Tauranga Indian family offered new home after curry controversy

A couple who believe landlords objected to the smell of their national cuisine have been offered a home in Tauranga.

Newly-married Indians Arun and Poonam Kaushish had been turned away from 30 rental properties in four months because, they believe, landlords worry that the smell of curry is difficult to remove from a house.

The good news for the Kaushish family, who described themselves as "criminals for cooking curry", was that they were offered a home after their plight was publicised.

"One person, he offered us a place in Matua," Mr Kaushish said. "I emailed him back and am still waiting for his reply."

Mr Kaushish said the property was 15km from his job as a retail store manager at Tauranga Crossing, but he was grateful for the offer. He hoped to view the property soon.

Cumin sense

Bay of Plenty rental agents were divided yesterday over whether or not there was a significant amount of culinary discrimination in the region's rental market.

A property association highlighted an anomaly in which it was acceptable to discriminate on the basis of smoking or owning pets, but not on the basis of food odour.

Former motel owner Angela Dold said she felt "very sorry" for the Kaushish family, but had experienced odour problems after an Indian family cooked curry for a week in one of her rooms. The smell "stuck", and she was forced to replace curtains and bed-covers, have the carpet shampooed twice, scrub surfaces and air the room every day. The smell lingered for more than a month.

"The motel was my livelihood and having it out of action for that long was not good," she said. "We can't ask people to change their way of life, but they must understand the reasoning behind a landlord's refusal.

Bay rental managers had divided opinions about the issue.

Tauranga Rentals owner Dan Lusby said an "unfortunate" minority of landlords did not want solo mothers, Indians and Maori renting their houses.

Indian food could taint the smell of a home for months.

"Unfortunately that does put off the next tenants," Mr Lusby said. "We try to educate tenants that if they don't cook that kind of food, they have better chances of getting a rental."

First National Tauranga owner Anton Jones said landlords were more worried about methamphetamine than curry. Ethnic people who were struggling to find accommodation in Tauranga were more likely to be victims of the tight rental market than discrimination.

Mr Jones said he had "never been specifically asked" to exclude Indians during eight years in the industry.

"I've had 'no pets' and 'no smokers', but never 'no Indians'," he said.

Action Real Estate owner John Foot said the smell of Indian food did linger but it could usually be removed with cleaning agents.

He advised people who were struggling to find a home to visit property managers in person, as face-to-face contact helped "paint a more personal image of your circumstances".

The Auckland Property Investors' Association said that lingering smells from cooking, smoking and pets were legitimate concerns for landlords.

"This is why some landlords elect to not rent to smokers or those with pets," the association said in a statement. "These choices are somehow more acceptable because Parliament has not legislated against discrimination based on lifestyle choices."