Landlord who housed tenant in ‘dangerous’ building loses appeal
A Christchurch businessman has been ordered to pay almost $10,000 in damages after renting out “sleeping quarters” in a dangerous commercial building.
Gary Gray, owner and sole director of Dr Concrete, has lost his appeal against a Tenancy Tribunal decision that found he was in gross breach of his obligation to provide safe and healthy residential accommodation.
Gray operates his business from a commercial premises in Waltham. Since at least 2016, he began building sleeping quarters inside the property, which he told the tribunal he occupied personally and also let to two other residents in a “boarding arrangement”.
According to the tenant, he lived there from June 2019 to February 2020.
He said he and Gray had a residential tenancy agreement, but it was not recorded in writing. The tenant said he provided fulltime general labour for Gray in exchange for four hours’ pay per week and accommodation at the property, valued at $200 weekly.
The Tenancy Tribunal heard that Gray built a mezzanine floor without building consents. It was likely it did not meet the standards of the Building Code, and the building had no fire alarm system, and lacked escape routes and fire exits.
Despite this, flammable material was stored directly below the residential units.
“The deliberate and blatant breaches ... put the lives of vulnerable people at risk.”
Judge Chris Tuohy
In February 2021, an investigation team from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), along with staff from the Christchurch City Council and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz), visited the premises after receiving a complaint from the public.
In a statement, MBIE said it found several people “living in substandard conditions on the mezzanine floor area constructed by Mr Gray”.
The council issued a dangerous building notice as a result.
During a tribunal hearing, Gray denied that the tenant was living there. He said they had discussed the option of moving in, but it never happened.
He admitted that other people had been living in the building, but said it was a “boarding arrangement” and not a residential occupancy – and that either way, the application before the tribunal only concerned the alleged tenant and not the other occupants.
The tribunal did not accept this, and ordered Gray to pay $3600 in exemplary damages and $6000 in reimbursement of rent.
Gray appealed the decision to the District Court, claiming that the tribunal erred in finding the complainant was a tenant, in determining that Gray was the landlord (he said the landlord was in fact his company, Dr Concrete), in not subtracting the tenant’s accommodation supplement from the rent paid, and in fixing the quantum of damages.
Judge Chris Tuohy was not convinced. He said a witness called on Gray’s behalf to testify that the complainant was not living at the property actually did the exact opposite, by describing and locating the room the complainant occupied.
He said Gray’s argument that the landlord was Dr Concrete and not him was not sustainable, given “Dr Concrete is a oneman company, which is nothing but his alter ego”.
The judge said that if the tenant had received an accommodation supplement from the Ministry of Social Development, there was no reason Gray should be credited with it.
Judge Tuohy added that if he could have ordered Gray to pay even more in damages, he would have.
“The deliberate and blatant breaches of fire safety and other provisions put the lives of vulnerable people at risk. The maximum amount of exemplary damages of $4000 is ludicrously inadequate.”
The Press has approached Gray for comment.