Tenant advocacy groups call for increased protection for boarders amidst coronavirus crisis

Sunday, 3 May 2020

A coalition of 10 community and tenant advocacy groups is calling for new protections for boarders caught in a precarious position by the coronavirus restrictions.

The coalition, including Manawatū Tenants' Union,  Renters United, and the Public Health Association, is lobbying the Government for a range of additional measures to get renters through the crisis.

Tenants' Union co-ordinator Ben Schmict said the coalition wanted Residential Tenancy Act protections extended to boarders, who live with their landlords.

Several tenants and boarders had gone to advocacy groups, concerned about landlords breaching the lockdown restrictions and worried there would be problems if they complained. 

The boarders were in a precarious position because they had few protections and could be kicked out at any point, he said.

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Schmidt said the protections the Government had introduced for renters so far during this crisis, including the freeze on ending tenancies, were based on amendments to the Tenancy Act.

'But a landlord and a boarder both have to agree to opt into the Tenancy Act, which is a situation so rare it's practically non-existent.'

It was particularly important to ensure boarders were treated fairly right now, because any existing tensions between them and their landlords will be made worse by them being cooped up together under lockdown.

A Palmerston North boarder, who didn't want to be named for fear of retaliation, said giving people like him less protection than other tenants was arbitrary and unfair.

'We need to know, if there's a problem, we can bring it up without having to worry about getting kicked out.'

He believed his landlord was putting him at risk by unnecessarily breaching their bubble, visiting friends and family like it was business as usual.

In one case the landlord visited another house just to show off a new purchase, he said.

'He's just completely blasé about it…that made me really uncomfortable,' the boarder said.

'But there's nothing I can do about it with this power dynamic.'

When the boarder asked him to stop, the landlord got aggressive and threatened eviction. 

The boarder went to the Tenants' Union for advice and was shocked to learn he had virtually no rights in this situation.

'So I apologised, even though I shouldn't have to, just to protect my room. It's not ideal, but I have to placate him until I can get a new place.' 

The boarder said most landlords were good and reasonable; he'd lived in nearly a dozen flats, and this was only the second time he'd had a problem with one.

But boarders need the same protections as other tenants to level the playing field when they run into a bad one, he said.

Manawatū Property Investors' Association president Pauline Beissel saw a sharp division between landlords who rent out their property, and homeowners who choose to fill a spare room in their own home.

Beissel said the latter shouldn't be legislated; it was a more casual and personal relationship, one similar to living with a friend or relative and asking them to contribute to household costs.

She said it was unfortunate when the relationship broke down and the owner asked their boarder to leave.

'[But] you can't take the rights away from homeowners to do what they want with their own home.'