A Tauranga boarding house has been ordered to pay $37,000 for tenancy law breaches including removing hot water taps and having inadequate cooking facilities.

The Tenancy Tribunal has ordered Edgecumbe House Limited to pay exemplary damages of $37,000 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on behalf of 17 tenants.

The ministry’s Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team investigated the boarding house in June 2022 after a complaint from a third party. The team met with one of the tenants who confirmed the property did not have an oven, the heater in the living room was disconnected, hot water taps had been removed from the washing machine and two basins, and tenants were being charged for heating in their rooms.

A site visit corroborated this and also found there were no working extractor fans in a kitchen and bathrooms, and several tenants had been charged a bond greater than four weeks.

The boarding house was taken to the Tenancy Tribunal and, in a decision made on March 5, the landlord was found to have failed to comply with the Healthy Homes standards for heating and ventilation; failed to comply with building health and safety regulations; interfered with the supply of water to tenants; and charged excessive bond on multiple occasions.

In its decision, the tribunal said: “The healthy homes standards were well signalled long before they came into force, and the breaches came to light more than 12 months after the commencement date for boarding houses. As a professional accommodation provider, Edgecumbe was required to inform itself of its legal obligations and to comply with them.”

Edgecumbe House Limited was also issued with a three-year restraining order from committing further breaches of the same kind. This means the boarding house may still act as a landlord but if it breaches this restraining order, the consequences will be more severe.

Brett Wilson, national manager of the Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team, said boarding houses were a significant focus for the team as they often housed vulnerable people who were not in a position to address any tenancy issues themselves.

“A large number of the residents at this boarding house, in particular, have a history of housing insecurity.”

Wilson said the Edgecumbe House landlord initially acted promptly to remedy the breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act but restricted how often the heater could be used, and there was a history of the landlord removing facilities or not repairing them.

“Due to the extent and scale of the potential harm and the vulnerability of the tenants, [the investigations team] felt it was in the public interest to progress this case to the Tenancy Tribunal and we are pleased to have achieved a positive outcome for the affected tenants.”

Wilson said boarding houses have been required to comply with the healthy homes standards since July 2021, but all of the tenants spoken to as part of this case were concerned that raising issues would hurt their tenancies.

This story was originally published on the Herald, here