An Auckland landlord who demanded a rent increase during the COVID-19 price-hike freeze has been ordered to pay thousands in compensation for threatening tenants and damaging their home.
Seiko Miyazaki and Masmi Motogami had been renting Darren Phillip Thomas Williams' Birkdale property for more than two years before he demanded a rent increase - the start of "a series of serious and egregious breaches".
In a tenancy tribunal decision released August 22, the landlord was ordered to pay tenants $6520.44 in compensation.
On July 1, the landlord had served a notice on the tenants, demanding a rent increase from $495 pw to $540 pw on September 1.
The tenants, aware of the government's COVID-19 prompted rent freeze from March 26 to September 25, asked if they could delay the increase until September 25 but he refused.
"A breach of the COVID-19 outbreak rent increase legislation by serving notice of a rent increase during the prohibited period can attract an award of up to $6,500," according to the Tenancy Tribunal.
On July 18, the landlord demanded the tenants to vacate by August 3 (16 days' notice) and said they could be fined or imprisoned if they did not do so.
"Normally, to terminate the tenancy, the landlord would be required to give 90 days' notice," according to the Tenancy Tribunal order.
On August 1, the tenants returned home mid-afternoon to discover their front door had been removed, "an extraordinary breach."
The tenants then discovered someone had "wilfully" damaged the inside of their TV, cut cords to their vacuum cleaner, two oil heaters and a microwave, and had smashed an electric kettle.
The couples' neighbours reported to the tenants they had seen the landlord on the property.
His actions "caused the tenants alarm and distress and was a breach of their entitlement to possession and quiet enjoyment."
Williams has been ordered to pay the couple immediately.
