Rotorua rental with rotting floorboards, mouldy ceiling deemed ‘unsafe’ by Tenancy Tribunal

A young mother has been awarded more than $5000 by the Tenancy Tribunal after renting a “truly dire and unsafe” home that had rotting floorboards and cupboards, a mould-ridden ceiling and an offensive message written on the walls.

Now the woman says she is trying to move on from her experience in the “hellish house” in Rotorua which she believed made her and her young children sick.

The property management company says it followed “standard procedures” but is apologising to the tenant.

The tribunal decision, released this month, identified the landlord as Eves Realty Limited as the agent for Dave Aislabie, but refers to Eves representatives and Aislabie collectively as the “landlord”.

The tenant, whose name is suppressed, was offered the property in November 2021. The decision states that she viewed the property and agreed to rent it.

The tenancy began on November 5, 2021, but when the woman arrived she discovered a “considerable amount” of green waste on the section, alongside the former tenant’s rubbish. The rubbish was removed nine days later but the green waste was still sitting on the back lawn when the tenancy ended.

The decision described how some kitchen cupboards were “rotten and deteriorating” and despite the tenant raising concerns about this at the start of the tenancy nothing was done.

The property also had mould affecting parts of the laundry, bathroom, ceiling and flooring.

This hole in the laundry exposed piping and large amounts of mould. It was used as evidence during the tribunal hearing. Photo / Supplied

In the laundry, holes in the wall exposed pipes and mould, while the bathroom had brown masking tape covering a gap between the bathtub and the wall where mould was growing.

The tenant advised the landlord of her concerns with the bath at the beginning of the tenancy, while the hole in the laundry was identified as needing repair by a Healthy Homes assessor. Neither were rectified.

“It is evident from the photos that the ceilings are mould-ridden,” tribunal adjudicator Mikail Steens said in the decision. “There is clearly a structural issue with moisture and dampness and the house is not well maintained, nor weatherproof.”

The tribunal decision said that on an unannounced visit to the home four months later, on February 14 last year, Aislabie was told about the mould by the tenant but he was “very dismissive” of the concerns.

There was “rotten mouldy flooring in the kitchen, laundry and bathroom areas” but no attempts were made to remedy this despite the tenant raising concerns with Aislabie.

A mould-riddled hole in the bathroom wall was masked with tape, while the tenant could not remove the mould in the bath despite many attempts. Photo / Supplied

There was also damage to the home’s walls, a hole in one door and “significant marks” in the bedroom wardrobes. While there was no evidence the tenant raised concerns about those issues, the tribunal deemed the landlord should have been aware of them.

“I will see you in hell” was written on one wall. The tenant discussed this issue with the landlord on the February 14 visit but according to the decision, he told her he would bet her children would draw on the walls.

A fence on the section of the property sat broken for nearly three months after the tenant notified the landlord. Palings were falling onto the driveway of a neighbour, who repeatedly complained to the tenant about the issue.

A power point was also found by the tenant to be emitting sparks. She informed the landlord but it was never inspected or rectified.

Property ‘truly dire and unsafe’ - tribunal

In the decision, Steens said the house was not in a fit state to be rented.

“Floors should not be rotting, such that occupants are fearful of them giving way beneath their weight. Water should not spill from gutters onto the grounds of a property or leak inside the home. Walls should be weatherproof, dry and safe,” he said. “This house was none of these things.”

“The fact the tenant had to leave the premises because she no longer considered it habitable persuades me that the conditions inside the home were truly dire and unsafe.

“Try as she might to minimise the mould issue, I very much doubt the landlord’s representative would have remained living at the premises with her own children.”

While the tenant was mainly successful in her claim, further allegations that the property was contaminated by methamphetamine could not be proven on the balance of probabilities, while an accusation that repairs to a faulty tap took unreasonably long was dismissed.

The amount awarded to the tenant included $400 compensation for mental harm, a $2800 refund covering seven weeks’ rent and exemplary damages of $1800.

Per tribunal rules, the tenant, as the successful party, was entitled to name suppression if she wanted it.

Green waste sat on the back lawn for the entirety of the tenancy, despite the tenant asking for it to be removed. Photo / Supplied

‘Living in mould’

Speaking to NZME, the tenant said she felt she had no other option but to take the rental, as another property she had signed a contract for fell through on the day she was supposed to move in.

Eves offered her this property instead, she says. The tribunal’s judgment says the offer was made “in good faith.”

“We were excited, the kids and I were moving back to Rotorua where we had family,” she said.

But as the weeks went on, the tenant found she would frequently clean the mould, only to have it return days later.

Eventually, the problem became so bad she moved into a small room at her father’s property, sharing the room with her two young children. She continued to pay rent for the rental.

“It was better than living in mould,” she said.

The tenant told NZME she had not received an apology.

Some walls were covered in mould - some with small holes in the wall. Photo / Supplied

‘Standard procedures’ followed

Asked why the rental was placed on the market in the first place, Eves Realty’s senior residential property manager Kurt Smith told NZME all but one of the issues (a gutter clip) were rectified within the 90-day Healthy Homes post-assessment deadline and “standard procedures” were followed.

“A Healthy Homes report was ascertained as soon as practical,” he said. “Also, there is a duty of care by an applicant or a tenant to take a property in the condition it was offered in.”

Smith said Eves had verbally apologised to the tenant and would also apologise in writing.

He said the company continued to manage the property, had completed the remedial work and had further training since the decision.

He was confident other rental properties it managed met the requirements.

“Eves undertakes an auditing process on all of its properties, has a health and safety coordinator, has regular compliance training and uses third-party Healthy Homes companies to stop a conflict of interest.

“We also have a stringent policy when taking on new landlords in regards to healthy homes compliance to make sure they are compliant within the 120-day deadline.”

Speaking to NZME, property owner Dave Aislabie said he never made reference to the tenant’s children or disregarded concerns around mould, but accepts that because he never showed up to the tribunal hearing, that evidence was taken as unchallenged.

Regardless, Aislabie said the rental wasn’t mould-ridden or uninhabitable in the first place: “I’d live there, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s not an old house.”

Asked about various defects at the property, specifically the mould-ridden hole in the laundry wall, Aislabie said “the only holes were in the bedroom wardrobe”.

After being told there were photographs of the damage he clarified his position saying: “Oh, well, maybe there was one in the laundry.”