Tenant gets thousands in compensation

A woman living in a cold, draughty home with broken windows will get thousands of dollars in compensation from her landlord.

But the mother will still have to find a new place to rent, despite not being able to find a home due to Taranaki’s rental shortage.

In a Tenancy Tribunal decision released recently, adjudicator Kristen Koller ruled against Whanga¯rei landlords Ryan and Pauline Johnstone, ordering them to pay $3120 compensation to tenant Amanda Price.

The tribunal also ordered the landlords to immediately get an electrician to fix power problems at the property, where only one power point was working.

The house is in the New Plymouth suburb of Marfell.

Price moved in with her family in October 2018 under a oneyear fixed-term tenancy. But in July she gave notice to her landlords that the house needed work, including the power problems and the house not being fully insulated.

On top of that, several windows in the house needed repairs and new latches so they could properly open and shut, the decision said.

Price said two of the bedrooms could not be used because draughts from the broken windows made them too cold.

The decision said the landlords failed to carry out the repairs and, just weeks later, gave Price notice her tenancy would end on October 1.

Price claimed the notice was retaliatory and, while she wanted to move out, she had not been able to find anywhere to go.

But the Tenancy Tribunal found the notice was valid and based on a genuine business decision to repair and sell the house.

‘‘There is never any security, even for the best tenant, that a fixed-term tenancy will continue,’’ Koller said.

The Johnstones claimed Price owed $3000 worth of rent but this figure was later recalculated to $250.

Their claims for costs associated with cleaning, section maintenance, rubbish removal and stress were also dismissed.

Koller ordered the Johnstones to let Price live rent-free in the house until October 15, to make up for spending the tenant’s bond instead of lodging it with the bond centre.

They were also ordered to pay Price $3370 in compensation, minus the $250 she owed them in rent arrears.