Latest news with #Otago
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Dunedin City Council warned of 'slumlords' exploiting students
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon A Dunedin student flat horror story is prompting a call to action to prevent others from falling prey to bad landlords and filthy flats. The Dunedin City Council was warned about 'slumlords' exploiting students and vulnerable people and presented with a possible solution to the perpetual problem during a meeting on Wednesday. The council also voted to ask the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to share how it planned to monitor and enforce the Healthy Home rules in Dunedin to ensure rentals were fully compliant. Zoe Eckhoff was hoping to have a classic Otago flatting experience with her two friends this year, instead it turned into a horror story. The second year student shared her story during public forum, saying that when she and her friends inspected the flat last year, people were living there and it was messy. But she thought it would be clean by the time they moved in so they signed the lease and paid rent for a month. "We found the house in a pretty shocking state, it was mouldy, filthy and completely unprepared," she said. "The landlord refused to engage with us, entered without permission continuously and ignored our concerns." They then discovered their landlord had gone to the Tenancy Tribunal more than 20 times. Things quickly escalated and eventually the police became involved, she said. They went to the tribunal to challenge the unsafe conditions and serious incidents including the landlord screaming at them. Despite this, the students were unable to get out of their lease. But they did not give up. "Only after hiring a lawyer and installing cameras and recording her entering 85 times in 10 days at all hours of the day and night, including about three in the morning while we were still paying rent, were we able to get out of the lease," Eckhoff said. It was lucky they were all locals and had somewhere else to go but it took a big toll on them and their families, she said. "We paid over $5000 for a house we never lived in. We lost study time and faced serious stress and trauma. "All we wanted was a safe, lawful and respectful tenancy and instead we were exploited by a landlord and let down by a system that's supposed to protect us, and we're just one of many student groups that this has happened to and continues to happen to." Zoe's mum Pip Eckhoff said it was stressful going through the Tenancy Tribunal process. "We had an abusive landlord ... and a property that we couldn't move into and the adjudicator made no mention of how to allow us to move in and have the property ready so it really set us up to fail," she said. They did receive $5000 as part of the process. But it was not just one landlord, it was a much wider problem, she said. "Dunedin's housing is declining and unsafe. We have a broken enforcement system and slumlords are exploiting vulnerable people. The impact of ratepayers includes, but is not limited to, fewer students, businesses and families choosing Dunedin as a place to study and live," Eckhoff said. Parent and ratepayer Amanda Dyer said they sought help from nearly every support group across the city, but none could hold the landlord accountable or genuinely help them. The Tenancy Tribunal was not fit for purpose, Dyer said. "It's inaccessible, it's emotionally exhausting and inconsistent. Our case was riddled with factual errors and contradictions. The adjudicator appeared frustrated, even blaming our young adults for submitting the wrong kind of application," she said. The fines for landlords were minimal and did not deter bad behaviour, Dyer said. "Why spend $20,000 fixing up a property when the risk is just a $2000 fine? The fines determined case-by-case by the local Tribunal demonstrate how the system's enabling the slumlords and others repeat offending." Pip Eckhoff asked the council to be part of the solution by boosting its capacity to provide independent housing condition reports. "These reports would help tenants inspect properties like you'd do before buying a house, help tenants in disputes, support MBIE and Tribunal cases and build a report card history on problem landlords," she said. Earlier this year, MBIE's tenancy compliance and investigations teams inspected more than 50 Dunedin rentals, finding that students often discovered problems with the properties soon after moving in. Councillor Marie Laufiso put forward the motion asking the ministry to share how it planned to ensure rentals met the Healthy Homes rules. The Healthy Homes standards - which became law in 2019 and kicked in earlier this month - introduced a new benchmark for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture barriers and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties. Laufiso said she saw the toll it took on the tenants and their families to take action against this landlord and this was a way to take action and represent their residents. Councillor David Benson-Pope said it was a sensible decision as the city had a real problem with cold, damp housing. "This isn't just about one appalling landlord, there's a nest of them and they're not just in the campus area," he said. When his son was a student, he lived with his mates in an "ice box" with a little bit of insulation around the manhole but nothing anywhere else, Benson-Pope said. Now that the rules were in place, he wanted to see them enforced. Councillor