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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

62C: Application of proceeds of sale and recovery of amount owing

You could also call this:

“How the money from selling a tenant's left-behind things is used and how the landlord can get back what they're owed”

When a landlord sells goods left behind by a tenant, the ‘amount owing’ can mean two things. It can be the reasonable costs of storing, moving, and selling the items if there’s no official order. Or, if there is an order from the Tenancy Tribunal, it’s the amount the order says the landlord should get from selling the items.

You should know that the landlord can take the amount owing from the money they get from selling the items. After taking this amount, the landlord must give the rest of the money to the government’s chief executive. The chief executive will put this money into a special account called the Residential Tenancies Trust Account.

If the landlord doesn’t get enough money from selling the items to cover the amount owing, they can try to get the rest from the bond money if there is any. If the landlord still hasn’t got all the money they’re owed after using the sale money and the bond, they can ask you (the tenant) to pay the remaining amount.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3280863.

Topics:
Housing and property > Renting
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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62B: Disposal of abandoned goods in accordance with Tribunal order, or

“Rules for what happens to things left behind by tenants when they move out”

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62D: Tenant may claim proceeds of sale, or

“You can ask for money from your sold stuff within a year if your landlord sold it after you left”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

62CApplication of proceeds of sale and recovery of amount owing

  1. In this section, amount owing means—

  2. where the landlord has sold the goods under section 62A(5)(b)(ii) but there is no order under section 62A(6), the cost of storage, transport, and sale reasonably incurred by the landlord:
    1. where there is an order by the Tribunal under section 62A(6) or 62B(4) specifying the amount owing to the landlord out of the proceeds of sale, that amount.

      1. The landlord may deduct any amount owing from the proceeds of any sale under section 62A(5)(b)(ii) or under an order made under section 62B(2)(b).

      2. The landlord must pay the proceeds of any sale, less any deduction made under subsection (2), to the chief executive, and the chief executive must pay those proceeds into the Residential Tenancies Trust Account.

      3. To the extent that any amount owing to the landlord is not fully reimbursed under subsection (2), the landlord may seek reimbursement, in accordance with section 22, 22A, or 22B, for that amount out of any bond held in the Residential Tenancies Trust Account in respect of the tenancy.

      4. To the extent that any amount owing to the landlord is not fully reimbursed under subsections (2) and (4), the landlord may recover those costs from the tenant.

      Notes
      • Section 62C: inserted, on , by section 44 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).