Pets & Pats manor-like grounds in Dairy Flat. Photo / Supplied
Pets & Pats manor-like grounds in Dairy Flat. Photo / Supplied
The posh doggy daycare serving Auckland’s inner suburbs has resisted eviction by its landlord after a Tenancy Tribunal win that has added to neighbours’ despair.
One of those neighbours told the Herald the barking over the festive season was such that she will not again have Christmas at home whilePets & Pats is operating out of the manor-like property it rents at Dairy Flat.
The property owner had earlier urged tenancy manager Barfoot & Thompson to try to evict Pets & Pats, which operates overnight kennel services and day stays.
A Tenancy Tribunal hearing in June heard owner Angela Beer allegedly didn’t have permission to run a business from the property and - even if she did - she was in breach of her rental agreement because of the impact on neighbours.
Beer told the Tribunal she did have permission, and noise testing had shown that the barking from the property was not excessive.
The Barfoot and Thompson branch manager overseeing the tenancy wrote to neighbours after New Year to say a decision had been returned. “They determined the tenant had the right to have dogs, and the noise was not excessive due to the tenant’s official reports.”
The full decision with reasons is not yet available from the Tribunal, but Pets & Pats general manager Liana Coleman said, “we are delighted with the outcome at Tenancy Tribunal, although not surprised”.
“We were vindicated of all claims. We are looking forward to 2023, where we will continue to provide professional, loving care for all our dogs.”
Neighbour Lindsey Field said she was “absolutely devastated” by the decision as she believed the arguments for eviction were an “open and shut case”.
“Christmas and the New Year period was truly hell. I was beside myself. I’ll never have Christmas at home again with this business close by,” she said.
Field said she had approached Christmas seeking and receiving assurances from Pets & Pats that a “day schedule” would be sent to show when dog noise was likely to be the loudest.
The Dairy Flat base of Pets & Pats. Photo / Supplied
She provided the Herald with a string of text messages supporting her claim that the schedule was never provided, saying it created uncertainty over when it would be possible to have guests at her home to celebrate the festive season.
While Christmas Day was not too noisy, Field said Boxing Day “was terrible,” with noise starting at 7am when the boarding dogs were let out. She said the noise ramped up again as the day-stay dogs began to arrive around 9.30am.
Concerns about the noise then saw Field cancel a lunch planned for family and friends that day which had been planned for the deck outside her home, which had been decorated for Christmas.
“The noise was so hideous that morning. What do you do? Close all your windows and doors? I decided I couldn’t bear the thought of that.”
Field said the Tenancy Tribunal decision had left her with “no hope at all”. Field felt the noise reports submitted in the case were of dubious value because they weren’t taken from neighbours’ properties, and she believed they didn’t take into account the acoustic effects which made sound travel.
Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, also said there was relative peace on Christmas Day, but on Boxing Day, she felt they had “more than made up for it”.
Since then, she felt that the noise had continued to be “diabolical” and “ghastly”.
Neighbour Angela Green confirmed noise was a feature of the Christmas break.
“It’s noisy because everybody else is on holiday, and we have their dogs!”
At the tribunal, Green testified that closed windows and drawn heavy drapes failed to block the noise of the dogs barking. She said the noise was such that people she talked to on the telephone could hear the dogs, forcing her into a closet to speak without interruption.
The doggy daycare business has been operating since around 2015 with a fleet of vans collecting dogs from Auckland’s most sought-after suburbs for a day in the country. The company’s website says, “we don’t take many dogs,” and those who do become “a cherished family member” at the “fun, safe, private, canine country club”.
