Busted floor, broken leg for $390pw
Gail Apiata warned her landlord the floor in the kitchen was dangerous. But it took falling through it and breaking her leg to get something done.
That was two weeks ago. The
36-year-old solo mother of four now faces six weeks of recovery.
Furthermore, the landlord said it was not the first time the floor in the Hamilton rental had been repaired. And a builder told Apiata the primary cause – a leaking pipe under the house – has not been fixed.
The landlord said it was like a brand new house when he handed the keys over. It was not substandard, he added.
Apiata moved into the private rental – which, according to property records, is owned by Ajit Singh Sagoo, Surjit Kaur Sagoo and Narinderpal Singh Sagoo – on Avalon Drive in March.
‘‘When the house was given to her, the house was in very good shape. It was done up completely. Sometimes if you don’t take care of the place you are living in, the house can get run down,’’ said the landlord, Ajit Singh Sagoo.
Apiata paid a $1400 bond and pays $390 a week for the threebedroom, one-bathroom weatherboard house.
On November 3, while cooking dinner for her children, Apiata said she walked from the stove to the other end of the kitchen when the floor gave way. She heard a snap and instantly knew she’d broken her leg.
‘‘My kids were home and so when I did it, I had to keep a brave face and try to keep calm for them and wait for the ambulance to arrive,’’ Apiata said.
She was taken to Waikato Hospital, where she underwent a
90-minute surgery for a spiral break to her tibia. A rod was inserted into her right leg from her knee to ankle.
She had been asking for the floor to be fixed for some time, she said, even ringing from her hospital bed to get the repair done.
Sagoo said he got a builder to patch up the hole rather than replace the entire kitchen floor.
‘‘I know the floor was broken, but it doesn’t just get broken just on its own. Somebody could have done something to it. I know she mentioned it to me and I have had it repaired now.
‘‘The builder has repaired it before, too. If you want to break anything, you can break anything,’’ Sagoo said, adding that the builder put new vinyl down during the first repair.
But when the Waikato Times visited less than two weeks after the second repair, it was clear there was already further water damage starting to seep through the chipboard floor and plywood patch.
Apiata said she was shown by the builder that the rest of the kitchen floor was damaged and any heavy pressure on it could see someone else go through the floor. He pointed out where another hole was forming.
She said the builder told her the problem was being caused by a leaking pipe under the house, which remained a problem.
The house had further failings. Black mould was visible under the kitchen bench and the toilet in the bathroom wasn’t bolted down and could be completely lifted off the ground. The tiles on the kitchen wall weren’t fixed and regularly fell on to the stove top.
The kitchen taps leaked, too. Apiata had tried to fix this herself with strips of plastic bags, used like washers.
Apiata feared for her and her children’s safety.
Sagoo said that he was unaware of the toilet situation and the loose tiles.
He said he had done one property inspection since Apiata began her tenancy and knew about the leaking taps.
Apiata said she was in signifi- cant pain, had trouble negotiating the steps into the house and could not properly take care of her children, the youngest of whom was the cooking, cleaning, laundry and personal care.
‘‘I stay because I have nowhere else to go. It’s so hard to find some- where else and my family is all in the Bay of Islands, so I’ve got no family to fall back on.
‘‘Winz has told me they can put me into a motel, but I don’t want to go into a motel where it’s far away from my kids’ schooling and I’ve got no transport to get to and from school,’’ Apiata said.
She has few rental choices. Trade Me said on Friday that the total rental stock in the Waikato was down 58 per cent on October last year and demand was outstripping supply.
On Friday afternoon, Trade Me had 629 Waikato rental properties advertised. Of that number, 491 were in Hamilton.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford said in a statement on Wednesday that the Government was to set standards for rental housing quality in its first 100 days.
‘‘This bill will enable the Government to set standards for rental housing quality. It will be a huge step forward for public health.
‘‘Warm, dry homes are vital for the health of our families. It is only reasonable for landlords to ensure that the product they sell does not damage the health of their tenants,’’ Twyford said.
‘‘I stay because I have nowhere else to go.’’
Gail Apiata