Calls for tenants to report dodgy landlords anonymously

Saturday, 14 July 2018

A tribunal ruling said the landlord had previously shown no signs of wanting to fix the property.

The reluctance of tenants to pursue cases through the Tenancy Tribunal has resulted in calls for major changes to its rules.

Renters advocacy group Renters United put out a proposal this week asking that the tribunal allow tenants to remain anonymous while landlords remain named.

The Mangere house has since had a $15,000 renovation.

This comes as tenants initiated approximately 13 per cent of the thousands of cases received by the Tenancy Tribunal.

The group says tenants are reluctant to pursue cases through the tribunal for fear of getting blacklisted from their next tenancy, even if they win their case.

* Threat of blacklist reportedly stopping tenants from using Tenancy Tribunal

* Landlord kicks pregnant woman out of rental property so baby doesn't disturb his sleep**

A spate of recent incidents such as the state of some student flats in Dunedin has highlighted the need for landlords to be held accountable for renting out substandard properties.

For example, in February, the Tenancy Tribunal found landlords Swarna Nand and Venita Nand liable for $5,900 in exemplary damages for not keeping their South Auckland property in good repair.

This after three children became seriously ill after the landlords ignored the Mangere family's concerns at rot, mould and windows on the verge of falling out.

Nazia Ali, their property manager at the time, said the tribunal ruling changed things for the landlord, and he put in major renovations costing close to $15,000 afterwards.

'I think then it was very clear that his property was not in a rentable stage and he needs to take this more seriously than what he was actually doing.'

Adjudicator Jane Day said Darnella Renata Gaye Robson encountered problems at the Mangere house the day she moved into the $520 per week property.

Robson spent four days clearing the garage of rubbish and rotting boards at the beginning of her tenancy, Day said.

'There was rot throughout the house - in the windows and doors, the shower box, and the walls.'

The house was scattered with DIY repair work including a 'makeshift' plastic pipe attached to a leaking toilet.

Robson's three children became so sick living at the property she had to take unpaid time off work to care for them, Adjudicator Day said.

She awarded Robson $3900 for breaches of the residential tenancies act and $2000 for exemplary damages.

It was offset by $4152.57 that Robson accepted she owed the Nands in rent arrears and water rates.

Housing stock that didn't make tenants sick was in the public interest, Adjudicator Day said.

Three months after the ruling Shalesh Maharaj, an automotive spray painter, moved into the same house with his family.

He found a fully-insulated three bedroom property with newly painted walls, a new toilet, and new carpet.

Maharaj had not heard of the tribunal ruling and said there were no traces of mould or rot at the house.

He was renting the property for $520 a week he said, the same amount Robson paid.

It was a big improvement on the house he had lived in for three years which had mould inside the toilet and no insulation, he said.

'It's really hard to find a good property you know?'