The landlord, who has name suppression, said she had known Tomu for about 10 years and she called him to see if he could help find tenants for the upstairs and downstairs flats at her rental property.
The landlord told the tribunal that Tomu said he could move in himself.
She initially agreed not to charge him rent, but then, nine months into the tenancy, asked if he could start paying $350 a week, which included water and power.
According to a rent ledger the landlord provided to the tribunal, the rent obligation started on January 1, 2024, which Tomu denied.
He said he did not owe the landlord any money.
The Tenancy Tribunal has made a ruling on the matter. Photo / 123RF
Tomu accepted that there were no set start and finish dates for the rent-free period but maintained he had a rent-free arrangement with the landlord. He provided no documented evidence of such.
He told the tribunal the landlord would sometimes collect cash for rent, which is not recorded on the ledger.
Tomu said he also sourced tenants for a shop below the flat, and the commission for that was offset against rent, saying he received $8740 in commission.
The landlord said Tomu deducted two months’ rent from the amount owing for finding a tenant without her knowledge.
However, she said that rent and commission were two separate matters.
The landlord served a 14-day breach notice on Tomu for unpaid rent in August 2025. The rent arrears were $22,950, she claimed.
Tribunal adjudicator Mark Manhire found, having reviewed all the evidence, including the landlord’s detailed ledger, that there was a binding agreement between the pair.
“The tenant has also failed to provide any evidence which confirms that there was an arrangement between the parties whereby any commission payable would be offset against an obligation to pay rent.
“In the absence of evidence confirming otherwise, I find that the tenant’s submissions in respect of the rent obligation are simply not plausible.”
Manhire found in favour of the landlord and issued the order for Tomu to pay the arrears.
Tomu told NZME he planned to appeal the outcome.
Speaking to NZME about renting properties to friends, Joanna Pidgeon, director of Pidgeon Judd Law, recommended that a residential tenancy agreement always be in writing – particularly when renting to a friend.
“It is not uncommon for friends to fall out when there is a business or a contractual element introduced to the relationship,” she said.
“The problem with having an oral contract is having to prove what the terms of the contract are with nothing in writing.”
Terms may need to be proved by email or text, payments made or any other evidence available to support an alleged oral agreement, but this may be difficult to prove.
She said in Tomu’s case, there was a rent ledger and an email about water and power being included in the rent, which helped prove the existence of a tenancy agreement.
“This tribunal case is an indication of how badly things may go wrong if a friend fails to honour a verbal agreement.”
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.