The photos, which the Tenancy Tribunal found had been supplied to the property manager during a previous tenancy, showed mushrooms growing on the carpet of the main bedroom.<\/p>\n
Tribunal adjudicator Toni Prowse said the previous tenants moved out of the master bedroom because of the \u201cfoul smell\u201d coming from the mushrooms, and one of them suffered from rhinitis, which was worse when they slept in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous tenants told Ms Chiu about the mushrooms and sent photographs of the mushrooms to her,\u201d Prowse said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am satisfied that Barfoot and Thompson knew there was a problem with the property in the master bedroom and failed to take steps to address the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said mushroom growth was \u201cabnormal\u201d, indicated a \u201cserious problem\u201d, and yet the property manager failed to do anything, nor keep a \u201cwatching brief\u201d on the area.<\/p>\n
Prowse also noted the pre-inspection photographs showed an area of discolouration on the carpet in the same spot where the mushrooms had been growing, but nothing was done to investigate.<\/p>\n
Luan was contacted for comment; Chiu did not appear on the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
In response to NZME\u2019s inquiries, Barfoot and Thompson general manager property management Anil Anna confirmed Chiu no longer worked for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe level of service provided to the tenants and the approach to important maintenance work was not up to standard in this instance, and we regret that more immediate steps were not taken to fully investigate and resolve the dampness issue,\u201d Anna said.<\/p>\n
He said the company took its professional and legal obligations seriously and set high expectations for service to our landlords and tenants, and it regularly updated its processes.<\/p>\n
A screenshot of a video taken by the tenants, and submitted to the tribunal, of the inside of the wall between the bathroom and bedroom. Photo\/Supplied<\/p>\n
The team had implemented recent changes, including upgrading property photography technology and introducing new software to support faster management of maintenance requests.<\/p>\n
While in this tenancy, the findings related to failure to maintain breaches, not Healthy Homes, Anna said they had completed recent audits, training, and process improvements to ensure compliance with the final Healthy Homes standards across their portfolio of properties.<\/p>\n
Frequent illnesses, respiratory issues, and \u2018undue stress\u2019<\/p>\n
In the recent case, the tribunal awarded $4200 in exemplary damages for breaches related to failure to maintain the property, which included the dampness and leaking, as well as an issue with the oven, which had no visible dials, and an internal door that had a lock but no key.<\/p>\n
Prowse referred to the health effects the tenants experienced \u2013 respiratory issues and things they \u201chad never experienced before and had not experienced again since leaving the premises\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese included rashes on their bodies, unexplained swelling, nose bleeds, headaches, and bleeding from their ears. The tenants also suffered an unexplained miscarriage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The tenants submitted photos of swollen lips, stating that when they went to the hospital, doctors couldn\u2019t determine the cause.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d used all their sick leave, which added to their stress, and they provided a letter from their GP confirming frequent doctor\u2019s visits.<\/p>\n
The doctor said there had been an improvement in their health since they left the property.<\/p>\n
Prowse said the presence of mould and dampness is known to \u201ccause or exacerbate some illnesses\u201d.<\/p>\n
While there was no definitive answer as to whether the condition of the property was at the root of the issue, she was \u201csatisfied from the evidence that the leaks in the master bedroom had a detrimental effect on the tenants and their child\u2019s health\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Tenancy Tribunal has made a ruling on the tenants’ complaints. Photo \/ 123RF<\/p>\n
She also said she accepted the way the property managers had caused the tenants \u201cundue stress\u201d.<\/p>\n
Prowse observed that different property managers had turned up to different hearings, with \u201cdifferent explanations\u201d given for the same issue. <\/p>\n
When it was evident that those explanations were not plausible, another explanation was given, she noted.<\/p>\n
She said they sought to diminish legitimate complaints, cast the tenants as difficult, and said they lacked insight into the effect on the tenants of having so many items breaking or needing repair.<\/p>\n
It was in the public interest that a \u201csignificant award\u201d was made, as had the tenants not been persistent in finding the previous tenants, it may have never become clear that the previous tenants had complained about the same issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cMs Chiu and Ms Luan both said at the May hearing that they were unaware of any previous complaints; that was clearly wrong,\u201d Prowse said.<\/p>\n
An ongoing leak, and a locked door<\/p>\n
The house is a 23-year-old plaster-clad two-storied home in Auckland\u2019s Flat Bush, and was tenanted for eight years by Barfoot and Thompson.<\/p>\n
The tenants began renting the property in November 2023, with Chiu as the property manager and Luan as her manager.<\/p>\n
There were issues from the get-go, including rubbish left out, an oven with no control markings, window latches and seals that needed repair, and an internal door with a lock but no key.<\/p>\n
In one incident, their son locked himself in the room and they had to manipulate the lock to open it.<\/p>\n
The adjudicator said that when a landlord didn\u2019t have a key to an internal door, their obligation was to have the lock changed.<\/p>\n
There were other issues, including wastewater leaking, an oozing kitchen cooktop, leaks in the ground-floor bathroom, and a hot water cylinder with a faulty valve, but the tenants accepted that these issues had been remedied.<\/p>\n
Their biggest issue, and the main reason for their claim, was the upstairs bathroom leak, which they became aware of on June 26, 2024.<\/p>\n
After the tenant first reported dampness, a plumber came and attributed the leak to a loose shower elbow. He applied sealant.<\/p>\n
But the next day, the tenants told Chiu that they could still hear dripping and were worried it was still leaking.<\/p>\n
Chiu told them the noise was just the pipes and normal plumbing noises.<\/p>\n
The tenants filed a Tenancy Tribunal application and, on July 6, they moved out of the bedroom.<\/p>\n
