Two Auckland tenants have been awarded compensation after being unlawfully evicted from their properties when they complained about conditions that included having to drill a hole in the kitchen floor for sewage to drain out.
Their landlords, 8A Gray Ave Limited and LDW Limited,have been ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to pay a combined total of $25,900 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and were also issued with a six-year restraining order from committing similar breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act.
MBIE’s tenancy compliance and investigations team (TCIT) started investigating two units in Māngere East after the tenants complained about the conditions, which investigators later called “some of the worst they [had] ever seen”.
TCIT filed an application with the Tenancy Tribunal after identifying multiple issues, including sewerage and electrical problems, a lack of working smoke alarms, a failure to keep the properties clean and reasonably maintained and terminating one tenancy without a sufficient reason.
Investigators noted the shower tray in one unit was full of wastewater and the kitchen had visible stains from, and a strong smell of, leaking wastewater from the bathroom above. The other unit had a fan heater on the wall which leaked brown liquid when it was used.
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Kate Lash found 8A Gray Ave Limited and LDW Limited failed to provide premises that were in a reasonable state of cleanliness and failed to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair.
Lash said the tribunal would usually order a maximum level of exemplary damages only in the most egregious of cases and this was such a case.
“I am satisfied that these unlawful acts were committed intentionally. Both respondents are landlords of multiple properties. That is the business they are in. They do and/or should know the law and in particular their obligations under the act.
The units were in Māngere, Auckland. Photo / MBIE
“I am also satisfied that the intent of the respondents can be inferred as malicious at worst, but intentional at the very least. They were aware of the state of both units, not only by the tenants themselves notifying them via the various property managers, but also the TCIT involvement. A number of issues were also readily observable.”
In addition to $19,900 in exemplary damages, the adjudicator awarded the tenants $3000 each to compensate for the stress they endured throughout their tenancies.
“Both these tenants were treated with disregard. Their complaints and requests were ignored. Both were intimidated to leave their homes … neither were afforded a safe and comfortable living environment, and their vulnerabilities were preyed on.”
TCIT national manager Brett Wilson said investigators reported the properties were some of the worst they had seen.
One tenant had to drill a hole in the kitchen floor for the sewage to drain out of the kitchen. In the other unit, the shower flooded when used, and wastewater would leak through into the kitchen when it rained. It got to the extent where she had to shower standing in a bucket.
“Despite the terrible living conditions they were confronted with, these tenants were exceptionally vulnerable and felt they had to accept the units as they found them.”
