An Auckland tenant told the Tenancy Tribunal he "didn't feel safe" in his home after reporting 25 incidents involving his neighbour, including finding someone hiding in the ceiling cavity of his unit.
Tenant Felino Turner told the tribunal his problems with the neighbours in unit 3 began shortly after moving into a property managed by Central West Property Management in April 2023.
The house, on the corner of Kirk and Home streets in Grey Lynn, had been divided into three units with a shared common yard space.
In the first incident soon after he moved in, Turner said he had a washing machine delivered to his doorstep but saw a person take the washing machine and roll it into unit 3. He involved the police and it was later recovered.
Following this incident, Turner installed a security camera that recorded incidents that occurred on his doorstep and in the common area in front of his unit.
"These incidents involved multiple occasions of people urinating on the outside wall of his unit, people peering in through the windows of his unit, several occasions where people exposed themselves directly to his security camera, and incidents of people from unit 3 repeatedly looking in Turner's mailbox," the tribunal noted.
There were also more serious incidents across Turner's "relatively short tenancy", such as one occasion when he said he heard loud noises in his ceiling and upon investigating the ceiling cavity saw a person he recognised from unit 3 trying to hide.
This person returned to the ceiling hatch for unit 3 and Turner called the police. He saw a person being taken away into custody.
The Tenancy Tribunal also noted: "Police attended at unit 3 on at least two occasions following incidents with Mr Turner."
Other incidents involving his neighbours in unit 3 and "their associates" included "loud arguments in the common area, fighting, throwing Mr Turner's rubbish bin across the yard, making hand signals that Mr Turner discerned to be gang signals at his security camera, surrounding Mr Turner when he collected Uber Eats deliveries, and behaviour which Mr Turner believed pointed to drug dealing happening at unit 3," the tribunal said.
The tribunal noted that "most of the 25 events that Turner reported involved specified acts as defined in section 4 of the Harassment Act 1997".
Turner had gone to the Tenancy Tribunal as he wanted to be reimbursed for the costs he incurred "protecting his privacy and the protection of his property from the tenants at unit 3". This included the CCTV camera, opaque film to cover his windows, and locks for his letterbox.
He stated he was seeking reduced rent because he "didn't feel he was able to use the common area yard, he didn't feel safe going outside and he didn't feel he could safely leave his partner alone in the premises, or leave the premises altogether".
Turner told the tribunal that he also had expected better communication from the landlord about his problems with the tenants in unit 3. The property manager Scott Hickey said he had responded to all of Turner's communications and had served several 14-day breach notices on unit 3's tenant when he had "sufficient cause".
Hickey believed he had taken all reasonable steps to ensure Turner's reasonable peace, comfort, or privacy was not interfered with.
However, the Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator found due to the "frequency and seriousness" of the incidents, the landlord should have done more to address the situation.
"I find there was an increased responsibility to address the risks that the tenant and their associates at unit 3 were posing to Mr Turner's... peace, comfort and privacy in relation to their tenancy, than may usually be the case," they said.
"I find the landlord did not take all reasonable steps to ensure that none of the landlord's other tenants caused or permitted any interference with the reasonable peace, comfort, or privacy of the tenant in the use of the premises."
The adjudicator said the landlord "could have employed" the CCTV, letterbox locks, and opaque film for the windows themselves.
CCTV cameras installed and monitored by the landlord rather than the tenant, may have served to deter the offensive behaviour of the tenants at unit 3 being directed at Mr Turner. Better communication with Mr Turner may have led to solutions being implemented at an earlier stage."
Central West Property Management was ordered to reimburse Turner $200 for the security camera, $30 for window film, $20 for letterbox locks and $60 for blackout curtains.
The company was also ordered to pay $625 in compensation reflecting a rent reduction of $25 per week from the beginning of June 2023 until the date of the tribunal hearing.
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