Rotorua pensioner’s two-year window wait: Council violating landlord obligations, legal case worker says

Three businesses have offered to install new windows at Mary Smith's council-owned unit. Photo / Andrew Warner

A legal case worker believes Rotorua Lakes Council is in “gross violation” of its obligations as a landlord after a pensioner’s two-year wait for window repairs.

Local Democracy Reporting reported this week that Mary Smith’s unit and two others in the council-owned Rawhiti Flats have been waiting on window replacements that have been sitting in an empty unit for the last two years.

The council said it took its landlord responsibilities seriously and the unit was weathertight, but the work was not done as it had struggled to find contractors.

Following the story being published, three businesses contacted Local Democracy Reporting offering to do the work within a month.

They offered to replace the single-glazed windows, with their deteriorating wooden joinery, in Smith’s unit, and potentially the rest, too.

Smith previously said she wanted to be able to live out her last years in warmth, and she believed the empty neighbouring unit’s windows were worse than hers, with what appeared to her to be rotting and borer beetle issues.

She said she had repeatedly been in contact with the council to try to get the work done, including by sending it a notice in February this year that claimed it was in breach of its landlord responsibilities.

The day after Local Democracy Reporting sent the council initial questions about the wait, someone came to put putty in the hole in her joinery, Smith said.

Rotorua District Community Law Centre legal case worker Meredith Herbert said in her opinion, the council was in “gross violation of [its] obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986″.

Herbert said she was happy to support Smith with a Tenancy Tribunal claim if she wished.

“They have 14 days to remedy an issue and they have exceeded that.”

In her view, it was also potentially not lawful and inaccurate for the council to have said Smith would need to move out for the work to be completed but had no units available. Herbert said this was generally required when there were extensive renovations or other issues with the property — not for fixing a window frame.

“It would be a day’s job for that.”

She also said the council had obligations under the Housing Improvement Regulations 1947, which set out basic standards.

She said there was an obligation to not let a window frame get to the point of being rotten and falling to bits.

The legislation states: “The materials of which each house is constructed shall be sound, durable, and, where subject to the effects of the weather, weatherproof, and shall be maintained in such a condition. Every house and all the appurtenances and appliances of every house shall at all times be kept in a state of good repair.”

Herbert said in her view, the council’s comment that it took its landlord responsibilities “very seriously” was an “inaccurate representation”, given the circumstances.

Mary Smith has been trying to get the council to replace her windows for more than two years. Photo / Andrew Warner

Council corporate services group manager Thomas Colle said information about the process ahead had not changed since the last response he provided Local Democracy Reporting.

“As previously stated, the council takes its responsibilities as a landlord very seriously.

“The unit is weathertight and the damage to the existing window has had a temporary repair.”

Colle said the window replacement would be done as soon as possible.

“We are engaging with new preferred suppliers and hope to get this work completed in the near future. We will continue to work directly with Mrs Smith.”

Local Democracy Reporting also asked how many businesses the council had contacted to do the work in the last two years, if there was anything needing fixing that complicated the replacements at any of the three units, and if the council would contact any of the three businesses that had offered to do the work.

Colle previously said Smith’s window did show signs of “some paint deterioration” and there was a small piece of timber that had come away from the middle fixed window.

Three businesses offer helping hand

Three businesses contacted Local Democracy Reporting after reading Smith’s story, each offering to install her windows within a month.

Eco Tauranga sales manager Tony Woodard said the business did installations in Rotorua and regularly replaced old timber windows.

He said he offered to help because it was “very important” and Rotorua had a damp and cold climate.

In his view, the council “didn’t look very far” for suppliers and contractors.

Jo Mankelow, general manager of Auckland company Ali-Frame, said it should not take “that long” to get an installer.

She said she was not sure if there was a lack of installers in the district, but a builder could do the work so two years seemed “excessive” to her.

Waikato builder Martin Gaines said he competed with other builders for jobs daily, and in his view, “if [the council] truly did look, they didn’t look very far”.

He said he offered to do the job because it needed doing and Smith’s situation was a “sad state of affairs”.

The council was given the businesses’ contact details.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.