Information the Herald obtained through the Official Information Act showed the majority of complaints, 20, were race-related, or disability-related complaints, 17.
The commission was unable to provide specifics of each situation, but gave brief examples of some of the cases it had seen, including one where a tenant was racially abused by a neighbour in a holiday park; another was racially-harassed by a property manager and another was told not to wear their religious garments in a residential facility.
Prospective tenants also alleged they were unfairly barred from a home, one because of their race, another because they had an assistance dog, and another because of their mental health.
One of the allegations related to an advertisement that asked for "Asians only" and in another instance a prospective tenant felt they were charged more because the property was wheelchair accessible.
The rest of the allegations were related to issues of sexual harassment or discrimination (13 complaints), family status (11 complaints) and age (10 complaints).
While eleven were dropped, and six were unresolved, the remaining 70 were addressed either through an explanation of the Human Rights Act, an apology, assistance by the HRC or by compensation from the respondent.
According to the HRC, a property owner or an agent who discriminates against people because of their race, age, sex, sexual orientation, family status or disability risks breaking the law.
"Previous negative experience with a tenant or a guest of a particular sex or race is not a valid reason to rule out future tenants or guests of the same sex or race."
This was echoed by the Tenancy Tribunal, which also responds to allegations of discrimination against tenants.
At a hearing in February a landlord was found to have acted unreasonably when she stated rooms her current tenants wanted to sublease must go to females only.
"She is not willing to have all guys after problems with a previous group," the property manager texted.
The tribunal ruled the landlord be charged $2000 for unlawful discrimination.
Labour Housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the sheer shortage of houses is what enabled landlords to be selective.
"The law prohibits discrimination, but in a landlords' market where you have far more tenants looking for rental properties than there are available rentals then that puts all of the market power into the hands of landlords."
Twyford said frequently people came to his office, "at their wits' end".
"It's particularly difficult if there is anything about you that might make you less attractive to a potential landlord, if someone has a pet that might be essential to their life...having kids can make it really difficult."
He said anecdotally it seemed many beneficiaries were also refused accommodation after their employment status was revealed.
A Tenancy Services spokesperson said there was nothing that precluded a landlord asking about employment status but it was unlawful to discriminate on this basis.
"If a person thinks they have been discriminated against they can seek advice from both Tenancy Services and the Human Rights Commission and then decide the dispute resolution process that suits them."
Tenants can lodge a complaint to the HRC, or make an application to the tenancy tribunal - but they can not do both.
