said Moran was not obliged to vacate the premises on April 13 and that she was entitled to ignore the landlord’s notice.
“Whether or not Ms Moran was in a fixed-term tenancy, she is now in a periodic tenancy.
“Landlords may terminate a periodic tenancy by giving the tenant 90 days’ notice in writing.”
By declaration, it was a periodic tenancy and not a service tenancy, which was defined as a contract between the landlord as employer and the tenant as an employee, the decision said.
Moran had not been provided the tenancy as a term of her employment.
She had approached the board when she noticed the house was vacant, paid a standard rent for the house, and paid it directly to the school, not by deduction from her wages.
Board told to pay damages
On the other claims, the tribunal found the board had failed to meet the legal requirement of having sufficient working smoke alarms in the house.
It accepted Moran’s evidence there was only one smoke alarm in the house at the start of the tenancy, which remained the case for several months.
However, the tribunal found that the house was entered lawfully in February to show it to a prospective tenant, who was an applicant for the school principal job. It said Moran was aware of the entry and had consented to it.
The tribunal case resulted in the board of trustees being ordered to pay exemplary damages of $720.
Moran declined to comment when contacted by NZME.
Taipa Area School board of trustees’ member Stephen Tansey accepted there were technicalities that the board failed to comply with on time, “hence a small payout to the tenant was ordered and further notice given to allow time to vacate the house”.
“School houses are owned by the school to attract staff to our school; teachers in our school houses are on 12-month fixed-term tenancies that may be renewable depending on various factors.
“One of the school houses is designated as a principal house, away from the other school houses. As this house was not used by the previous principal it was rented to a teacher on a fixed-term tenancy.”
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
