Partner’s residence breached tenancy agreement

Tenancy agreements should state exactly who the tenants of a rental property are, yet landlords often run into problems with more people living in their rental properties than is allowed under the agreement.

However, it is possible for tenancy agreements to limit the number of people allowed to live in a rental property – and doing just that has paid off for a Dunedin landlord.

Karen Anderson rented her Caversham property out to Colleen Atwood for an eight-month period in 2019.It appears the relationship quickly became acrimonious, resulting in three Tribunal hearings late in 2019.

One of the major issues was Atwood allowing her partner to live in the property too, despite requests from Anderson that he leave. It led to Anderson obtaining a declaration from the Tribunal that the partner was not a tenant.