Megathread: Legal resources

Afternoon all!

I own my property and it had fibre already installed when we moved in. The cable runs under the house then across the ceiling of the garage before going up in to the house and fibre box.

My internet cut out suddenly and I called Chorus who sent a tech out. They told me it looked like the cable had been ripped out of the box.

On review, it seems that the cable was dangling from the ceiling of the garage and was caught by the door when it was opening. The timing of the internet cutting out matches my housemate mowing the lawn so I believe he had opened it to get the mower out.

I have now been sent an invoice from Chorus for the callout/repair saying they hold me responsible. The tech's report states the damage was caused by a tool and "Hybrid cable was damaged by the customer while working under the house."

This is simply not true, no work has been performed in this area. The cable was loose due to poor installing by the original tech (again, prior to my purchase of the house).

I am disputing the blame and wanted to ask if I have a leg to stand on here. Can anyone advise please?

Update: Thank you very much to everyone who has responded. I'm resigned that I'll probably end up paying (it's less than my excess) but have emailed them explaining that the report is wrong and the issue was caused by the cable not being taut rather than me with a tool. Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath. Have a great one everybody!

Not sure if this is the write page for this, apologies if not.
I was sending over $100 to my flatmate for rent, but was tired and accidentally sent it to the payee below them. The person I sent the money to is a guy I bought furniture off of Facebook marketplace a few months back.

I sent him a message explaining the mistake, but he’s left me on seen. I contacted my bank but they said it’s a $45 fee to chase him up on their end, however there’s no guarantee that I’d get the money.

I recently lost my job and I’m on an extremely fixed income, so whilst this money might seem small, it’s literally the difference between staying afloat right now or falling behind on my bills.

Please don’t tell me how stupid I am, I already know.

My current employer has employed me for a 12 month contract to cover mat leave, but the woman I am covering not only has “back after 9 months” in their out of office message, but also has told me in person. She also told me that she had asked HR to hire a 9 month mat leave cover rather than 12 months. I wasn’t aware of this before taking the job and wouldn’t have taken it had I known this as I’ve got another job lined up for after this finishes. Do I have a case for anything? I don’t really want to stay in the role on the off chance they offer to keep me as there isn’t enough work for me and the woman to share, and it’s not what I was expecting either.

I also have a letter of proof sharing when she applied for her leave (which she gave me), stating 38 weeks.

Help!! And thanks in advance :)

My neighbor across the road and I got into a car accident. I reversed out first, and while I was in the middle of shifting gears, he reversed out and hit the rear-left side of my car. He refuses to admit it was his fault, and his insurance company is saying that because both parties were reversing at that time, both parties share the responsibility. I know it's hard to argue that he takes primary responsibility because there are no CCTV no dash camera.

Now my question is, his vehicle is a pickup truck with a tow bar, so his car looks completely fine, but my car is damaged badly. If we share responsibility, can I ask them to pay for half of my repair bills? His car is a company car with comprehensive car insurance and I have the third party insurance. Thanks.

My boyfriend got scammed today in a planned car swap, and we do not know the next steps here. This has happened through Marketplace.

The seller of the car operated under a fake name (which we found out later), and informed us that the car was in good mechanical condition. We have screenshots of text messages where he explicitly stated that it was. It was also agreed upon prior that my boyfriend would receive some money to make up for the value of his car, however, the man claimed that he was broke and would give us weekly payments to cover this. He also claimed that his phone was dead, and therefore, we would complete the registration forms later.

After we drove off, he deleted his entire Facebook account, and we found an old WOF sheet saying that the car has a major oil leak, and that it was owned by a different person in July. We found that guy online, and its not the guy. Edit: "Neither the old owner or the guy who sold it to us are registered as the car owner (police can not tell us who is)". We are now stuck with a car with major mechanical issues, and do not know who has our old car and where it is.

A police report has been filed, however, police are claiming that it will most likely be a civil dispute, but I feel like this should be illegal.