Christine Garey said she was sadly not surprised to see photos of Eckhoff's flat. Students had raised concerns about speaking up and "rocking the boat" part way through a lease and possibly missing out on the next flat, she said. Migrants and refugees were also vulnerable, Garey said. She had heard of a property manager asking a tenant to sign that their property had the Healthy Home standards in place, only for one of the tenants to find that one of the standards had not been met. The tenant had refused to sign until it was completed, but she said that took courage and could be a difficult step to take. Councillor Jim O'Malley said he previously had to clean spiderwebs off the outside of a house and clean the carpet to get a deposit back. He was then told the carpet was not clean enough - despite cleaning it twice - and did not get his deposit back, he said. He also had to intervene after landlords tried to charge his daughter and her flatmates for damages done long before they moved in, and it was only after he threatened to take them to court that they paid the deposit back, O'Malley said. "Landlord abuse of tenants is around." Councillor Andrew Whiley, who is a landlord, said anything that improved healthy homes in Dunedin was important to do and it would only make good landlords look better. There were five ministry inspectors who were already in town and had started doing inspections, he said. Landlords had their "heads in the sand" if they only started preparing to follow the rules just before the deadline, he said. Deputy mayor Cherry Lucas said they needed to signal that they wanted a city of good, healthy rentals. Councillor Lee Vandervis said the Tenancy Tribunal's job was to ensure properties were fully compliant when there was an issue and they were already doing it. He did not support the motion. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Tough NPC looms for Stags under new coach
The season is about to start and Southland will not go into it with a whole lot of confidence, if preseason form is anything to go on. Fortunately, the two losses from the two preseason games have little or no impact on how the season will go in reality. Preseason games are more about giving players a run, trying to find combinations and get sides into the routine of a match week. Sometimes having a game at the end of the week creates more sharpness in teams via trainings throughout the week. The Southland side got together in June with new coach Nathan White. White was a former Chiefs and Waikato prop who headed to Ireland and played for the the Irish national team for two years, before retiring because of head knocks. White was whistled in after Matt Saunders stepped away from the role, deciding to pursue business interests. White has had just under two months to get the side up to scratch. The team played Otago and Tasman in the preseason. It lost the Otago game 40-31, then had a heavy defeat to a Tasman side which should be one of the top teams in the NPC this season. Tasman won the match 63-17, with Southland struggling to stay with a side which was stacked with Super Rugby players. Southland has a sprinkling of Super Rugby players in its squad, and will lean on them throughout the season. Hooker Jack Taylor rose up the ranks somewhat for the Highlanders this year and will be looking to make further progress this season. Prop Jack Sexton trained with the Highlanders all season but did not get on to the paddock, and will want to make an impact. Mitch Dunshea ran himself almost to a standstill for the Highlanders, and will hopefully have some energy left in the tank for the Southland side. Sam Fischli comes from Otago and will put himself about, either in the middle row or loose forward trio. The loose forwards have plenty to like about them, but there is always strong competition in this area across the country. Connor Collins and Connor McLeod are the halfbacks, while Dan Hollinshead shapes at the option in the No 10 jersey. Byron Smith may also be a contender. One interesting newcomer is Fletcher Morgan, who is trying his luck in Southland having played for Thames Valley last year. He has made an impact for Woodlands in club rugby this season, and one wonders if he has the goods to make an impact at the next level. The midfield looks solid for Southland with Isaac Te Tamaki, Matt Whaanga and the returning Scott Gregory all looking promising for the side. Winger Michael Manson will want to get more involved after a quiet season with the Highlanders, while Faletoi Peeni will want to back up a promising rookie season. Southland start their season against Otago on Saturday at home, with a big crowd expected.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Ex-Otago coach to join Aust
Tom Donnelly. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Former Otago coach and All Black lock Tom Donnelly will join the Wallabies coaching staff ahead of the 2025 Rugby Championship. Donnelly will replace current assistant coach Geoff Parling, who will return to the UK following the end of the British and Irish Lions Tour. Donnelly played 15 tests for the All Blacks between 2009 and 2010. The 43-year-old spent the Super Rugby Pacific season with the Western Force, having moved to Australia after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant with the Highlanders in Dunedin. He coached Otago from 2020 to 2024 and had three seasons as an assistant before that. — APL
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Editorial: A stadium half-full or half-empty?
