Reserved judgment — appeal against order of Tenancy Tribunal — rent arrears — whether tenancy agreement in place — liability to pay rent — insurance — estoppel — Residential Tenancies Act 1986, ss 13C, 85 & 117 — Wilson Parking New Zealand Limited v Fanshawe [2014] NZCA 407. The appellants appealed a Tenancy Tribunal order that they pay the respondent $52,943 in rent arrears. They had lived for a time in the respondent's unit while their own unit was being repaired. The appellants ultimately lived in the respondent's unit for much longer than they had expected to, because it took such a long time to repair their property. The parties never had a formal written tenancy agreement. However the Tribunal had found that there had been a tenancy agreement between the parties, under which the appellants were liable to pay the respondent $800 a week for the time that they had lived in his property. On appeal the appellants argued that there had never been a tenancy agreement. They submitted that the rent was to be paid out of insurance proceeds, and that they had never agreed to start paying rent after their insurance money ran out. The Court examined various documents (including letters and emails) that the respondent asserted created the terms of the tenancy agreement. The Court found that the parties had anticipated that insurance was to cover the costs of the appellants' time living in the respondent's unit. Neither of the parties had foreseen that the repairs to the appellants' property would take so much longer than expected. There was no mention in any of the documents that the appellants would be personally responsible for making rental payments. Nor was there any provision for a situation where the repair of the appellants' property ran into problems, or when the insurance money ran out. The respondent had not asked the appellants to start paying rent personally once the insurance money ran out, and the Court found that such a term could not be implied into their agreement. The Court found that both parties had contributed to the situation by failing to properly communicate with each other as to what would happen when the insurance money ran out. Therefore the Court quashed the finding of the Tenancy Tribunal and instead ordered that each party pay $26,471.50 towards the outstanding rent amount. Judgment Date: 13 June 2024.