I'm wondering if anybody knows what to do from here? We have not been able to contact his insurance company yet, and we do not even know if we'll be getting anything from them. Any advice would greatly help, thank you.

Kia ora!

I currently live in a student flat with three others. We’ve been great tenants, never missing rent and never had to communicate with our landlord for anything major. Our lease ends on the 29th of November and we’ve decided to move onto our next place.

Last month I texted my landlord telling him of our decision and I never got a response. Yesterday we applied for a new property and I asked him if we can put him down as a reference, no response..

The place we applied for is fantastic and exactly what we’re looking for so we were forced to put the application in immediately. After two missed phone calls, and an email to my current landlord over the course of the day we put his info in anyway.

My question is, if he never acknowledges us intending to leave the lease but we move out within that time and I’ve taken all reasonable steps to notify him of this is there anything legally he can do? Also this reference situation is annoying. Really hope he doesn’t throw us under the bus.

Thanks!

If a news organisation published an article about me containing completely false and defamatory claims, and I had evidence proving those claims were untrue, would I be entitled to compensation?
Say I provided the publication with evidence disproving the allegations, but they refused to remove the article(instead right a new one, that is located in a very niche section) and continued keeping the original behind a paywall, making money from people paying to read it.
Could I pursue them for defamation and claim damages? More specifically, is there any legal avenue to claim a portion of the profits they’ve made from the article, given that they’re continuing to monetise information they know is inaccurate?
I’m interested in the New Zealand legal position, particularly whether the publisher’s knowledge of the evidence and decision to keep profiting from the article could affect the amount of compensation or other remedies available.
Would appreciate advice from anyone familiar with NZ defamation law, particularly lawyers or people who have dealt with similar situations.
It’s made my work life very hard, especially when the first thing that comes up when you search my name is this article.

I am in a bit of an unusual position

If I give a lawyer the right to request my information they have the right to do so, however I am unsure of it's potential usefulness

There is a current court case going on and I am also unsure of how to get hold of the lawyer due to not knowing their name

I was previously targeted with what is known as an adversarial algorithm

In this theoretical scenario, someone having attempted to frame me as a hacker may have had consequences for someone else in their current proceedings as justification for having them observed in order to collect evidence for their extradition trial

What is the best way of locating this legal team in order to give them permission should they be interested in investigating the ability to request this information for comparison?

Thank you

My aunt has cognitive decline, as yet undiagnosed with a specific name, and as she is over 80 and approaches her next even-year birthday she is going through motions to attempt to gain a medical certificate to continue driving. Problem is, her GP has already told her she is unfit to drive due to cognitive issues which she strongly denies. In response to the medical cert request the GP has referred her for an on-road driving assessment which she failed. The report says "Recommend cessation of driving with immediate effect" and is copied to NZTA.

Being "forgetful" to say the least, she alternates between "the test was crap" and "nobody has told me I can't drive" to an acknowledgement that she must sell the car and work on other solutions.

All of her family is in a different city, around 3 hours drive away. Her EPOA has been drafted but not been activated, but when activated it names me.

When we talk about selling her car, she (rightly?) says we have no right to do that.

My question is, who can or will intervene to stop her driving? The Driving Assessment people indicated that NZTA may eventually make a house call to take the licence but that sounds a step further than most government organisations so I'm highly doubtful.

I am aware that many people drive unlicensed so I'm doubtful that the Police will actively intervene.

After an email yesterday where she acknowledged the need to be rid of the car, some of the family were planning to visit her this weekend to sell the car (to Turner's, so very quick to do) and help her with ensuring she can call taxis, driving services etc and work with her to actually do an outing - but today she claims she cannot stop driving due to commitments, we are NOT to sell her car, and she never asked for such "help". No idea what tomorrow will bring.

If we go there and forcefully remove the car, what are the potential ramifications? I doubt it would get as far as a violent response but it might, and she has threatened suicide more than once if she was to "lose her freedom".

Dementia is no joke. Any advice is hugely appreciated.

