The Tenancy Tribunal has ordered an Auckland landlord to pay his tenant more than $1500 after he verbally abused her and accused her of being a sex worker.
Landlord James Francis will pay financial compensation for breaching the tenant's quiet enjoyment of the property, failing to have a tenancy agreement in writing, and failing to issue receipts for rent and a retaliatory notice.
The woman was renting a home in the Auckland locality of Waimauku, with Francis residing in a separate house on the same property.
The tribunal heard Francis used CCTV to monitor his tenant's movements and abused her and her visitors several times.
Francis once swore at a friend of the tenant and ordered them to get off the property after they dug a small hole for a birdhouse. On a separate occasion, Francis ordered the tenant to "get [their] f**king friend to move his f**king car". He yelled "that's two strikes" at the tenant in reference to the two incidents.
The tenant alleged that on another occasion, Francis called her a "f**king prostitute" when she went to let her friend in at the gate.
"I'm warning you girl. Pack your bags and get out now," Francis allegedly told her.
The tenant developed stress, anxiety, and panic attacks due to the landlord's behaviour, leading her to seek help from a doctor. She was "fearful and intimidated" by Francis, the tribunal heard.
"The landlord also attempted to scare and intimidate the tenant's visitors, particularly if they were male," tribunal adjudicator Nicole Walker said in the ruling.
On March 7, 2021, the tenant decided she could not safely remain at the premises and stayed elsewhere while continuing to pay her rent. As the landlord would not provide a bank account for the rent to be paid to, the tenant paid the rent in cash. She returned to the premises weekly to put the rent somewhere safe for the landlord to collect.
On March 13, 2021, the tenant returned to the property to pay her rent. When she entered the premises, she found the toilet had been used and not flushed.
The tenant told the tribunal she was "horrified, scared and angry" as there was no sign of forced entry, and to her knowledge, the landlord was the only other person to have a key to the property.
About a week later, the tenant returned to find the toilet had again been used and remained unflushed. The issue was again repeated on March 22.
The tenant told the tribunal that when she raised this issue with the landlord, he denied any wrongdoing and instead suggested she had given her keys to one of her friends - an allegation she denies.
In response to the claims, Francis said he had previously spoken to the tenant about parking in the driveway. With regard to the "strikes" he'd given against the tenant, he said he heard about this on talkback radio.
The tribunal found Francis had committed an unlawful act by breaching her quiet enjoyment.
"The landlord has acknowledged that he has used the behaviour complained of by the tenant. This behaviour has clearly had an impact on the tenant and her ability to live in the premises in peace," Walker said in the ruling.
The tenant also claims Francis didn't provide a tenancy agreement in writing and give a copy to them.
"The landlord claimed that the tenant had the offer of cheap rent. He seemed to think that this meant that the agreement did not need to be in writing," Walker said.
This was also determined as unlawful.
Since the tenant paid rent in cash, she must be given a receipt from her landlord. However she claims this didn't happen despite asking Francis for one. This too was determined as unlawful.
Francis was ordered to pay the tenant $1520.44 in total; $1200 for breaching her quiet enjoyment, $200 for failing to have the tenancy agreement in writing, $100 for failing to issue receipts for rent, and $20.44 to reimburse the tenant's tribunal application fee.
