Tenant had to sleep in hallway after landlord failed to provide keys

An Auckland landlord, Fiore On Hobson, has been ordered to pay compensation to a tenant for emotional harm. Photo / Google Maps

An Auckland landlord has been ordered to pay compensation for not providing enough keys for tenants, resulting in one having to sleep in the hallway of the apartment building.

The Tenancy Tribunal order, released last week, details how tenant Sangok Kim moved into an apartment on Hobson St, in Auckland, in April - with three other tenants.

The four tenants were only provided with two keys by the landlord, Fiore On Hobson Ltd, and were requested by a property manager to pay $100 for two additional keys.

The agreed amount was paid, but the additional keys were never provided.

Kim explained the necessity of a key for each tenant was because they all had different
schedules, and needed to access the apartment at different times.

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In Kim's case, he didn't finish work until between 2am-4am, so the lack of having his own apartment key was a matter of considerable inconvenience.

As a result, Kim said he'd ended up sleeping in the hallway of the apartment building on at least two occasions after coming home from work.

He described being locked out of his apartment due to the lack of the promised key as making him feel he "has lost everything", "so upset", and as being "really frustrating".

The Tenancy Tribunal found the landlord had breached the agreement between the parties.

The report said Kim had clearly suffered emotional harm and injury to his feelings and dignity as a result of the breach.

The Tribunal ordered the landlord to provided the tenants with two more apartment keys, and to pay Kim $370.44 for emotional harm and reimbursement of his filing fee.