Tynan Kelly has died but his mother went on to win the court case that they started together against his former landlord, Portfolio Property Management.

Tynan Kelly has died, but that hasn't stopped him landing a win against his former Wellington landlord.

Craig Relph, described as one of the capital's biggest landlords, now has to cough up more than $3000 to pay the estate of his former tenant.

In a reserved judgement at Wellington District Court, Judge Chris Tuohy listed a series of wrong-doings at the hands of Portfolio Property Management, directed and owned by Relph.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Tynan Kelly went to the Tenancy Tribunal after a stoush with his landlord at Aurora Estate on Aurora Terrace in Wellington

The case had been brought by Relph's tenant Tynan Kelly, who had since died, but his mother Fionnuala​ Kelly took it over.

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Kelly yesterday said she began the case with her son and was committed to keeping it going after he died.

"I wasn't going to just let it go."

Judge Tuohy awarded Kelly's estate the maximum it could – $1000 – and said it would have been "several times more" if possible, after Tynan Kelly was made to sign a fixed-term agreement to stay in the boarding house on Aurora Tce, Kelburn.

Boarding houses cannot be covered by fixed terms.

There was "no argument" that it was unlawful, the judge wrote.

"The inference that it did so intentionally is irresistible, both in the sense that its insertion of a fixed term was deliberate and that it knew from its experience that to do so was unlawful".

He also said Relph's company had illegally charged Kelly $210 in "key money" – essentially a success fee to move it.

Not only was this unlawful but it was a something Relph should have been aware of, Judge Tuohy said in charging the maximum $1000 in damages.

"The major aspect is to deter the landlord from exploiting more vulnerable tenants. Additionally [Relph's company] once more has a history of committing this form of unlawful act."

A further $400 was charged in compensation for failing to provide services contacted for – namely moving Kelly into a room with a light fitting with exposed wires, leaving an old mattress propped against the room's wall, and not providing internet access for three weeks. In each case, complaints had been filed.

Portfolio Property Management was also charged $750 for failing to lodge Kelly's bond with the Tenancy Tribunal. That was less than the maximum as the judge said it could have been "the result of administrative inertia rather than a deliberate decision to ignore the law".

The hearing was after an appeal against a Tenancy Tribunal judgement in the High Court, which sent it back to Wellington District Court for a re-hearing.

Portfolio Property Management has been approached for comment.

In 2013 Portfolio Property Management was ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to refund and compensate four student tenants of a Cuba St flat that it "consciously misled" into renting an earthquake-prone building.