We have had ongoing issues with a particular neighbor for over 10 years, police have been involved a few times due to them damaging our property etc. We are rural and grow crops that rely on local and immigrant workers for harvest and various jobs. Most recently we have had signs put up on our boundary as the neighbour objects to people looking through the fence, he also regularly jumps the fence onto our side with his weed sprayer and sprays along fence lines that he considers untidy. He however thinks it's fine to photograph the children of some of our staff who were at work with their parents during the school holidays from behind a hedge. Today we had a visit from immigration who apparently had been referred by Oranga Tamariki as we apparently had underage children working during school hours. They showed me the photos that were obviously taken from his property. At what point does this constitute harassment?

Hi, Apologies if this is not the right place to post.

My wife and I gave our notice to leave our current rental just under three weeks ago. The day after we had sent our notice the oven blew up, we lodged with PM and he had someone around in two days. We were told aswell as PM that we needed repair work done, new fan element and not to use until fixed. Since then no communication from PM so yesterday we emailed and sent a text to him asking when it would be fixed and if the landlord would consider rent reduction since we have been without an oven for two weeks. His reply today was "the hob is still functioning so cooking can still be performed but will talk to landlord". It seems we are being mucked around as we only have a few days left before moving out, is there anything else we can do?

Hey y'all.

So I took Tuesday off as annual leave but then I got sick Wednesday and Thursday and took these days as sick leave. Employer is now asking for a med cert.

Does this situation still count as 3 day period where I have to provide a med cert?

Hi guys, just want to put a disclaimer first that I’m don’t actually have more occupants than in the tenancy agreement, just got the contract today and haven’t signed it yet.

Basically, we were wanting the occupants of the flat to be four people (three tenants and one flatmate) but because only three of us are on the tenancy I guess they put three people as the max occupants.

Obviously, we are going back and asking if they’d be willing to change it to four as it’s the right thing to do and it’ll be better in the long run to be transparent.

But it got me thinking if anyone has first hand experience of having more occupants than on the agreement and how it ended up. I’m curious because it doesn’t really seem like a huge deal to me, I feel like I see Facebook posts all the time of people getting new flatmates and subletting their rooms but I don’t know the ins and outs if their situations. So just curious if it is actually a huge deal or if people get away with having more occupants than allowed.

My nephew is 4 years old and his mother isn't interested. My brother (father) isn't on the birth certificate and is struggling with the shit situation. Shes a stereotype toxic druggy and generally a POS that shouldn't of had a kid.

After that brief description (sorry it's vague) My question is, how do I go about becoming his caregiver? With her temperament I don't see her signing him over so what are my other choices?

TIA

Ive worked with this guy for a little over a year now, and since day one he has been rude, argumentative, inappropriate and aggressive with multiple staff including myself.

He has out of nowhere started yelling at and become extremely aggressive towards members of the team, primarily women.

We have talked to our HR on multiple occasions now but are still waiting for them to actually have a meeting to discuss this guy's behavior.

The worst part about this guy is that he has "jokingly" pretend to burn or stab multiple staff with hot oven trays and knives. So far he hasn't actually physically hurt anyone, but because of this joke staff members are scared to speak up against him or defend themselves.

I work with him the majority of the time, since im also a dude and most of the other staff are women who are scared of him. He has pretended to burn me on a few occasions, where I usually nervously laugh it off.

Ive also spoken to my manager and HR about him, telling them that since i am a man I have more concerns that if I do speak up and he gets aggressive that I would be more likely to be physically assaulted by him.

So far HR has told me that I just need to continue to inform them about incidents. My worry is that if nothing is ever actually done about this guy's behavior that eventually it will escalate to someone getting physically injured.

Is there anything legally that I or my workplace can actually do about this?? I feel very stuck. Part of me wants to actually stand up to this guy when hes going after one of my colleagues and if i do get hit then at least I had brought up my concerns about it prior and maybe there would be legal retribution after the fact. But also i dont love the idea of getting punched, or worse stabbed.

