On the awarding of legal costs by the Tenancy Tribunal

RE: Thomas and other v Novus Vita Limited [2021] NZTT Wellington 4266110, 4266355

The basis of the Tenancy Tribunal is for parties in a dispute to achieve a just outcome swiftly and inexpensively. Lawyers do not generally get involved
and as such, the Tribunal isn’t often concerned with issues relating to the award of legal costs. In saying that, s102 of the Residential Tenancies Act (the RTA) does give some scope for it to do so in limited circumstances.

In Thomas, the tenants are awarded $1,000 as a reasonable contribution towards a $5,766.10 legal fee they have had to incur in relation to the
proceedings. As tenancy laws become increasingly complex, it is not entirely unfathomable for the legal profession to interact with Tribunal cases
going forward. Unpacking the adjudicator’s reasoning to award costs in this instance could prove to be helpful for both landlords and tenants. 

 

Facts

This cross-application dispute addresses several issues. For the purpose of this piece, we will only concern ourselves with those facts that are to do
with the award of legal costs.

  • Tenants are young first-time renters;
  • The landlord’s applications include an allegation of thief and financial gain from an illegal sublet, monetary claim in excess of $50K plus an unspecified
    amount for exemplary damage and compensation for emotional damage;
  • On top of being landlords and tenants, the parties were also, for some time, neighbours and the boundaries of the both types of relationships were
    often blurred in the parties’ interactions with each other; and
  • The landlord is largely unsuccessful with the majority of her substantive claims.
 
The law 
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