Stink situation: Tenants had to travel 20km to have a shower

It took the landlords five weeks to fix the second shower, leaving the group with just one for five adults. Photo /123rf

Tenants living in a house where the water pressure was so weak they couldn’t shower in their own home for days will be compensated financially after having to travel a 20km round trip just to wash.

“The two showers had so little water pressure the tenants were unable to shower at the premises,” Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Ruth Lee said in a recent decision.

Lack of shower access was just one of a plethora of breaches the group of five tenants, whose names are suppressed, claimed through the tribunal in August.

Eves Realty Limited has been ordered to pay $5510 to the tenants after their landlords deprived them of showers, storage, and “aesthetically pleasing” yards.

After having gone without a shower for five days, the tenants went on a 20km round trip to wash at a different rental. After that one of the showers was working but they had to wait five weeks for the second shower to be repaired at a time when they all needed daily showers, Lee said.

“It is not what they bargained for when they signed up for the tenancy.”

The tenancy started on December 16 last year, but the group were unable to move in because cleaners were still working on the property when they arrived.

It took just five days for the tenants to reach out to the landlords, raising issues with the house that were found when they moved in.

Most problems were fixed after the group issued a 14-day breach notice to the landlord just days before Christmas, but the group still had to celebrate the festive season in rooms piled with boxes.

The tenants said the breaches had a cumulative effect on them, and the evidence presented at the hearing in August showed a “lack of care by the landlord in carrying out its obligations”.

They claimed the landlord didn’t check the house over properly because of the numerous defects found at the property, including leaking taps, faulty lights and dirty fixtures to name a few.

The landlord did fix the defects promptly, however the group had several other issues, including the fact they couldn’t use the showers for days and travelled a 20km round trip for five days just to clean.

The tenants sought compensation for a number of things, including missed work hours when they had to rearrange their move because the house wasn’t ready and two weeks of storage when they couldn’t use the shed.

A skip bin ordered so the landlord could empty the shed obstructed the tenants’ driveway and front door access for five days.

Boxes were stored in their house and cars over the Christmas holiday period, and their “reasonable peace” was interfered with when the landlord and the group argued over storage issues.

“Expansive lawns and gardens” were agreed to be maintained by the landlord, but they did not do enough to keep the growth in check.

“The tenants have incurred a loss of amenity value in that the grounds have been untidy and aesthetically unpleasing,” Lee said.

One tenant said they fell over and hurt their knee because of the overgrown garden cutting across the path and although the tribunal couldn’t say the fall was fully to do with the gardens, it did contribute to it.

The tenants did fall short however on an application for exemplary damages for the landlord allegedly failing to meet heating standards, with Lee dismissing this claim.

“In the end there is insufficient evidence to tip the balance and persuade me to displace the findings in the Healthy Homes assessment report. So I do not find the landlord in breach of this obligation,” she said.