Tenancy team steps up action

Government investigators are cracking down on rogue landlords but some industry representatives say they are not going far enough.

The Government’s Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT) was established in 2016 to investigate complaints against landlords and help in situations where the property posed a significant risk to health or safety.

Since July last year, it has undertaken 266 compliance actions, ranging from a warning letter or compliance agreement to an order from the Tenancy Tribunal.

It has sought restraining orders on landlords 15 times and has been successful seven times.

An order lasts up to six years and means that if the person involved commits another, similar breach of tenancy law in that time they can be charged with a criminal offence, rather than the fines levied by the tribunal.

The tribunal can also issue these orders in cases where TCIT is not involved.

Paul Coggan, acting national manager for TCIT, said an order was sought when it was appropriate to send a clear message about the seriousness of the case and the offending.

‘‘The team is moving towards a more proactive, risk-based, regulatory operating model to tackle issues of non-compliance. As part of this approach it is expected the number of compliance actions will increase.’’

David Faulkner, a property management consultant, said while the number of actions taken sounded high, in some cases one landlord was the subject of many of them.

He said only about two dozen cases had progressed to the tribunal in the past 12 months.

TCIT often seemed to focus on the worst cases but the fines were not proportionate, he said.

In one case, South Auckland tenants who paid $520 per week to live in a ‘‘swamp house’’ which flooded every time it rained were awarded $6000 in compensation.

The tribunal said the damp, mouldy house contributed to the tenants’ illnesses.

Faulkner said the penalty should have been ten times that.

Robert Whitaker, of Renters United, agreed the focus was on the most serious breaches. He said there was limited help available for tenants who were dealing with more everyday problems.

Most tenants felt they had nowhere to go to get those issues resolved, he said.

The damages sought in the high-profile cases were not sufficient to deter other dodgy landlords.

He said the unit should be given more resources so it was not left to tenants to try to enforce the law.

The Government is working on changes to the Residential Tenancies Act this year which will, among other things, increase potential financial penalties and give TCIT new tools to take direct action.