'Dangerous and unlawful': Dunedin landlord ordered to pay tenant $25k

Name: Focus Morning Bulletin: 21 June, 2022
Uploaded: 2022-06-21T07:37:21+12:00
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By Wyatt Ryder

Otago Daily Times·

20 Jun, 2022 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Support continues for first responders in wake of horror crash, why you could be subject to facial recognition at your local supermarket and it's a chilly start to the week as temperatures plummet in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald

A Dunedin landlord has been ordered to pay a tenant $25,000 in compensation after the Tenancy Tribunal deemed his studio room dangerous and the lease unlawful.

Quenton Donald rented out the basement of a property in Stafford St, despite having no consent from the Dunedin City Council.

A council report by tribunal adjudicator Jane Wilson described the building as an ''older style two-storey wood and brick home'' which had been divided into six units.

It underwent inspection in June last year and was classified as ''dangerous and insanitary''.

Following the issuing of a dangerous notice under the Building Act, the tenant was evicted.

Areas of concern noted in the report included no ventilation from the toilet and shower to outside, areas of moisture and rot, and no railing on the back deck.

The basement area had insufficient fire ratings between tenancies, non-compliant ventilation, an incorrectly installed gas water heater and unconsented sanitary facilities.

Donald did not have consent to alter the basement and make it a residence, rendering it unlawful to occupy.

He contributed to this unlawfulness by continuing to rent the premises to the tenant.

Donald said he had purchased the property in 2012 without doing any due diligence and the basement had been let at the time.

Wilson said she did not consider the failure to undertake due diligence as a plausible reason to continue renting it out.

Donald was also accused of harassing the tenant.

The landlord was at the property working on other units most weekends, but the tenant never knew when he would be there. He had also dumped rubble near the clothes line, making it unusable.

Wilson accepted the tenant's claims of harassment, but no compensation was applied for, so no additional money was awarded.

She awarded a partial refund of rent, amounting to $24,300, and about $700 in compensation for loss of income as the tenant had to take a week off work to find new accommodation following the eviction.