A couple has been awarded nearly $20,000 after their 1-year-old son suffered “actual and potentially serious harm” from lead paint in an old rented house. 

The boy’s doctor said that months after leaving the property, his body was still working hard to eliminate lead, arsenic and cadmium from his system. 

The family moved into the rented house in Napier in October 2024. 

By February 2025, the boy’s parents were concerned about his health and a Plunket nurse referred them to a doctor, who arranged blood tests. 

Those tests showed dangerously low iron levels, vitamin D deficiency and the presence of “worrying levels” of lead, according to a Tenancy Tribunal decision. 

Testing showed lead in the house's old yellow and red external paintwork, and on most fixed surfaces inside. Photo / Ric Stevens 

A doctor and an environmental health officer visited the house, arranged testing, and found lead in the property’s old yellow and red external paint, on most fixed painted surfaces inside the house, and in the soil outside. 

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora prepared a report, which the tenants, whose names are suppressed, gave to the property manager, Pukeko Rental Managers. 

“It is highly likely that [the tenants’ son]’s lead exposure is primarily due to exposure to paint from the house,” the report said. 

“His age and low iron have put him at increased risk.” 

‘No safe level’ of exposure 

“[The tenant’s son] has no current signs of health effects related to lead. 

“However, there is no safe level of lead exposure and long-term exposure can have long-term effects on health including growth, cognition and learning problems.” 

After receiving the report, the property manager confirmed that the tenants could leave the house without having to give notice. 

The house is on Napier's Marine Parade. Photo / Warren Buckland 

Another property was offered to them, but they could not afford it. 

Nor were they able to secure another house quickly, and eventually moved out in July 2025 - nine months after moving into the house and two months after receiving the Health NZ report. 

While they were looking for another home, the boy’s mother had a second baby. 

“The evidence shows, as well as the health effects, the anguish [the tenants] have suffered through fear for [their son]’s health and development,” Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Bryan King said. 

“They have had to find alternative, safe accommodation with urgency and in difficult circumstances.” 

The Tenancy Tribunal awarded the tenants $15,000 in general damages, saying they paid rent to stay in premises which “posed a health risk to them and caused actual and potentially serious harm to their young son”. 

They were also awarded $4200 for a breach to their “quiet enjoyment” of the property, $500 to compensate them for moving costs, and a refund of their $27 tribunal filing fee. 

The total awarded was $19,727. 

House worth more than $1 million 

The house on Napier’s Marine Parade was built in about 1900 and was last sold for $95,000 in 1989. It is believed to be owned by a trust. 

Between 1990 and 2023, it was occupied by a family, and then a family friend. 

It had a council rating valuation of $1.13 million in 2023. 

Duncan Reed, for Pukeko Rental Managers, told NZME that his company ensured the house was compliant with the Healthy Homes standards – which cover heating, insulation, ventilation, draught-stopping, moisture and drainage – before the tenants moved in. 

“Even though it was an old house, and it wasn’t compliant before I took it over, before the (Healthy Homes) regulations came in, I got everything done - with some effort,” Reed said. 

“It was fully compliant before the due date,” he said. 

He said that in his experience, no property manager would routinely test for lead contamination. 

“It’s not a standard practice,” he said. 

There was no reason to believe there was an issue with lead at the house, although it was now something that he would be mindful of. 

Reed said that once he found out about the lead, he emailed the tenants to say that they could leave whenever they wanted with “no consequences” in terms of the lease. 

Pukeko Rental Managers no longer managed the property, Reed said. 

“I was out. I did not want to manage that property any more,” Reed said. 

The damages award would be covered by insurance, Reed said. 

The health and safety regulator WorkSafe has issued guidelines which say that landlords are “required to protect occupants and others from (among other things) lead contamination arising from paintwork in the tenant’s property or its fixtures and fittings”. 

The guidelines also state that landlords, managers, and property owners should assume that paint on pre-1980 buildings is lead-based, unless proven otherwise by records or testing. 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former NZ Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.