Its gotten to the point where I have thought about quitting just to get the hell away from this guy. Please tell me that there is more i can be doing here, im at my wits end.

Hey all, just after some advice regarding a medical I need to do for work.

During the medical appointment, am I allowed to voice record what is discussed? I mainly want this for me own record but also as I won't have a support person with me. I know you can record a conversation if you are part of it and it is in good faith to let the other people know. Is that the same for a medical appointment as well?

I'm also very worried about privacy and want to make sure my privacy is not breached. Any tips on what to say to the medical practitioner doing the assessment regarding that? Thanks

Hi all,

Hoping you big brains can help me with where i stand with respect to the CGA and my fridge/freezer.

I purchased a new popular brand fridge freezer from a big Australian based homeware store in March 2023. The appliance was $800 and came with the standard 2 year warranty.

3 weeks ago the fridge began freezing all of our food regardless of temp setting, it is great as a freezer but completely useless as a fridge now.

I called the store that Friday who promptly dispatched a service tech to inspect. Both sales rep and the service tech who arrived same day (wow!) were quick to correctly mention that the fridge was out of warranty.

The store also provided me with a loan fridge/freezer in the interim (presumably for free and didnt stipulate when it was due back)

Service tech inspected my fridge de-iced it, ordered a few parts charged me $150 and left saying he'd return but that the de icing should fix it.

Fridge was sweet for a day then back to freezing

The technician came back the following Wednesday and replaced a part but not the 2 other parts he'd also ordered and left stating that would sort it. Not before he charged me another $150 on his way out and stated any further repairs would be free in 'good faith'.

Next day back to freezing, I emailed the umbrella company the technician works for on Sunday and heard back today that they would be able to attend to remedy in 7 days time. Now that its at their cost it feels like tmik no longer a priority.

So ive had to buy another fridge for $800 as Its been 12 days since mine failed and i dont know when the store is going to request their loan fridge back. Ive lost probably $200+ worth of food items and $300 on technician fees for a fridge that's 3 and a half years old. Despite the fridge being of a minimal value I still feel pretty aggrieved by the whole thing as I expect stuff to last and despite the loan fridge the store staff were very dismissive when I said was disappointed with it already failing.

Where do i go from here? Am I within my rights to ask the store to reimburse me for the repair costs or should I just wade straight into the disputes tribunal process?

Long one sorry!!

Looking for some advice on what to do about my mum’s landlord. For reference she’s been in the same flat for 7 years, a block of 8. Periodic tenancy.

In early 2025 the LL told her she was behind on rent. She knew this to be incorrect and was quite distressed so I offered to go through the numbers. In short her rent had gone through a day early over Christmas because of the public holiday, which threw off his ledger and made it look like she owed an extra week. I sent him my working. He never corrected his records and never apologised.

Because he never updated them, the same error was still sitting in his ledger this September, and he made the same claim again, saying she was a week short. He wanted a CSV of her bank transactions (literally asked that he take her to bank lol) and threatened a notice to vacate if she didn’t hand it over. We refused to send her bank records and I once again explained and showed where his records were off, but he would not accept it and continued to send demanding and belligerent emails telling me to "just do what he asked", that I was "wasting time", and that "he’d never drop it."

In the end I had to ELI5 and he finally got it but offered no apology (mum was extremely stressed by this point) and started regularly turning up on the wider property unannounced. The guy has been a nightmare to deal with in general and this was the last straw so we decided to move Mum to Auckland to live on the property we own.

She gave notice on 30 September to end the tenancy on 28 October (so more than 21 days notice).

