Source: China Overseas Chinese Network
According to the New Zealand Tianwei Network, recently, a landlord in Hamilton, New Zealand, changed the door lock of the rental room without permission and unilaterally ended the lease with Chinese students at the University of Waikato. The arbitral tribunal ordered the landlord to compensate the Chinese student NZ$2,300.
It is reported that on February 1 this year, the landlord Angela Robb had a five-bedroom house in Hamilton, and she rented one of the rooms of the house to Gongzhe Li, a Chinese student at the University of Waikato, but the two sides did not sign a rental contract at that time. The parties agreed on a rent of NZ$130 per week for a period of 12 months.
Li had asked to sign a rental contract with Robb, but Robb offered to increase the rent by 15% if she wanted to sign a contract because she had to pay taxes.
Robb also asked Li to pay 14 weeks' rent upfront and pay a security deposit of NZ$520 in two separate installments. Under New Zealand's Tenancy Act, landlords are not allowed to ask tenants for more than four weeks of security deposits. In addition, Robb did not deposit the collected security deposit with the rental service agency.
On March 26, Robb told tenants in the rental room that she was moving in.
However, with the tenant not agreeing, Robb changed the lock of the house without permission and drove the tenants out.
The Court of Arbitration found it illegal for Robb to change the lock of the rental room and unilaterally terminate the lease without informing the tenant, and found Robb to pay Li $336 in damages to compensate Li for the 6 days of accommodation he spent on Airbnb as a result of being evicted from the rental house.
The court rejected Robb's claim that Li pay a cleaning fee of $75 after it found that li was kept clean and tidy when he was evicted from the rental house.
In addition, the Court ordered Robb to pay Li NZ$2,264, which included a bond of NZ$1040, NZ$888 rent, NZ$336 for unlawful termination of the lease and a registration fee of NZ$20. Li was sentenced to pay Robb $20 for electricity.