Self-resolution
The Department of Building and Housing encourages landlords and tenants who have a tenancy problem to try self-resolution. This means trying to sort things out with each other without needing to apply to the Tenancy Tribunal.
- Before raising the problem with the other party, you need to know your rights and responsibilities and how the law applies to your situation.
- You also need to think about how the other party may see things and what their rights and responsibilities are.
- The best way to sort out concerns is to talk about them with your tenant or landlord. The sooner you do this, the better.
- Be clear about what your concerns are.
- Writing down what the concern is can help explain it to the other person.
- Describe the problem carefully and give a reasonable amount of time for it to be put right.
- Say what you think a good solution might be.
- If the other party breaches their tenancy agreement, and it is a breach capable of remedy, you can send them a 14 days’ notice requiring the breach to be remedied.
- If this doesn’t work, Department of Building and Housing staff can give you advice about ways to deal with concerns, and help you decide what to do next.
- If possible, try to keep the communication channels open with the other party and try to sort out the problem together.
In this section we cover: