New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Possession orders

Legal area

Court

21 Jun 2023

FAR NORTH DISTRICT COUNCIL v THE UNLAWFUL OCCUPIERS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAND AT WAITANGI [2023] NZHC 1545

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1545
Court

High Court

The Council, as the owner and statutory administering body of the recreation reserve and the body with control of the accessway, established an unbroken legal title and the occupiers had no licence or consent; therefore under Part 13 HCR the Court must grant possession and order vacant possession and removal of occupants and structures to restore the land to its public purpose.
25 May 2023

MARR v KENNINGTON [2023] NZHC 1245

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1245
Court

High Court

There was insufficient evidence of a causal link between the proceeding and the defendant vacating the property to treat the plaintiffs as successful for costs purposes; accordingly costs should lie where they fall and neither party is awarded indemnity or increased costs, including no costs award for the earlier summary judgment application.
3 Apr 2023

XU v PLANT ZERO 2006 LTD [2023] NZHC 716

Citation

[2023] NZHC 716
Court

High Court

Tenant was in clear breach of the covenant to pay rent; clause 1.1 precluded set-off or abatement; tenant failed to establish entitlement to relief or demonstrate ability to pay outstanding arrears; accordingly court granted possession, cancelled the lease and dismissed the tenant's application for relief against cancellation, while ordering payment of arrears and interest subject to arbitration conditions.
16 Feb 2023

YIHENG WU v STALIX PROPERTY LIMITED [2023] NZSC 2

Citation

[2023] NZSC 2
Court

Supreme Court

The application for leave was dismissed because the statutory criteria for leave were not met: the application concerned only the particular circumstances of the case and raised no issue of public or commercial importance, there was no real risk of miscarriage of justice, and it was unnecessary to determine the proposed Supreme Court appeal before the Court of Appeal decided the substantive appeal.
7 Feb 2023

LUNN v LEE [2023] NZHC 110

Citation

[2023] NZHC 110
Court

High Court

The defendant was occupying the property without the registered proprietor's licence or consent and was not a tenant; prior formal notices to vacate were given and no defence was filed, therefore the executor/registered proprietor was entitled to an order for vacant possession to enable administration and sale of the estate; costs were awarded on a 2B basis payable by the estate.
1 Feb 2023

MANGAROA 26N2 TRUST v HUATA [2022] NZHC 50

Citation

[2022] NZHC 50
Court

High Court

The defendants were not entitled to costs for the stay application because the stay was achieved by consent with conditions, the defendants had not engaged early to seek agreement, and their prior poor compliance and payment history justified conditions; accordingly the defendants could not be regarded as the successful party under the High Court Rules. The plaintiff, having succeeded in opposing the defendants' costs claim, was awarded costs on a 2B basis with reasonable disbursements.
18 Nov 2022

ANGELO v HANS-WERNER LEHR & ORS [2022] NZHC 3033

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3033
Court

High Court

The District Court applied the correct legal approach and did not err in law: the Tribunal properly exercised its discretion under s105 RTA to refuse a rehearing because there was no procedural unfairness and no genuinely fresh evidence that could not reasonably have been presented earlier; consequently the High Court appeal alleging legal error fails and is dismissed; stay lifted and possession order affirmed.
30 Jun 2021

SGAH INVESTMENTS LTD v MEI ENTERPRISES LTD [2021] NZHC 1588

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1588
Court

High Court

The 23 September 2020 refusal notice, being a subsequent notice that complied with s263, extinguished the earlier 5 August 2020 notice (or amounted to a waiver of reliance on it), so Mei's application filed 1 December 2020 was within the statutory three-month limit; on the merits the Court exercised its broad discretion under s264 to grant relief because arrears had been paid, prejudice to the lessor was insufficient to outweigh the lessee's loss and the misconduct did not yet justify denial of relief; accordingly SGAH's possession application was dismissed and SGAH ordered to enter into a ne…
15 Mar 2021

JOHNSTON v BROWN [2021] NZHC 507

Citation

[2021] NZHC 507
Court

High Court

The application for a stay was granted in part: the interlocutory order fixing the division of net sale proceeds was stayed and the trustees were directed to proceed with sale with net proceeds held on interest-bearing deposit pending appeal or agreement; trustees may deduct reasonable sale-related costs; Mr Johnston must vacate the property by 31 March 2021; other applications (mediation order, appointment of counsel for the child, publication suppression, exclusive occupation and prohibition on marketing visits) were dismissed; Hawea Trustees Ltd was joined as a party and costs reserved.
18 Sept 2020

TAIKAPURUA & ORS v THOMPSON & ORS[2020] NZHC 2436

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2436
Court

High Court

The plaintiffs were entitled to costs for enforcement of the possession order under r17.25; the court exercises its discretion to award the amounts claimed as reasonable for both the possession order (2C) and the subsequent costs application (2A) and permits the application to be dealt with without notice under r7.46.