A resident at this boarding house on The Terrace, Wellington says the landlords are charging tenants fees for not cleaning.

An international student's landlord has been charging him for not cleaning the kitchen, and he's had enough.

When the student, who asked not to be named out of fear of being victimised, moved in, he signed a tenancy agreement which states the landlord can deduct expenses for "uncompleted jobs" – the Tenancy Services says that's illegal.

The agreement also says they can charge the students for noise, management, and administration costs.

Supplied A ticket issued to a student for not cleaning the table.

The student has received about 20 "tickets".

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Rob Frazer, the live-in-manager of the boarding house, said the student was cleaning the kitchen after using it, but wasn't doing it properly.

The student needed to clean the wall around the stove, not just the stove top, Frazer said.

An email from Frazer to the student says if he couldn't accept the management of the house, he needed to find a replacement and pay a $50 "admin fee".

The email reads: "THIS IS A WARNING – SETTLE DOWN OR MOVE OUT!"

The student felt attacked and anxious.

However, Frazer said the student was being malicious and had a personal vendetta against himself and another tenant.

The landlord had not done anything intentionally wrong, he said.

If jobs were not done properly, tenants had agreed in their contract they would pay $1.50, he said.

The agreement stated if fines accumulated to over $6, the tenant must pay the manager in full immediately.

"If we didn't have that [fine] ... young people as they are, we wouldn't be able to keep the place clean and tidy."

Frazer was hired as the house manager because the previous manager was doing a "terrible job".

"There was vomit everywhere, there were parties and bottles everywhere."

The student said he called Tenancy Services to seek help and was told it was completely illegal for his landlords to be fining him.

The student is working with lawyers and the Victoria University Students Association to take his case to the Tenancy Tribunal.

He feared the landlords were choosing vulnerable and compliant young people, who would not stand up against them.

Most of the people in the flat were young, international students, he said.

"Students must know this is going on, and they must stay away from places like this."

Frazer said they were allowed to charge fees, and were not required to lodge bonds with Tenancy Services because they were registered as a "student hostel" with the Wellington City Council.

Housing and Tenancy Services information and education manager Jennifer Syke said the general cleaning of communal areas in a boarding house was the responsibility of the landlord, not the tenant.

"Penalties or fines for not adhering to a particular house rule, or for not meeting any obligation under the are RTA [Residential Tenancies Act 1986] or the Tenancy Agreement are unenforceable."

Wellington City Council spokesman Sean Gillespie said while the property was listed to be used as 'sleeping accommodation' the Building Act did not address tenancy matters.

"I'm sure many students will be happy to hear the council doesn't have the power to provide property owners permission to charge tenants for not doing their dishes etc."

A Victoria University of Wellington spokeswoman said the university had no agreement, written or otherwise, with the landlords ofThe Terrace address.

Victoria University of Wellington president Marlon Drake said cases of landlords manipulating tenants was more common than people realised, and it was upsetting.

"To target international students, who have an even lesser understanding and often struggle with confidence in negotiating due to language barriers, is pretty despicable."

The association stressed that students question any clauses that seem untoward.

"Cases like these are why VUWSA continues to demand a formal process to make sure property agents are licensed and registered, so there are consequences if they abuse the system for their own gain."

A VUWSA spokeswoman confirmed the association had seen the student's tenancy agreement, and a student advocate was working with him to take his case to the Tenancy Tribunal.

The landlord Terry (Xiaoling) Yin has not returned calls.

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