North Shore landlord fined $750 after spying on female tenant from property nearby

Landlord watches tenant from neighbouring property. Photo / 123RF

A North Shore landlord has been ordered to pay his female tenant $750 after spying on her from the neighbouring property.

"This made me feel very uncomfortable," Alyshia Dunnet said at a Tenancy Tribunal hearing.

During December last year, her landlord Zaher Alali had also repeatedly approached her male guests to find out if they were staying at the property, a Tenancy Tribunal report revealed.

Tribunal adjudicator H Cheeseman said the landlord took an inappropriate level of interest in the tenant's private life, and his repeated approaches to guests of the tenant was a breach of quiet enjoyment that amounts to harassment.

"Accordingly, I find that the landlord has committed an unlawful act," Cheeseman said.

Subsequently, Alali was told to pay his tenant $750 for the breach.

The landlord had claimed that the tenant had breached the tenancy agreement by
having extra people residing at the property that was allowed but Cheeseman said Alali's evidence of this fell short.

The maximum number of tenants allowed to reside at the property was three, being
Dunnet and her two children.

The landlord said on several occasions he observed several cars parked at the address and became suspicious.

Dunnet said her partner lived and worked at Mangawhai and on some occasions would stay the night when he came to visit, but most weekends she and her children would stay with him at his house near the beach.

She also had two male cousins, that the landlord had approached and asked who they were. They had stayed with her over a week during the Christmas and New Year period.

In relation to the cars parked at the address, Dunnet said she had two cars, her partner and cousins parked their cars at the address when they stayed with her.

On occasions she had also let her friends park at the address while they took nearby public transport to the city during the day.

Cheeseman said the tenant was entitled to have her partner stay overnight, without seeking the permission of the landlord, or notifying him.

"In relation to her cousins, bearing in mind the time of year, I consider the tenant's explanation to be entirely reasonable and I accept it fully," Cheeseman said.

"I find that the tenant has not breached the tenancy agreement, and no unlawful
act has been committed."