By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice multimedia journalist, Taranaki
Two renters have been awarded thousands of dollars in compensation after they endured months of sewage leaks, bad odours, and a "negligent" landlord who ignored their pleas to address the issues.
The tenants took their case to the Tenancy Tribunal arguing their landlord failed to provide and maintain the Kelston, Auckland, home in a reasonable state of repair after toilet paper and faeces were continually excreted on to the exterior of the property.
The pair stated that soon after they moved into the address on August 27, 2021, sewage began coming out of the trap by the front door and continued to do so for a month.
They informed the landlord of this and a plumber attended to the issue by putting tape on the trap - which then forced the sewage to leak out of a different trap on the other side of the house.
Two weeks after the plumber's first visit, the tenants said the smell of sewage was even worse.
They updated the landlord on the situation and the same plumber returned and put a pipe under the house and a new coupler on the outside leak.
Landlord's phone cut off
The repair lasted a week before the sewage started leaking again.
"The tenant said they would flush the toilet and toilet paper and faeces would come out of the other side of the house," the decision, publicly released this week, stated.
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"According to the tenants, this happened consistently throughout the tenancy."
When the tenants tried to get hold of the landlord again, around October 2021, they were unable to reach them as the landlord's phone had been cut off.
However, contractor trucks arrived at the property to dig up the lawn that same month, and in November.
The Tribunal found this was presumably at the direction of the landlord, and so the landlord must have been aware that the earlier repairs had failed.
Landlord's actions 'negligent at best'
The tenants emailed the landlord multiple times in December to notify them of the sewage problem but they did not receive a response.
"The tenants stated they put up with the sewage problem and bad odours until they moved out, as they were unable to reach the landlord again about it."
They moved out of the property on January 6 this year.
The tribunal found the landlord failed to provide and maintain the property in a reasonable state of repair and ruled that the unlawful act was committed intentionally.
It said the landlord did not remedy a significant health concern and their actions were "clearly negligent at best", adding the property was unsanitary and unsafe for the tenants.
"Here, the landlord did not ensure that the sewage problem was properly fixed, and so demonstrated an ongoing failure to act to fix the issue over a period of at least 3 to 4 months," it said.
"Both plumber visits appeared to have involved repairs, which were essentially ineffectual in remedying the problem. The landlord would have been aware of this from ongoing emails in early December 2021 from the tenants about the continuing sewage leaks."
The tenants also succeeded in their claim of unlawful entry after contractors undertook work at the property on multiple occasions without any notice being provided to the tenants.
The landlord was ordered to pay the tenants $3750 in exemplary damages for failure to maintain property, unlawful entry and failure to lodge bond, and $2800 in bond.
