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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Boarding house tenancies - Abandonment

66X: Abandonment by tenant

You could also call this:

“What happens when a tenant leaves their boarding house room without telling anyone and stops paying rent”

If you’re renting a room in a boarding house and you owe rent, your landlord might think you’ve left the room for good. If this happens, your landlord can do a few things:

They can put a note on your door saying they’ll come into your room after 24 hours to check if you’ve left. They also need to try hard to get in touch with your contact person if you’ve listed one in your tenancy agreement.

Your landlord has to wait at least 24 hours after putting the note on your door before they can go into your room.

After looking at your room and trying to contact your person, if your landlord really thinks you’ve left for good, they can end your tenancy. They do this by putting a special notice on your door. This notice has to follow certain rules and include information as set out in section 66S(1).

The notice must say exactly when your tenancy will end. This can’t be sooner than 48 hours after the notice is put on your door.

You should know that if you leave your room when you owe rent, and you don’t have a good reason, you’re breaking the law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3283929.

Topics:
Housing and property > Renting
Crime and justice > Criminal law
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66Y: Possession orders, or

“A landlord can ask a special group to make the tenant leave if they don't move out when told to.”

Part 2A Boarding house tenancies
Abandonment

66XAbandonment by tenant

  1. If the tenant of a boarding house is in arrear with the rent, and if the landlord has reason to believe that the tenant has abandoned the premises, the landlord—

  2. may put a notice on the door of the tenant’s boarding room advising the tenant that the landlord will enter the room 24 hours later to confirm whether or not the tenant has abandoned the tenancy; and
    1. must make all reasonable efforts to contact the contact person (if any) identified in the tenant’s tenancy agreement.

      1. The landlord must not enter the room until at least 24 hours after putting the notice on the door.

      2. If, after inspecting the room and making contact (if possible) with the tenant’s contact person, the landlord considers, on reasonable grounds, that the tenant has abandoned the room, the landlord may terminate the tenancy by putting a notice of termination that complies with subsection (4) and section 66S(1) on the door of the tenant’s room.

      3. The notice of termination must specify the date and time on which the tenancy terminates, which must be a time no sooner than 48 hours after the notice is put on the door.

      4. It is declared that a tenant commits an unlawful act if, without reasonable excuse, he or she abandons the premises when the rent is in arrear.

      Notes
      • Section 66X: inserted, on , by section 49 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).