Since then:

• On 2 October he turned up with a pressure hose and started cleaning her back windows with no warning. It scared her.
• The next day, a Saturday, he started up a chainsaw behind the carport (again, zero notice). She asked what he was doing and whether it had to be on the weekend. He called her a “toxic bitch” to her face and said he couldn’t wait for her to go.
• I was worried for her at this point asked her to come up to Auckland earlier. The landlord again came to the property unannounced on October 12 and she mentioned bringing her move-out date forward a week to 21 October. He said something to effect of “just fucking go, do your 21 days and fucking go”, then emailed to say 28 October stands and offered 26 October instead. She’s accepted 26 October and will pay rent to that date.
• On this same day he opened the shared tenant garage and demanded she "get her shit out"
• My mum called me in tears so I emailed the LL myself and asked that he please direct all future comms through me.
• Yesterday he came to the property again to drop off a list of move-out requirements, even though I’d asked in writing that all contact go through me.

As an aside, she previously lived through about two years of major renovations, including being moved out of her home and onto another unit on the property (where there was still noise etc), and was never offered a rent reduction. I feel like over the years he has very much taken advantage of mum being in a vulnerable position.

My questions:

1. Is any of this an actual breach by him (quiet enjoyment, harassment, retaliation, something else), or is it mostly rude and unreasonable but legal?
2. Could the threat of a notice to vacate count as a retaliatory notice, since it came after she disputed his figures? He never actually issued one since
3. Could she claim a rent reduction for the renovation period after she’s left, and would the Tribunal still hear it?
4. Is there anything else I should do before she leaves to protect the bond? We’re keeping dated photos, her written account and all the emails.

Thank you!

Does anyone have recommendations on No Win No Pay in regards to Employment. I'm based in Auckland

TLDR: Parking Services have charged me $95+$75 for a $10 fee, I disputed the $75 late fee because the notice was sent to my MIL, but they're insisting that I pay the full amount so I don't know what to do now.

While driving my mother in law's car, I parked in a Wilson's car park for 5 hours which charges $2ph (so it would have been a $10 fee). I thought I'd paid via the app but, due to issues with my phone, the payment didn't go through.

My MIL was sent a breach notice for payment of $95 and my partner forgot to tell me about it so I only just found out about it a few days ago. They had already applied a late fee of $75 at that stage.

I paid the breach fee ($95) and emailed them to explain the situation and requested that the late fee be waived. They have refused.

I explained that a total fee of $170 for recovery of an $11 parking fine is grossly unreasonable and surely cannot be defendable.

As the fee was issued to my MIL, she could have legitimately disputed the claim as 'someone else was using the vehicle'. She would have been under no obligation to tell them who the driver was, and the fee would have been forfeited. I never received the breach notice, my MIL did who sent it to my Partner, but I didn't know about the fine. My concern with doing this would be that they might start hounding her, add additional fees, give it to debt collectors, etc.

I explained all of this to them but they refused to repeal the late fee. They have asked for my full name and address to transfer the Breach Notice into your name as the Driver.

Apparently if a fee is disputed, it cannot be sent to debt collectors and additional fees cannot be added, but they told me "If you wish to dispute this invoice further, you are welcome to lodge a claim with the Disputes Tribunal." So does this mean it's no longer disputed?

$170 for a $10 unpaid fee is INSANE and so unreasonable. I don't know how they can even justify a $95 fee to be honest. I've already paid $95 and don't want to take them to the Tribunal where I would have to pay a $62 application fee.

It pisses me off that they are so predatory and assume people will pay these extortionate fees because they pressure me.

I just don't know what to do now. I don't want my MIL to be harassed, I don't want to end up with massive fines piling up and end up having to pay hundreds of extra $$, but I also don't think the current fine is reasonable.

Kia ora everyone,

I'm looking for some advice about my employment situation in New Zealand and whether my employer has been handling my contracted hours correctly.

I applied for a job at a restaurant that was advertised as a part-time position offering up to 20+ hours per week. However, I was not given nor copied another contract for myself and I had to hand it in physically. I then asked for a copy of my contract which they could have changed? And I asked whether I was part-time or casual as I was not given regular hours. They said the restaurant is in early stages and they are unsure.. The restaurant has been operating for 20+ years but this is a new location. My employment agreement states that my peak hours are 10 hours and my off-peak hours are also 10 hours.

