Waiuku, where the tiny home was located when it was hit by last May's fierce storm.
Tenants of a tiny home, blown on to its side in last May’s 120km/h winds, have won compensation from their landlords who owned the place.
The Tenancy Tribunal ruled in favour of the tenants whose names were suppressed, awarding them $1577 damages and compensation.
Kirsty and Matt Griffin were the landlords and tiny home owners for the rural property located between Karioitahi and Waiuku in south-west Auckland.
The tiny home was rented with a shower and toilet, even though it had no building consent and may not have got one because of wind forces, the decision said.
On December 17, adjudicator T. Prowse ruled on the case, recalling events of last May.
“During a storm on May 29, the tiny home fell on its side. The tiny home suffered damage to pipe work and guttering and had to be repositioned. The landlord paid for the tenants to stay in a motel for two nights whilst the home was repaired and reinstated.”
The tenants suffered the loss of furniture, belongings and food.
The tenancy ended when the landlord asked them to pay for the power separately.
The Griffins kept the $640 bond for cleaning and other costs.
“Both parties accept that before the issues with power and bond arose, the parties enjoyed a very good relationship - the landlord described it as a friendship - with each other,” the decision said.
The rent was $360/week, including water, power, internet and use of a shed.
The tenants had no written agreement with the landlords.
The Griffins accepted they did not lodge the bond because they thought the tenants were their flatmates.
They kept the bond in a separate bank account. The tenants were assured the bond was being kept until they left, the landlord telling them that in a text.
The tenants complained to the tribunal that the tiny home was unconsented and was therefore unlawful.
The Griffins disputed that, saying because it was transportable and only 27sq m, it did not need a building consent.
The adjudicator was satisfied the tiny home would be considered a building because it was not easily moved, having no wheels or trailer.
It was attached to water and wastewater facilities and was intended to be occupied for long-term residential purposes having its own kitchen, lounge area, bedroom and bathroom. It had parking and its own garden shed.
It was therefore more than likely that it needed a building consent to be legal, the adjudicator ruled.
“It may have required steps such as anchoring, which would have prevented the home tipping on May 29. It is likely that if a building consent was applied for that the location and wind forces would have been considered and could have prevented the home tipping,” the decision said.
Matt Griffin, an earth-moving contractor, told the Herald the tiny house had been on the rural property when he bought it but he had since sold the dwelling.
It was on a hill and the strong winds hit it.
“These people were living in their van before we let them rent our tiny home and because they were on the same property as our main home, and we were first-time landlords, we were under the impression that they were boarders.
“So both parties agreed on a handshake agreement. When the storm happened, my wife was about to go into labour and our house had sustained damage,” Griffin said.
Yet they had put their tenants’ needs ahead of their own, he said.
“We made sure the tenants were good before us, putting them up in a motel for two nights, giving them another fridge to use, taking time off work to reinstate their home while ours still had no power.”
Griffin said they had built a pergola and “bent over backwards for them”.
But the tenants had purchased a LIM report on the property and discovered aspects about the tiny home which were not legal.
“Unfortunately, our lack of experience and due diligence meant we copped a fine for no agreement and not lodging the bond, and we learnt that we need a consent for anything with a shower/toilet, which we didn’t realise,” Griffin said.
He has since sold the tiny home and had it moved from the property.
The tribunal’s annual report, just out, described details of the case and was the first ruling it highlighted because of the unusual nature of events.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.