An elderly tenant who complained to his landlords about the noise on the shared property - and said it was interfering with his afternoon naps - was told to “p*** off” if he was not happy with it.
Landlords Donna and Keith Patterson lived in the title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/hibiscus-coast/">Whangapāraoa property’s main house while renting out a cottage and two caravans on the one-acre section.
According to a recent Tenancy Tribunal decision, the man took up residency in the couple’s cottage in 2023 but a legal tenancy agreement was never generated.
Instead, the tenant, whose name was suppressed by the tribunal, received an email with information about rent, contact details and a tenancy commencement date of July 18 of that year.
He was not provided with statutory information, including bond details, bank accounts, chattels and basic tenancy terms, and no information was given about insurance policies, liability, smoke alarm regulations or whether the house was up to healthy home standards.
Despite the flaws in the documentation, the tenant moved in but later told the tribunal, at a hearing in the North Shore in January, that the landlords had harassed him and breached his quiet enjoyment while living there.
He claimed the landlord’s son, who lived in the main house, would make significant noise with drums and guitars, and by punching a boxing bag.
The tenant also said the ride-on mower, weed eater and earthwork trucks fixing a slip had interfered with his ability to have afternoon naps.
On December 15, 2024, he complained about the noise and claimed they told him “if you’re not happy living there he could p*** off” and move on.
With no formal written notice given by the landlord, the tenant gave 14 days’ notice and moved out three days before Christmas.
He believed the landlords did not want him there and felt discriminated against because of his elderly age.
At the investigation meeting in January, the Pattersons confirmed they did not provide a legal tenancy agreement and were unaware documentation was to be given around Healthy Homes Standards.
They also said despite no formal written eviction notice being given, they intended the tenancy to come to an end with their comment on December 15 because they were “fed up listening to his complaints”.
Tribunal adjudicator Michelle Pollack found the landlords had unlawfully terminated the tenant, failed to provide him with a written tenancy agreement and did not comply with the Healthy Homes Standards.
“The landlords have verbally purported to give the tenant notice without grounds in retaliation to his ongoing complaints and that in doing so they meant for the tenant to find somewhere else to live as they were tired of him making noise and other complaints and perceived him to be a nuisance,” Pollack said in her decision.
“I find the landlords have committed an unlawful act.”
The Pattersons were ordered to pay the tenant $3719.86 in exemplary damages and rent compensation.
However, his discrimination claims were rejected because of insufficient evidence. The tribunal also ruled the alleged breach of quiet enjoyment was typical for anyone living on a shared property.
Donna Patterson told NZME they had appealed the decision on the grounds the tenant was in a shared living situation, therefore the Residential Tenancies Act did not apply.
She said the man shared the property, including laundry, with their family and they considered him a “flatmate”.
“The flat house share is not covered by the RTA; you don’t even have to have an agreement ,but we always have with the cottage.
“It wasn’t until the hearing we knew we were going to be judged on all these things. It doesn’t apply to our tenancy.”
Patterson believed the cottage met the Healthy Homes Standards.
She said they regularly received clients through the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and had never had issues until this incident.
“He never made any complaints about the property, not one. He asked for the tenancy agreement to go to MSD for a housing allowance and he never said then it was unacceptable”.
She said the tenant “went off his rocker” and they responded with the “p*** off” comment after having allegedly listened to him complaining about various things for weeks.
“We never gave him any notice, we never told him he had to leave, we just told him it was his choice, in that way. He never spoke to us again, he gave notice on the 17th of December and he left on the 22nd of December.”
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.