{"id":249043,"date":"2026-01-24T05:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249043\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T05:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:21:11","slug":"tenancy-tribunal-awards-almost-20k-in-damages-after-infant-boy-exposed-to-lead-in-napier-rented-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249043\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenancy Tribunal awards almost $20k in damages after infant boy exposed to lead in Napier rented house"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those tests showed dangerously low iron levels, vitamin D deficiency and the presence of \u201cworrying levels\u201d of lead, according to a Tenancy Tribunal<\/a> decision.<\/p>\n

\"TestingTesting showed lead in the house’s old yellow and red external paintwork, and on most fixed surfaces inside. Photo \/ Ric Stevens<\/p>\n

A doctor and an environmental health officer visited the house, arranged testing, and found lead in the property\u2019s old yellow and red external paint, on most fixed painted surfaces inside the house, and in the soil outside. <\/p>\n

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora<\/a> prepared a report, which the tenants, whose names are suppressed, gave to the property manager, Pukeko Rental Managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is highly likely that [the tenants\u2019 son]\u2019s lead exposure is primarily due to exposure to paint from the house,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis age and low iron have put him at increased risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No safe level\u2019 of exposure<\/p>\n

\u201c[The tenant\u2019s son] has no current signs of health effects related to lead. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there is no safe level of lead exposure and long-term exposure can have long-term effects on health including growth, cognition and learning problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving the report, the property manager confirmed that the tenants could leave the house without having to give notice.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe house is on Napier’s Marine Parade.
\nPhoto \/ Warren Buckland <\/p>\n

Another property was offered to them, but they could not afford it. <\/p>\n

Nor were they able to secure another house quickly, and eventually moved out in July 2025 – nine months after moving into the house and two months after receiving the Health NZ report. <\/p>\n

While they were looking for another home, the boy\u2019s mother had a second baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence shows, as well as the health effects, the anguish [the tenants] have suffered through fear for [their son]\u2019s health and development,\u201d Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Bryan King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have had to find alternative, safe accommodation with urgency and in difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tenancy Tribunal awarded the tenants $15,000 in general damages, saying they paid rent to stay in premises which \u201cposed a health risk to them and caused actual and potentially serious harm to their young son\u201d.<\/p>\n

They were also awarded $4200 for a breach to their \u201cquiet enjoyment\u201d of the property, $500 to compensate them for moving costs, and a refund of their $27 tribunal filing fee.<\/p>\n

The total awarded was $19,727.<\/p>\n

House worth more than $1 million<\/p>\n

The house on Napier\u2019s Marine Parade<\/a> was built in about 1900 and was last sold for $95,000 in 1989. It is believed to be owned by a trust.<\/p>\n

Between 1990 and 2023, it was occupied by a family, and then a family friend. <\/p>\n

It had a council rating valuation of $1.13 million in 2023. <\/p>\n

Duncan Reed, for Pukeko Rental Managers, told NZME that his company ensured the house was compliant with the Healthy Homes<\/a> standards \u2013 which cover heating, insulation, ventilation, draught-stopping, moisture and drainage \u2013 before the tenants moved in.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it was an old house, and it wasn\u2019t compliant before I took it over, before the (Healthy Homes) regulations came in, I got everything done – with some effort,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fully compliant before the due date,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that in his experience, no property manager would routinely test for lead contamination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a standard practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There was no reason to believe there was an issue with lead at the house, although it was now something that he would be mindful of. <\/p>\n

Reed said that once he found out about the lead, he emailed the tenants to say that they could leave whenever they wanted with \u201cno consequences\u201d in terms of the lease.<\/p>\n

Pukeko Rental Managers no longer managed the property, Reed said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was out. I did not want to manage that property any more,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

The damages award would be covered by insurance, Reed said.<\/p>\n

The health and safety regulator WorkSafe<\/a> has issued guidelines which say that landlords are \u201crequired to protect occupants and others from (among other things) lead contamination arising from paintwork in the tenant\u2019s property or its fixtures and fittings\u201d.<\/p>\n

The guidelines also state that landlords, managers, and property owners should assume that paint on pre-1980 buildings is lead-based, unless proven otherwise by records or testing. <\/p>\n

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former NZ Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME\u2019s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke\u2019s Bay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those tests showed dangerously low iron levels, vitamin D deficiency and the presence of \u201cworrying levels\u201d of lead,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[69894,74,15408,10779,15117,22427,17309,42,10053,78,12518,7240,3607,43,29413,22400,61,40,38,41,39,6847],"class_list":["post-249043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-20k","tag-after","tag-almost","tag-awards","tag-boy","tag-damages","tag-exposed","tag-headlines","tag-house","tag-in","tag-infant","tag-lead","tag-napier","tag-news","tag-rented","tag-tenancy","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tribunal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}