‘Saviour’ evicts solomum
A single mum and her son have been given 90 days to find somewhere else to live for the second time in a year.
Wainuiomata woman Nikki Prier was evicted from her previous home of seven years last February, the day before rental laws changed to ban no-cause evictions.
A different landlord came to her rescue, offering her a threebedroom house in the same neighbourhood after reading about her plight. Now the woman’s saviour has done the same thing, telling her to leave in 90 days, in order to free up the property for renovations.
‘‘It doesn’t make sense to me,’’ Prier said. ‘‘They renovated the house a year ago; they were renovating it when I moved in.’’
Prier thinks she knows the actual reason: her dog. The Sydney-based landlord had a relative act as an intermediary when the lease was signed, and Prier suspects news of the animal didn’t cross the Tasman.
‘‘I think the girl that set me up in the place didn’t communicate to the actual landlord about the dog,’’ she said. ‘‘Obviously, the landlord didn’t really want a tenant with a dog. They’re just saying ‘renovations’ because they want me out.’’
Mihaela Coman owns the house – and four others in Wainuiomata – according to property records. She declined to comment when contacted through a relative. ‘‘The reason the landlord chose to give the tenant notice to leave was because renovations needed to get done,’’ the relative instead wrote in a text message.
Weeks before Prier was given notice, the landlord increased the rent by $150 a week, with the increase due to take effect next month.
‘‘The way they’ve gone about this is awful,’’ Prier said. ‘‘They didn’t need to put me through the rent increase, and then do this, too. Why create this much stress for somebody, if you just want to kick them out?’’
The outlawing of no-cause evictions was among several major changes to tenancy law last February, including limiting rent increases to once a year, and making it easier for renters to decorate their homes.
There are still several situations, however, when a landlord can give a tenant notice, including when they plan to sell or demolish the house, move in themselves, or have a family member move in instead. ‘‘Extensive renovations’’ were also on that list.
Tenancy Services spokesperson Allan Galloway said renovations needed to be substantial enough to create an ‘‘impractical or unsafe’’ living situation for the tenant, and landlords were required to start work within 90 days of the tenant moving out.
They could face penalties up to $6500 for breaching the rules, he said.
Tenancy Services would not be knocking on doors to check, however. ‘‘[We] cannot monitor every termination notice to ensure tenancies are terminated in accordance with tenancy law.’’
Lawyer Machrus Siregar called the situation ‘‘disappointingly legal’’, and said it left tenants with few options.
‘‘There’s no regulation for it – unless the tenant wants to call their bluff, and take them to the Tenancy Tribunal,’’ he said. ‘‘At that point, the landlord will probably just say, ‘oh, we had delays with our contractors’, or ‘my cousin found somewhere else to stay’.’’
Community Law housing lawyer Melissa Harward said tenants had ‘‘very limited power in a situation like this’’, but the solution wasn’t necessarily tweaking tenancy laws again.
‘‘Tenants don’t have the bargaining power that they need,’’ Harward said. ‘‘For me, one of the answers is more housing. If there wasn’t such a struggle to find a place to live that is decent and affordable, tenants would have more leverage.’’
Prier, in the meantime, didn’t want to get into a drawn-out dispute with her landlord.
‘‘There’s no point getting into battles,’’ she said. ‘‘At the end of the day, I’m getting kicked out. I’ve got to put my energy into finding a house.’’
She was worried about how her son might respond to the news. He had a learning disability, with support systems based nearby, including a supported learning unit at school, and respite care.
Prier’s property manager had vowed to help with the search, and a previous landlord would give her a positive reference, she said. In the meantime, she was trying to keep a positive mindset.
She planned to contact Kāinga Ora, and seek advice about going on its waiting list. At least in social housing she would have security of tenure, she thought.
‘‘Me and my boy need to be settled somewhere, instead of being moved on every year,’’ she said. ‘‘If we want to make future plans, we need that.’’