The issue is that my contract doesn't clearly state whether these hours are guaranteed or whether I will only be paid for the hours I actually work. It also doesn't explicitly state whether I'm employed as a permanent part-time employee or a casual employee, despite the original job advertisement describing the role as part-time.

Throughout my employment, there have been numerous weeks where I haven't received anywhere near 10 hours of work. Sometimes, I've only been rostered for two or four hours for the entire week. This has happened repeatedly, and I haven't been paid for any hours I wasn't rostered to work.

On top of this, I've also experienced numerous shift cancellations. My employer cancels shifts, and I've been told that if they give me at least two hours' notice, I don't get paid for the cancelled shift. I'm unsure whether this is legally correct under New Zealand employment law or whether I should be receiving compensation for these cancellations.

Some of my coworkers have also told me that I should be entitled to a payout for the hours I haven't received because my contract lists 10 peak hours and 10 off-peak hours. This has made me question whether those hours should have been guaranteed and whether my employer should have paid me for the difference between my contracted hours and the hours I actually worked.

I understand that hospitality can be unpredictable and that business levels fluctuate, but I'm confused about what my employment agreement actually entitles me to. I don't want to assume I'm owed money if that's not how the law works, so I'm hoping to get some advice.

My questions are:
If my contract lists 10 peak hours and 10 off-peak hours, could these be considered guaranteed hours even though the agreement doesn't explicitly say they are guaranteed?

If I was employed as a part-time worker, can my employer regularly roster me for only two to four hours a week when my contract lists 10 peak hours and 10 off-peak hours?

Does the fact that the original job advertisement described the position as part-time matter if my signed employment agreement doesn't specify whether I'm part-time or casual?

Could I be entitled to back pay for the hours I wasn't rostered for if those hours were supposed to be guaranteed under my employment agreement?

Is it legal for my employer to cancel a rostered shift without paying me as long as they give me at least two hours' notice? My understanding is that I don't receive any payment for these cancelled shifts.

Could the shift cancellations also entitle me to compensation, depending on the wording of my employment agreement and the circumstances?

Would it be worth contacting Employment New Zealand or the Labour Inspectorate to have my contract reviewed and find out whether I'm owed any money?

I'm also resigning from this job, so I'd like to understand my employment rights before making any decisions.

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone familiar with New Zealand employment law or anyone who has experienced a similar situation. I'm happy to provide the exact wording of the relevant clauses in my contract, with personal information removed, if that would help.

Thanks in advance!

A bit of background. Currently my workplace is 3 days from home, 2 days in an office. It’s written into my contract that we have flexibility and room for WFH. The office situation is changing and the boss is now going to rent an office in town and requesting all staff in the office 5 days a week. All roles will be disestablished and reestablished exactly the same but with the new work location and all days in the office. We are going through a ‘proposal’ process but if we do not agree, we will not have a job. My main question is, is it legal to disestablish the roles, mainly to make them the same with the new location and office requirements? Which essentially means my WFH provision in my contract is worth jack shit. There’s obviously more to it and we’re by sure the process will be done in good faith, but I’m currently hung up on the disestablished of the roles and current contracts meaning nothing!

I can only find stuff in relation to farm workers and bulk use of sprays.

We have a "'chemical box". Inside the chemical box a variety of pesticide and herbicide concentrate is stored, unsecured, meaning that stuff falls over the time, and the bottom is sticky from products leaking. There is no labeling on this chemical box.

Retrieving an item from this box means you will get some chemical concentrate on yourself, as everything is coated in spilt product.

Our spray packs are stored unsecured in the work vehicle. I've had glyphosate leak into my lunch bag because someone jammed the sprayer nozzle into the front cab, the spray packs also just tip over while driving and there's been multiple instances where a whole 15L spray pack of weed killer has leaked everywhere.

Our "PPE" is a rain jacket. With the pesticides, you are quite often spraying them at or above head height, meaning you are likely to eat a face full of whatever the fuck we are spraying.