Black mould is pictured in the failed Healthy Homes inspection report. Photo / Supplied.
Black mould, holes in the floor and a toilet that leaked sewage are some of the issues in an “appalling” rental that has been described as “not suitable for a child”.
The home was so bad its tenant stopped paying rent for nearly three months in protest until he could take the landlord to the Tenancy Tribunal.
That tribunal ordered him to repay the money he owed and keep paying rent at a reduced rate, but also awarded him more than $7000 in compensation.
“You can smell the mould everywhere if you don’t have the heat pump going,” the tenant, who was living at the property with his 12-year-old son, told NZME.
“I wipe the bathroom down every week and the mould just keeps coming back.”
However, after taking landlord Donna Miers to the tribunal this year and winning, the tenant hasn’t seen a cent of the compensation and none of the problems with the property have been fixed after more than six weeks.
“When I wasn’t paying the rent, she was on my case every day, but when I asked for something to be fixed, nothing,” the man said.
The tenant claimed Miers takes advantage of vulnerable people who struggle to obtain tenancies because of their records.
“I’ve been to prison, I was in a gang… Initially, I was just stoked to get a house at all,” he said.
“But, even though I have a colourful background, I’m not afraid to speak out.”
The man described the living conditions as “inhumane” and said that regardless of his background, he and his son deserved somewhere better to live.
According to the tribunal ruling released to NZME, the tenant, who has name suppression, had been living at the property in Timaru since August 2024 and had been paying $450 per week.
However, there were significant issues with the rental from the outset, but the tenant only raised them in November because he didn’t want to make a fuss.
The tenant paid for his own Healthy Homes inspection to be done and that report found there was no insulation in the property, gaps in the walls, leaking windows, black mould throughout the home and that Miers hadn’t lodged the $1800 bond with Tenancy Services.
The inspector also found there were holes in the floor covered by furniture for safety, a toilet that was lifting off the floor and smelling of sewage, water damage from leaks throughout the property and weather and deck boards that were rotting and broken. There was also a notice indicating the building was earthquake-prone.
Overall, the inspector found the building was not Healthy Homes compliant.
Tribunal adjudicator Deidre Watson said in her ruling that photos taken by the inspector showed the property was in “appalling condition”.
“There is black mould everywhere. These premises are not suitable for a child to be living in,” she said.
“The toilet situation is completely unhygienic and appalling.”
Watson ordered Miers pay exemplary damages to the tenant of $4300, noting a landlord was obligated to provide a home that was Healthy Homes compliant and in a reasonable state of repair.
“A tenant should not be dealing with the situation of a toilet that is not properly secured to the floor and smelling of sewage,” she said.
“This is completely unhygienic and a very inadequate position for a young person to be living in. The dampness, moisture and cold are also unacceptable for anyone to be living in, much less a child.”
Watson also found Miers had taken the bond from the tenant but never lodged it and that she appeared to have “a very casual approach to complying with legal obligations”.
“I consider this landlord to be very ambivalent towards the notion of observing her obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act. I am concerned there may be other tenants of the landlord’s who are in the same position as [the tenant].”
The tenant was seeking $18,000 in compensation for the issues with the property but the adjudicator awarded a total sum of $7800 in his favour. This was offset against Miers’ claim for outstanding rent totalling $4300, meaning his total award was $3400.
Watson noted it’s not the first time Miers has drawn the ire of the tribunal, after she and her son Nicholas Hoogwerf were ordered to pay more than $30,000 to an Auckland retiree after renting his Pt Chevalier property, “renovating” the interior without permission, and then subletting the property at double the rent to a vulnerable grandmother – all without the owner’s knowledge.
In another case before the tribunal, a home that wasn’t Healthy Homes compliant was rented to a group of renters in Auckland and their bond was never lodged. Miers never attended the Tenancy Tribunal hearing into that case.
Miers denied the tenant’s claim that she was taking advantage of vulnerable people and told the tribunal she helps people find accommodation where they may not be otherwise able to do so.
“When I rented to [the tenant], I did so out of compassion,“ Miers told NZME.
“[The tenant] said he was turning his life around, that he had urgent housing needs for him and his child, and he would be supported by a case worker. On that basis, I decided to give him a chance when no other landlords would.”
She didn’t challenge any aspects of the Health Homes report done by the inspector at the hearing, but said she wanted to have her own inspection done and hadn’t been able to do so because she claimed the tenant had been abusing her contractor.
“I have made repeated efforts to address the maintenance concerns by arranging qualified contractors to attend and complete the necessary work. However, every attempt has been met with serious obstruction,” Miers said in a statement to NZME.
“I cannot reasonably be expected to put contractors in a situation where they feel unsafe or are subjected to hostility.”
However, Miers didn’t produce any evidence of this at the hearing and Watson said it didn’t make any sense for the tenant to send someone away from the property who was there to fix the problems.
Miers was seeking the tenancy to be cancelled because of outstanding rent, however, the tribunal found the tenant’s claims for compensation offset this.
Miers told NZME the rent arrears exceeded the amount awarded to him by the tribunal, but the ruling does not reflect this.
Watson said she was concerned about the ongoing liveability of the property, but the tenant had difficulty finding alternative accommodation.
“Because there is a child involved, I am very hesitant to bring the tenancy to an end,” Watson said and instead made work orders for the myriad of issues at the property to be fixed.
Miers said she believed the tribunal had ruled against her on purely technical grounds.
“I followed the correct legal process and, based on the facts, termination should have been granted. Instead, the outcome leaves other tenants still exposed and me carrying significant losses.”
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.