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Brooking v Imrie [2021] NZDC 16976

Published 10 December 2021

Appeal — Tenancy Tribunal — methamphetamine contamination — sufficiency of evidence. The appellants appealed a decision of the Tenancy Tribunal that had found them responsible for methamphetamine contamination of the premises they had formerly rented. They argued that the Tribunal had insufficient evidence to make this finding. At the Tribunal hearing the parties had agreed that the property had had no testing for methamphetamine contamination before the appellants moved in. However the Tribunal had accepted the evidence of a neighbour who testified to seeing, hearing and smelling activities that seemed consistent with methamphetamine contamination. The Court found that the witness's evidence did not establish that the appellants were responsible for the methamphetamine contamination. Given the lack of testing at the start of the tenancy, the methamphetamine contamination could have occurred before the appellants moved in. The Court allowed the appeal and substituted new orders. Judgment Date: 23 August 2021

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