Former tenants say the flat had recurring issues with dampness. File image. Photo: 123rf
When a group of friends signed the lease on a three-bedroom flat they knew it was exempt from the new Healthy Homes regulations, as the property was scheduled to be demolished in the near future.
So they were surprised when the property managers asked if they wanted to stay another year in what they have described as a mouldy, damp, mouse- and flea-infested property for another term. It was an offer they politely declined.
Now, three years after that first listing, the former tenants have attempted to take property agency Quinovic to the Tenancy Tribunal after the Wellington flat was listed again this year with the same caveat.
Those former tenants believe it is a blatant attempt to skirt the Healthy Homes regulations by pushing back the alleged demolition date, but the landlords say they have not done anything wrong and the tribunal says it cannot do anything because they are not the current tenants.
"By pushing the demolition date again and again, Quinovic was able to continue to lease the property under false pretences," one of the former tenants of the Wellington flat, who did not want to be named, told NZME.
She said that in her opinion, the property "was not safe to live in and Quinovic made no attempt to improve its habitability while continuing to charge market prices".
According to a Tenancy Tribunal statement released this month, the woman overheard a Quinovic agent telling other prospective renters at a flat viewing in 2020 that the house was scheduled for demolition and was thus exempt from needing to comply with Healthy Homes standards.
She and two friends secured the property and when their tenancy agreement was coming to an end in November 2021, she says she was asked by property agency Quinovic if they wanted to stay on.
"I asked them how that was possible if it was scheduled for demolition and they just said they'd been granted an extension due to Covid," she told NZME.
She said the house was infested with mice and fleas, had no heating or ventilation and many of the windows were sealed shut. Allegedly, there was also mould, leaks and general dampness, which the tenants did not report to the tribunal at the time because of the demolition caveat.
They said they informed Quinovic but nothing was done to fix the issues.
The tenants did not end up renewing the agreement and different tenants moved in come January 2022.
Then in January this year the woman saw the same flat listed on Trade Me with the same caveat that it did not need to comply with the new regulations because it was scheduled to be demolished.
According to the Residential Tenancy Act, homes that are scheduled for demolition or substantial renovation can be exempt from Healthy Homes regulations for a period of one year only.
However, the woman says the Newtown property has been listed three years in a row with the same caveat.
In 2019 the government estimated roughly 200,000 families were living in rental homes that were not up to standard, so new regulations were put in place to improve the quality of all rental homes as well as state-owned and community housing.
Those standards introduced minimum requirements for rental homes to have insulation, heating, ventilation, moisture ingress and draught stopping with the aim of keeping tenants warm and dry.
Despite no longer living at the property, the woman and the two former flatmates made a complaint to the Tenancy Tribunal, which has now made a ruling that it did not have the jurisdiction to investigate the matter because they no longer lived at the address.
"Admirable as that sentiment is, it is the tribunal's view that it does not have authority to make orders of a general nature such as sought," tribunal adjudicator Alan Henwood said.
"… the authority is limited to specific fact situations and disputes between actual landlords and tenants (and vice versa) in respect of a specific tenancy."
Quinovic CEO Parrish Wong said in an emailed statement that he had reviewed the matter and was satisfied the exemption and the reasons for it were genuine.
He did not respond to follow-up questions nor calls from NZME.
Renters United president Geordie Rogers said he had seen a few similar situations crop up as reported by other renter advocacy groups around the country.
"The Healthy Homes regulations were implemented to protect the health and safety of renters.
"If there's landlords out there taking advantage of legislation actively get around providing a safe home then that's not okay."
Rogers said the legislation that allowed homes scheduled for demolition to be rented at all was absurd, and in her opinion it was essentially eking out a last bit of profit from a property before it was scrapped.
"You shouldn't be able to make a profit from a home you know is neither healthy nor safe."
The current occupants of the flat have been approached for comment.
This story was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.