Dunedin rental property owner Vic Inglis had been ordered by the tribunal to pay back his former tenant Natalie Parry over $10,000 in rent after she discovered some alterations in the rental weren't permitted.

This decision was overturned by Judge Kevin Phillips today, and Parry must pay back the amount she had earlier received from Inglis. 

Phillips stated that the tribunal was wrong when they found that what was essentially a technical breach, was "unlawful". He also stated that Parry had not suffered any detriment from this technical breach.  

Andrew King from NZ Property Investors Federation says that the outcome is good news for the rental industry, 

"While it overturns Vic Inglis Tenancy Tribunal decision, it actually goes quite a bit further.

"It states that the original High Court ruling is not binding on the Tenancy Tribunal, which should mean that adjudicators can make rulings in unlawful premise cases brought before them and can use all of the sections in the RTA when making their decisions."

"This means that they can consider the degree of unlawfulness, the degree of harm caused to tenants, and ensure that resolutions are fair."

King says that he has contacted the principle tenancy adjudicator about the ruling and is confident that they will see a directive from her to adjudicators clarifying how unlawful properties will be handled going forward.