'Suitable for two tenants', just not a single mother and baby son

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Te Maari Papara was holding her 1-year-old son, Kash, when she was told she couldn’t view a property in Porirua.

A single mother was turned away at the door, with her child in her arms, when she went to view a house, despite the property being listed as “suitable for two tenants”.

Te Maari Papara had arranged to view the one-bedroom house in Porirua and brought along her 1-year-old son, Kash.

“She [the property manager] just stared at me and told me to leave,” the 21-year-old mother said.

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“It felt degrading.”

The property manager told Papara that the house was only suitable for “professional singles or couples”. But the listing from Oxygen Property Management hadn’t mentioned that requirement – and still didn’t on Wednesday afternoon.

Te Maari Papara has been sleeping in the lounge with her son, Kash, due to the lack of rentals.

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Over six months Papara applied for 60 rentals and had only received the one viewing.

Stuff approached Oxygen Property Management for comment, but they hadn’t responded by Wednesday afternoon.

Papara said she had applied for more than 60 rentals over the past six months, and this was the first viewing she had landed.

“I've applied for everything,” she said. The experience “felt like discrimination” and would make her think twice about going to viewings.

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She was currently staying with family in Tītahi Bay, sleeping on a mattress in the lounge.

Citizens Advice Bureau Wellington Area Manager Jane Julian said it would be illegal to rule out a prospective tenant on the basis of them having a child.

Julian referred to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, which cited the Human Rights Acts when stating landlords couldn't discriminate against tenants on various grounds. One of those was family status, which included having responsibility for a child.

“Unless for some reason the premises are particularly unsuitable for a child, we think the landlord needs to think again,” Julian said.

Wellington Renters United spokesperson Geordie Rogers said landlords were in a position of power.

“With the precarity of housing, we’re seeing an increase in discrimination and landlords becoming more and more picky,” Rogers said. “It’s a disgusting result of there not being enough houses.”

It was common for tenants to be discriminated against on the basis of sexuality, race or gender, in addition to identifiers like family status, he said.

Tenancy laws needed to change to stop landlords and property managers asking invasive questions.

A common question, for instance, was whether a family member had at any time been a member of a gang.

Wellington Renters United was working with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to create a set of guidelines for landlords that would outline what could and couldn’t be asked of tenants.

In the meantime, anyone who had experienced discrimination in the rental market should email the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, as those experiences would inform recommendations the office eventually made.