• Wana Aramoana and his family were evicted after threats were made to “smash” a property manager.
• The Tenancy Tribunal found the threats “abundantly threatening”, causing the manager to fear for her safety.
• The NZ Property Investors Federation emphasised zero tolerance for violence towards property managers and landlords.

A man and his family have been evicted from their rental after he told the property manager he was going to “smash her” if she came back.

Wana Aramoana then repeatedly told the woman to “f off” before repeating his threat, which she took seriously as it came a day after his daughters also threatened her.

A recently released Tenancy Tribunal decision revealed how the property manager was too afraid to return to the property in the small rural town in the King Country because she was aware the tenants knew where she lived.

The threats happened weeks after an order was made that they leave the property, and included comments by two of Aramoana‘s daughters who “explicitly threatened” the property manager.

According to the tribunal, one had said “... Well do you know what, just f***en remember this, you f***en b**ch karma‘s a f***en b**ch and it’s going to come back on you [sic]”.

Wana Aromoana and his family have been evicted from their rental after he told the property manager he was going to “smash her” if she came back. Photo / 123RF

The other had said, “My dad’s going to be real angry, let’s hope he doesn’t do anything or the others don’t.”

The tribunal said in terminating the tenancy last month that what was said was “abundantly threatening” and designed to ensure the property manager was too fearful to return, which was what happened.

Tribunal adjudicator Jeanette Maher said that while there was nothing to establish Aramoana was responsible for what his daughters said, or that he had permitted them to make the threats, they were relevant in that they heightened the property manager’s real concern for her safety.

Because the tenant had family, including a very young baby, at the property, the landlord agreed to extend the date by which they were to leave.

Aramoana had been served with a notice of the earlier hearing to terminate the rental agreement but he did not attend. He said he was not really aware of what the hearing was about.

On March 13, after the threats had been made, Aramoana applied for a rehearing and said that he did not attend the first one as his daughter had been flown to hospital and that took priority for him and his whānau.

However, the tribunal established that his daughter, while unwell, had not been flown to hospital.

Maher said it would be “inequitable to refuse to terminate the tenancy”.

‘Zero tolerance for threats’

There was no definitive data on the number of property managers who have been threatened on the job, but online evidence showed that a number have been confronted with violence in recent years, including the fatal shooting in Whangārei Heads in 2017 of Wendy Campbell-Rodgers and her daughter Natanya Kelly Campbell.

The NZ Property Investors Federation told NZME it had “zero tolerance” for threats or actual violence towards landlords or property managers, and it was good to see the adjudicator’s ruling in this case.

“Violence and aggression are never acceptable,” said federation spokesman Matt Ball.

He said because most property managers and many landlords were women, it was an issue the Tenancy Tribunal needed to take very seriously.

“We are aware of a number of property managers who will only send a male staff member to some properties due to safety concerns.”

Ball said safety had always been an issue in the industry, for property managers, landlords, and sometimes even the contractors they used.

“It does seem to be a growing concern, perhaps heightened by economic pressure and a general increase in ‘angriness’.”

Ball said that was evident in other industries as well, such as in retail and the supermarket sector.

A landlord must give 90 days’ notice to end a tenancy, unless it was being ended for a specific reasons, in which case, 42 days’ notice was required.

In March this year, Tenancy Services said a tenant or a dependant of theirs who experienced family violence could remove themselves from the tenancy without financial penalty by giving the landlord at least two days’ written notice.

Renters’ advocacy group Renters United has so far not responded to a request to comment, but said on its website that the system required to sort out disputes had to be fair, timely and well-resourced.

It said the current system relied on renters having endless time and energy to invest in sorting out problems.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.