Tenant obligations at the end of the Tenancy

BondAssist provides your landlord with an irrevocable Guarantee, guaranteeing that you will honour your obligations under the signed Tenancy Agreement.

At the end of the Tenancy, where you have breached the signed Tenancy Agreement and fail to settle any breach directly with your landlord, and where the landlord has obtained a Mediated or Adjudicated Tribunal order against you, then we are required to settle the claim immediately without reference to you.

On settlement of a claim we will recover any amount paid to your landlord back from you under the Counter Indemnity Agreement. Collection and Legal costs may be added to the amount to be recovered.

Your rights under the Residential Tenancies Act are not jeopardise or diminished. If you dispute the claim made by your landlord at the end of the tenancy then you are afforded all rights under legislation and we will only settle a claim on presentation of a Mediated or Adjudicated Tribunal order against you.

Tips to avoid a claim at the end of the tenancy

• During the tenancy where there is accidental or malicious damage, contact your landlord immediately and make arrangements to fix it – don’t hide it or leave it until the end of the tenancy. 
• If you are on a periodic tenancy then you need to give your landlord 3 weeks written notice to vacate otherwise they can claim against the Guarantee for this notice period.
• Remember that there is no bond to ‘run down’ – this means that you must pay rent right to the end of your notice period
• If you are on a fixed term tenancy you need to negotiate with your landlord to release you and pay rent up until a new tenant is found.
• Make sure you make a genuine effort to clean the property and remove rubbish when you leave as your landlord can claim these costs.
• It is important to conduct a final inspection with your landlord and where there is any damage agree to repair or agree to a price for your landlord to repair and settle this directly.

For more information and advice see www.dbh.govt.nz