A couple bought an Auckland apartment expecting rent from day one. They say they learnt the tenant had gone the day before settlement. They won a Disputes Tribunal order against the seller, but say they still haven’t been paid.
A $9,129 order should have brought an Auckland apartment dispute to a close. Instead, it left the buyers with another decision: how much more should they spend trying to collect?
The Disputes Tribunal ordered the vendor, LBN Federal Street Ltd, to pay the couple after finding it had breached the sale contract. As of the NZ Herald’s 14 November 2026 report, the buyers said they had received nothing. The company’s sole director, Luke Nutting, is now chief executive of Wallace Real Estate. The order is against LBN Federal Street Ltd. Nutting is not personally liable for the debt, and he says Wallace Real Estate had no involvement in the sale or dispute.
THE RENT WAS PART OF THE DEAL
The couple bought the Hampton Court apartment on Auckland’s Federal Street in October 2024. The sale agreement recorded a fixed-term tenancy through to February 2025. That mattered to the price they were willing to pay: they expected rental income as soon as they took over.
The tenancy ended before settlement. The couple told the Herald they discovered that only when they asked for the tenancy agreement the day before the purchase went through. They eventually found their own tenants about 13 weeks later, at a lower rent, according to the report.
That timing is the part investors should pay attention to. A buyer can budget for a vacancy if they know one is coming. Finding out the day before settlement leaves little time to assess the loss or discuss options with a lawyer.
WHAT THE TRIBUNAL FOUND, AND WHAT NUTTING SAYS
The referee found the company had breached the contract and accepted that the buyers had made reasonable efforts to limit their losses. The $9,129 award included $8,379 in lost rent and half the buyers’ legal fees.
Nutting told the Herald the original tenant had asked to be released from the lease because of financial hardship. He said a replacement was found within about two weeks, but he and the buyers couldn’t agree on the tenancy arrangements. He disagreed with the Tribunal’s view on that point and said his offer to pay the equivalent of four weeks’ rent from his own funds remained open.
WINNING THE CASE IS ONE THING. COLLECTING THE MONEY IS ANOTHER
The couple said they delivered a statutory demand to the company’s registered office in September and received no response. They considered liquidation but told the Herald the potential cost made it hard to justify pursuing a debt of this size. Nutting told the Tribunal the company had no money.
The Disputes Tribunal explains that its orders are legally binding, but it does not check whether they’re followed. If a payment deadline passes, the successful party can apply to the District Court for enforcement. Fees apply, and a binding order doesn’t guarantee there will be money to recover.
That’s the accountability issue here. The buyers did what people are told to do when a dispute can’t be resolved: they took it to the Tribunal and won. Yet they’re still weighing the cost of taking another step. A system can make it affordable to get a ruling and still leave people facing a difficult bill when they try to enforce it.
BEFORE YOU BUY A TENANTED PROPERTY, CHECK WHAT HAPPENS IF THE TENANT LEAVES
Settled.govt.nz’s guide to sale and purchase agreements recommends getting legal advice when buying a tenanted property and says the agreement should specify that it is tenanted. If the rent is part of what makes the purchase stack up, ask your lawyer to review the tenancy agreement before you sign, confirm its status before settlement, and explain what the sale contract allows if the tenancy changes in the meantime.
The question for readers: If you win a binding order for $9,129, should collecting it really depend on how much more you can afford to spend?
Original reporting: Mike Scott, NZ Herald, 14 November 2026. Read the republished report at Newstalk ZB.
Related: Why NZ property buyers need better information before they make an offer