Hamilton tenant evicted from pensioner accommodation for antisocial behaviour

A tenant upset his pensioner neighbours on a quiet Hamilton street by drinking, yelling and fighting. Photo / Google

• Epiha Michael Nathan was evicted from a pensioner apartment for anti-social behaviour involving drinking, fighting and loud music.
• Neighbours also complained about him parking in a way that blocked other tenants' cars and ambulance access.
• Nathan claimed most of the complaints against him were made up.

A Hamilton tenant has been booted out of a retirement village for “drinking, arguing, yelling” and getting into fights with mates.

Epiha Michael Nathan also had the police called on him, and regularly played loud music into the early hours of the morning, according to complaints from his elderly neighbours.

Others complained he often parked where he wasn’t supposed to, which in one instance impeded ambulance access to the 35-unit village on Livingstone St in Nawton.

Landlord, Accessible Properties, told the Tenancy Tribunal it had given Nathan three warnings within a 90-day period.

Each warning was backed with written complaints from neighbours.

“Tenants complained that that they were fed up with this behaviour of drunk fights with friends and visitors,” tribunal adjudicator Tania Harris said in the recently-released decision.

“One tenant called the police due to all the yelling and screaming.”

Nathan had been living in a single ground-floor apartment that was part of an 18-unit block within the social housing village, Harris said.

He had retirees living above and beside him in the double-storey block.

The first written notice given to Nathan and shown to the tribunal was from September 27 last year.

It quoted a neighbour saying how Nathan and a friend were fighting, while another retiree complained about “loud music that he would not turn down, drinking sessions and him abusing his friends”.

An October 29 notice given to Nathan “was for drinking, fighting, abusive language and fighting late at night”.

Then a November 4 notice was given for ongoing parking issues.

The landlord told the tribunal Nathan’s apartment did not come with an allocated car park as the 35-unit premises had only 16 parks.

Nathan hadn’t had a car when he moved in but later bought one and began parking on the main driveway near the rubbish bins, the tribunal heard.

This blocked access for ambulances, food deliveries and other residents using their own cars or being picked up and taken to appointments, Harris said.

The landlord said Nathan had also parked in other tenants' parks or behind their cars, meaning they couldn’t leave.

For his part, Nathan told the tribunal the parking signage was confusing and that he had assumed he was allowed to park inside the property grounds because it had signs saying the parking was for residents only.

He also assumed he was able to park in the main driveway because there was no yellow lines or signs saying he couldn’t, he said.

But Harris said she believed it had been made clear to Nathan he was not allowed to park on the property.

“The continuation by the tenant of parking in no parking areas I find is a nuisance that is more than minor. It is ongoing and the tenant steadfastly refused to comply,” she said.

In response, Nathan told the tribunal the landlord was harassing him by making up false complaints.

“The tenant agreed that some of the incidents complained about occurred but not all of them,” Harris said.

Harris concluded Nathan’s tenancy should be terminated immediately.

Accessible Properties chief executive Kelly Bunyan told the Herald that as a community housing provider, its care extends not only to individual tenants but also to neighbours and residents inside and outside its complexes.

“While we can’t comment on specific tenants or tenancy arrangements, we have a low tolerance for antisocial behaviour and will take action to protect people, our communities and our property,” she said.

“Unfortunately sometimes that action will result in eviction.”

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