A few days later, a housing inspector did a report, noting \u201cwater stains and moisture penetration\u201d. When he lifted the carpet, he found what appeared to be mould underneath.<\/p>\n
An initial roof inspection was done on July 16, but the tribunal ordered more investigations following a hearing on July 29.<\/p>\n
On August 9, a plumber, sent by Barfoot and Thompson, found leaking behind the shower lining that had been \u201cgoing on for some time\u201d. He also commented to the tenants that he\u2019d been at the property before.<\/p>\n
Another plumber also attended the property at the same time, and later confirmed to the tribunal that he had previously replaced the shower, and that the shower lining had failed again, this time in a different place.<\/p>\n
Prowse was satisfied that the landlord failed to maintain the property by failing to address complaints made by both the previous and current tenants.<\/p>\n
This meant the shower leak was not repaired in a reasonable time, and it constituted a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act and Housing Improvement Regulations.<\/p>\n
She awarded $4200 in exemplary damages, noting the property managers had already given the tenants a five-week rent abatement, at $100 per week, because they hadn\u2019t been able to use the master bedroom.<\/p>\n
Undercover agent sent to the house, say tenants<\/p>\n
The tenants also made a claim of a breach of quiet enjoyment after a man, whom they were told was an insurance assessor, came to the property. <\/p>\n
They\u2019d been given a warning that an assessor was coming, which didn\u2019t strike them as unusual, given the issues they were having with the shower.<\/p>\n
However, the woman became suspicious when he asked to see the garage. When she asked who he was, he said he was a sales agent.<\/p>\n
The house was sold after the tenants moved out.<\/p>\n
Chiu told the tribunal that she must have got mixed up with another property, and that she had assumed the man was an insurance assessor.<\/p>\n
But Prowse thought this \u201cunlikely\u201d.<\/p>\n
She read the \u201csomewhat ambiguous\u201d text messages between Chiu and the man, and concluded that Chiu told the tenants an insurance assessor was coming over, but she knew he was actually a sales agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe specifically instructed him to tell the tenants that he was an insurance assessor; if she thought he was an insurance assessor, there would be no need for her to pointedly tell him to tell the tenants that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Prowse said that even if she was wrong, and Chiu didn\u2019t know and made assumptions, this fell \u201cwell short\u201d of her obligations, as property managers needed to check credentials before sending someone to a tenant\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
The tenant was awarded $1400 for this breach.<\/p>\n
Woman fought \u2018tooth and nail\u2019 to get answers<\/p>\n
The tenancy was subject to a series of hearings, including a rehearing after the tenants received information from the plumber who had previously attended the property and advised Barfoot and Thompson about the earlier leak.<\/p>\n
In the initial hearing, the adjudicator was satisfied the property manager had been \u201cproactive in resolving issues\u201d; the evidence from the plumbers challenged that.<\/p>\n
The adjudicator also noted the irony that \u201chad the landlord provided the documents as instructed before the April hearing, the tenants would not have had the very compelling evidence from the previous tenants regarding the mushroom growth\u201d, which was gathered in between hearings.<\/p>\n
The property managers sought name suppression, but this was declined, and the adjudicator said publication allows members of the public to make \u201cinformed decisions when choosing a rental\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese managers were tasked with defending these claims and they failed to produce documents when requested and told the tribunal that they had no record of previous complaints from previous tenants when that was blatantly incorrect,\u201d Prowse said.<\/p>\n
The tenants were granted suppression, however, and speaking to NZME after the appeal periods had lapsed, the woman said both the tenancy and the battle in the tribunal had taken their toll.<\/p>\n
They had lost a baby at 9 weeks \u2013 a miscarriage she believes was because of the health effects from the property, and the stress.<\/p>\n
That loss motivated her to seek justice, but when assessed solely on the compensation they received, she questioned if the fight had been worth it.<\/p>\n
She had spent hours collating evidence and attending the many hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat amount of documentation analysis that went into preparing those documents versus the payout that the tribunal gave us is not worth it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that made me, because when I lost that child, I promise, even if I don\u2019t win this, I will fight tooth and nail till I get to the bottom of this.\u201d <\/p>\n
She feels like they could have been compensated more.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody can put a price tag on, because it\u2019s intangible, the emotions or the health impact that we went through and what follows upon leaving the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019d gone into negative sick leave and was put on a performance review.<\/p>\n
She feels like the experience had \u201ccost them so much\u201d, but the penalty for the property managers hadn\u2019t been the same.<\/p>\n
She was frustrated that the property managers hadn\u2019t been honest about what they had known, and she felt there had been no specific consequences for that.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, she thinks the financial penalties should be higher, and property management should be regulated in the way the real estate industry is.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Tom, Dick or Harry can be a property manager,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we improve the housing situation in New Zealand, we can definitely improve the hospital system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She got a reply from the woman, who said there had been an issue in the main bedroom.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,7681,66046,8604,71,42,1350,78,5603,26482,43,6379,22429,181796,22400,61,40,38,41,39,6847],"class_list":["post-340085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-auckland","tag-bedroom","tag-carpet","tag-caused","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-hears","tag-in","tag-leak","tag-mushrooms","tag-news","tag-ongoing","tag-rental","tag-sprout","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\/340085","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=340085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}