The Tenancy Tribunal

Tenancy Tribunal office, court room and library scenes.

Searching Tribunal records

Introduction

This website features published orders of the Tenancy Tribunal. This initiative has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Building and Housing. Both agencies have responsibility for administratively supporting the Tribunal, enabling it to fulfil its functions and responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

Tenants and Landlord.

This website can help both tenants and landlords to make more informed decisions, before entering into tenancy agreements, by providing improved public access to the orders of the Tribunal.

This service is one of many sources of information for landlords and tenants. It is not intended to provide an authoritative background check.

Not all orders will be publicly available, due to legal requirements or an adjudicator's decision not to publish. Most decisions from February 2007 can be accessed online and will be available for 36 months.

You can search the orders on this website , using the name of a landlord or tenant and/or the address of a residential tenancy. You can also use the Tribunal’s application number if you have it.

The search help page will provide you with helpful tips on how to gain the best results from your Internet search.

It is also recommended that you read and understand this site’s Important Information before you begin searching for an order.

Important Information

It is essential to note the following:

1. The Tribunal makes every reasonable effort to ensure it achieves the highest level of accuracy possible when recording the names of the parties involved. However the Tribunal is reliant upon the party who initiated the proceedings to accurately identify the parties.

2. There is no verification undertaken by the Tribunal, or the Ministry of Justice, of the names of the parties recorded in the order it makes.

3. It is intended that Tribunal orders will be published on this site once the decision is final.

4. Orders of the Tribunal are made by independent judicial officers (Tenancy Adjudicators) and cannot be altered in any way.

5. If an order is stayed or overturned as a result of a re-hearing, the original order may not be published.

6. Only the Tribunal itself can amend the order through the statutory re-hearing or appeal provisions.

7. Please also see this website’s more general disclaimer provisions.

tenancy staff.

How do I Search for an Order

You can search for orders using:

The Tenancy Tribunal application number
The name of landlord or tenant, or the name of the Organisation, Company or Trust
The tenancy address.

If a match is found, click on the record you are interested in. This will give you access to the actual order published by the Tribunal as a PDF file. (You will need Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file. It can be downloaded from the Adobe Website)

Search Tips

Please refer to the search help page for useful hints on how to enter your search to achieve the best search result.

What does it mean if I can’t Find a Decision?

A search may not bring up any results if the person / organisation you are searching for has never had a Tribunal hearing, or if the person had used a different name during the hearing, or if the order has been withheld.

What if there is a possible error in the Order?

Anyone who feels an error has been made in a published order, or that it should not be published while other actions (such as an appeal) take place, can contact the Ministry at: tenancytribunal.enquiries@justice.govt.nz

Will hard copies of Tribunal Orders still be available?

Tribunal orders can still be obtained for a fee ($10 to search the Tribunal’s records and 50c per page for a copy of the record) from the District Court where the tenancy dispute was held. This means that people without access to the Internet can continue to obtain Tribunal orders. There is no cost to search online.

Inquiries About this Website

If you have inquiries about this website you can contact the Ministry of Justice at: tenancytribunal.enquiries@justice.govt.nz.

Want to Know About Residential Tenancies?

The Department of Building and Housing provides these links:

Tenants - Make sure it is the right rental property for you at:
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Publications/Tenancy/pdf/tenants-checklist.pdf

Landlords - check out the pre-letting checklist:
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/pub-pre-tenancy-index

And look at the pre-tenancy application form:
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Publications/Tenancy/txt/T134-Pre-tenancy-application-form.rtf

You can also call 0800 TENANCY (0800 83 62 62) for information and advice about your rights and obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act.

Want to Know More About The Tenancy Tribunal?

The Tenancy Tribunal home page has more information about how the Tribunal operates.