A recently released Tenancy Tribunal decision reveals how Turner and Heke were awarded nearly $1000 after their landlord failed to take all reasonable steps required to ensure others did not interfere with their peace, comfort and privacy.
The tenants moved into the converted weatherboard property in April last year, but just a day after moving in, the decision states, a brand new washing machine delivered to their doorstep was taken by neighbours. The decision says it was later returned by police, but the tenants told NZME it was never returned.
Turner then installed a CCTV camera which reportedly captured neighbours repeatedly urinating on the walls of his unit, people peering through windows and the mailbox and exposing themselves.
He also discovered one of the neighbouring tenants in a ceiling cavity, who was arrested by police.
The three units shared a common outside area, but there were often loud arguments and fights in the area. Turner was also surrounded by his neighbours when collecting an Uber Eats delivery, while an earlier food delivery was stolen.
In total there were 25 distinct incidents the pair took to the tribunal, alleging the landlord didn’t adequately respond to their concerns and that they did not have use of the common outside area due to the antisocial behaviour.
Their landlord, Scott Hickey, also owned the unit where the offending tenants lived.
Hickey said he only began managing the tenancies in June 2023 and hadn’t been involved in selecting the neighbouring tenants. While he didn’t question Turner’s veracity, he said the CCTV camera did not show people coming and going from the other unit.
He said he served several breach notices to the other tenants and responded to every concern Turner sent him. He believed he had taken all reasonable steps as the landlord.
However, the tribunal adjudicator disagreed.
“These incidents were not limited to nuisance. The ongoing nature of the incidents, some of which were serious, formed a pattern which amounted to harassment,” the adjudicator wrote.
“I find there was an increased responsibility to address the risks that the tenant and their associates at [the other unit] were posing to Mr Turner’s and Ms Heke’s peace, comfort and privacy in relation to their tenancy, than may usually be the case.”
The tribunal found the landlord did not take all reasonable steps required to ensure others did not interfere with the tenants. Letterbox locks, opaque film for windows and a CCTV camera are all reasonable steps.
The tenant was awarded $200 for the reimbursement of the camera, $30 for opaque glass film, $20 for a letterbox lock, $60 for blackout curtains and a $25 rent reimbursement for the previous 25 weeks.
Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.
