ŌCHT and the Tenancy Tribunal
The Tenancy Tribunal resolves disputes between landlords and tenants
ŌCHT and tenants can ask the Tenancy Tribunal to resolve disputes related to breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act or tenancy agreements.
ŌCHT does all it can as a landlord to resolve disputes. On the rare occasions things can’t be resolved, ŌCHT will ask the Tribunal to help set things right.
To learn about or use the Tenancy Tribunal visit Tenancy Services→
What is the Tenancy Tribunal?
The Tenancy Tribunal is an independent decision-making body set up to resolve serious or unresolved residential tenancy disputes and to breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act. It’s decisions are called Orders, and they are legally binding.
The Tribunal doesn’t manage day-to-day tenancies and is not involved in ordinary tenancy life, and the cases it hears are the exceptions to community living, not the rule. Most people will never encounter the Tribunal.
What powers does the Tenancy Tribunal have?
The Tribunal can make legally binding Orders to enforce things like rent payments, cost recovery, and remedies such as damages. It can also set conditions for how a tenancy must be managed and maintained, and whether a tenancy should continue or end.
Only the Tenancy Tribunal can order a tenancy to end for a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act. Even in serious situations, a tenancy continues unless and until a Tribunal order ending the tenancy is made.
Why might a community housing provider take a case to the Tenancy Tribunal?
Community housing providers like ŌCHT manage homes for people with a wide range of needs and circumstances. The overwhelming majority of tenancies are stable and long-term. Where there are issues, CHPs like ŌCHT work hard to understand their root cause and to work with tenants to find resolutions. If that does not work, or where the issue is serious and may impacts others, CHPs will ask the Tribunal to set things right.
A quick scan of the Tribunal’s searchable database tells us disputes between CHPs and their tenants make up a relatively small proportion of the cases heard at the Tribunal. They are generally about the same issues found in the private rental market, including breaches of tenancy conditions, claims for rent or damages, property-related issues, and breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act.
A visit to the Tribunal is the exception not the norm
A search of the Tribunal’s database shows ŌCHT is typically involved in fewer than 100 Tribunal hearings each year. In 2025, the hearings in which ŌCHT was involved represented just 0.03% of ŌCHT’s 2400-ish tenancies. Most hearings related to unpaid rent.
ŌCHT is committed to supporting sustainable tenancies wherever possible. Most issues are resolved through early engagement, support from our tenancy teams, and with working alongside social and support services. We may apply to the Tribunal for an Order where all reasonable alternatives have been exhausted – and we definitely will when a breach is serious - and we do so to further ensure fairness, safety, and clarity for everyone involved.
The cases get a lot of attention
Tenancy Tribunal decisions are public records. This means they are published on the Tribunal’s searchable online database and journalists can report on them. Journalists apply their news judgement to each case and the more interesting cases are more likely to get a broad readership.
These cases are truly the exceptions among an already small proportion of tenancies discussed at the Tribunal. They’re not representative of everyday tenancy life. For the vast majority of people - perhaps not those not in the 0.03% of tenancies discussed at the Tribunal in 2025 - living in community and affordable housing communities is as stable, ordinary, and uneventful as living anywhere else in our city. And that’s exactly how it should be.