Somewhere between the over-optimism of some and the pessimism of others lies the truth about the future viability of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium. Next month it will be 14 years since then prime minister John Key opened the $224 million stadium, just a month before the start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. That the stadium was ever built was, in some ways, a miracle. There were many concerns raised at the time about the realities of such a project, including the economics of constructing such a large venue so distant from the country's larger population centres where big overseas sporting and musical acts are typically held. The stadium debate was acrimonious and divisive, leading to court cases and much bitterness among residents. Even when it eventually opened, and despite the hoopla, the events were slow to come. A memorably windy Elton John concert in November 2011 was the first to be held under its draughty roof. But in one of those bizarre twists of fate, the Christchurch earthquake of February that year wrecked Jade Stadium and kick-started a slowly growing momentum which would act in Dunedin's favour for more than a decade. With Christchurch off the grid as far as major events were concerned — not only because of a lack of a major venue but also because of accommodation, hospitality and other logistical problems — Forsyth Barr Stadium could flourish. And flourish the Dunedin stadium has. It held several 2011 Rugby World Cup games which the quake-damaged Christchurch was unable to run. It is the home ground for the Highlanders and Otago rugby teams and has hosted test matches and Rugby World Cup games. It has also been a venue for rugby league fixtures and for the 2015 Fifa Under-20 World Cup. International acts have performed at the stadium and transformed the city, including Pink, Kendrick Lamar, Shania Twain, Robbie Williams, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, even Black Sabbath. Oh, and don't forget Ed Sheeran. How could we. Of all the concerts held at the stadium, the Sheeran performancers of Easter 2018 were highlights, generating an estimated $38m for the city's economy from the more than 65,000 visitors. Unfortunately, Sheeran will not be performing in Dunedin when he returns to New Zealand in January, opting instead for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, where he is expected to be the last act at the temporary stadium before the city's new venue, Te Kaha, opens. Some people have taken to calling this a snub. In some ways that view is understandable. After all, Sheeran's visit seven years ago was a huge high spot for Dunedin and the South. Sheeran became "one of ours". The mural in Bath St remains for all to see, long after the performances have drifted off into the ether. To suggest a deliberate rejection of the stadium and the city by Sheeran, though, is an overreaction, although there have been suggestions he wasn't happy with the sound system. What this does do, however, is sharpen minds to consider what life may be like for Forsyth Barr once the Christchurch stadium is up and running. A large shadow seems to be looming just over the shoulder. There can be little doubt that Christchurch's Te Kaha poses a significant threat to the Dunedin stadium. It will have several major advantages. Firstly, it will be 15 years newer and will benefit from the novelty aspect of that and of Christchurch's new and vibrant inner-city hospitality. Secondly, Christchurch is a much larger city than Dunedin — with a population around 420,000 it is more than three times as big — and, thirdly, it has a major international airport with direct flights from Australia, Southeast Asia and North America. Those are selling points which any promoter and artist will find hard to look past. Tougher times certainly lie ahead for Dunedin's stadium and for when it comes to easy access to international acts and sporting fixtures for people in the South. However, we should not wallow in southern doom and gloom. Dunedin will continue to attract events and there remain plenty of other wonderful reasons to come and share our heritage, wildlife and culture.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
More being priced out of Dunedin rental homes, says charity head
First published on By Laine Priestley , Otago Daily Times Salvation Army Dunedin community ministries manager Captain Logan Bathurst. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Tracie Barret Climbing rents have brought housing insecurity in Dunedin close to a "tipping point", a charity leader says. Salvation Army Dunedin community ministries manager Captain Logan Bathurst made the statement after statistics released by Cotality showed rents had climbed by almost 9 percent in the year to May. Bathurst said the numbers tracked with the struggles he was seeing. He said more people in Dunedin had been priced out of rentals over the past 12 months. "I'd say it is getting worse. I think we're close to tipping point ... I don't think much is being done about it, to be honest. "It's lots of talk, but no real action at the moment." He believed people elsewhere in New Zealand were still struggling, despite the numbers showing rental prices were going down. Housing prices were still taking up a large portion of people's income, he said. "The amount ... is still huge - yes, around the country it has come down, but it is still a significant portion. "Energy costs and power costs have gone up as well over the last 12 months, so even if there is a saving in terms of accommodation, there's still higher costs of just cost of life and living." Cotality's report came from an update from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which showed national median rents in the three months to May were down 0.3 percent from the year before. However, Dunedin was an outlier with an 8.7 percent rise. Cotality chief economist Kelvin Davidson said there was a sharp rise in rents post-Covid as borders reopened and net migration spiked. At the same time, rental supply was tighter, and investor activity dipped due to rising mortgage rates and tax rule changes. "This affordability ceiling is now acting as a natural brake on further rent increases." This story was first published by the Otago Daily Times .
