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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

60: Tenant remaining in possession after termination of tenancy

You could also call this:

“When a tenant stays in a house after their lease ends, they still have to follow the rules.”

If you continue to live in a rental property after your tenancy has ended or been terminated, you still have to follow all the rules and responsibilities of a tenant. These responsibilities will continue until you move out of the property.

If your landlord lets you stay in the property for more than 90 days after your tenancy has ended or been terminated, without getting a court order to make you leave, it’s as if a new tenancy has been created. This new tenancy will have the same rules as your old one. The same thing happens if your landlord gets a court order but doesn’t make you leave for more than 90 days after getting it.

Just because your landlord accepts rent from you after your tenancy has ended, it doesn’t mean they’re okay with you staying. They can still take action against you if you’ve broken any rules of the tenancy. Paying rent doesn’t give you the right to stay or protect you from consequences of breaking tenancy rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM95529.

Topics:

Housing and property > Renting

Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

59B: Termination where regulations prescribe testing methods and maximum inhabitable level of contaminant, or

“Ending a tenancy when harmful substances are found in the home at unsafe levels”

60AA: Landlord acting to terminate tenancy without grounds, or

“A landlord can get in trouble for trying to end a renter's stay without a good reason.”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

60Tenant remaining in possession after termination of tenancy

Where a tenant remains in occupation of the premises after the tenancy has terminated or has been terminated, all the obligations of the tenant shall continue in force as if the tenancy were still subsisting until such time as the tenant ceases to occupy the premises.
If the landlord permits the tenant to remain in the premises for more than 90 days after the tenancy has terminated or has been terminated, without obtaining a possession order, or for more than 90 days after obtaining a possession order, the landlord shall be deemed to have granted, and the tenant shall be deemed to have accepted, as from the date on which that period of 90 days expired, a periodic tenancy of the premises on the same terms and conditions as pertained to the original tenancy immediately before its termination.
The landlord shall not be taken to have permitted the tenant to remain in possession, or to have given up the right to proceed under this Act in respect of any breach of the tenant's obligations, merely because the landlord accepts payment of rent in respect of any period after the tenancy has been terminated.

Compare

Residential Tenancies Act 1978–1981 s 61(2) (SA)