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Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Tenancy terminated over assault threats
A man who threw plastic chairs at his frightened neighbours, before letting off a gas bottle in the shared hallway and shouting "boom, boom, you can all die", has lost his Salvation Army flat. Quinton Rihari could not be reached for the Tenancy Tribunal's hearing, where the Salvation Army sought to terminate the tenancy on his central Dunedin flat, saying he had threatened to assault other tenants in the complex. According to the tribunal's recently released decision, Rihari received written warnings about his behaviour at his Thomas Burns St flat on three occasions. The first was on December 27 last year, when he broke a painting in the corridor during a fight. It began at 3.30am and lasted for an hour and a half. Then, in February, he verbally abused tenants when they asked him to turn his music down. Two months later, on April 14, the Salvation Army says Rihari became angry and threw plastic chairs off a shared balcony, frightening other tenants. After returning to his room, Rihari let off a 9kg LPG bottle in the hallway, yelling "boom, boom, you can all die". Police were called and took Rihari away, but he returned and begin yelling at the other tenants, calling them "narks". Later that day, he told another tenant he was going to "punch her head in". Again, police were called and Rihari was taken away. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the tribunal can terminate a tenancy if it's satisfied a tenant has engaged in antisocial behaviour on three separate occasions during a 90-day period and received written notice on each occasion. The decision found that while Rihari received separate notices for each incident, the three incidents spanned 108 days, outside the 90-day period. Despite this, as the tribunal found Rihari had threatened to harm his neighbours, it agreed to terminate Rihari's tenancy. By Catherine Hutton
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Man loses Dunedin flat after threatening neighbours
A man who threw plastic chairs at his frightened neighbours before letting off a gas bottle in the shared hallway and shouting "Boom, boom, you can all die", has lost his Salvation Army flat. Quinton Rihari couldn't be reached for the Tenancy Tribunal's hearing, where the Salvation Army sought to terminate the tenancy on his central Dunedin flat, saying he'd threatened to assault other tenants in the complex. According to the tribunal's recently released decision, Rihari received written warnings about his behaviour at his Thomas Burns St flat on three occasions. The first was on December 27 last year, when he broke a painting in the corridor during a fight outside his room. It began at 3.30am and lasted for an hour and a half. Then, in February, he verbally abused tenants when they asked him to turn his music down. Two months later, on April 14, the Salvation Army says Rihari became angry and threw plastic chairs off a shared balcony, frightening other tenants. After returning to his room, Rihari let off a 9kg LPG bottle in the hallway, yelling, "Boom, boom, you can all die". Police were called and took Rihari away, only for him to return and begin yelling at the other tenants, calling them "narks". Later that day, he told another tenant he was going to "punch her head in". Again, police were called and Rihari was taken away. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the tribunal can terminate a tenancy if it's satisfied a tenant has engaged in antisocial behaviour on three separate occasions during a 90-day period and received written notice on each occasion. Antisocial behaviour includes harassment or any act (whether intentional or not) that reasonably causes significant alarm, distress or nuisance. The decision found that while Rihari received separate notices for each incident, the three incidents spanned 108 days, outside the 90-day period. Despite this, the tribunal found Rihari had threatened to harm his neighbours over the gas cylinder incident and threatened to assault another neighbour. As a result, it agreed to terminate Rihari's tenancy. When the Salvation Army was approached for comment late this afternoon, its media officer Kai Sanders said no one was available for comment, adding this wasn't something the organisation would usually comment on because of its strict rules around privacy. - Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter
1News
27-05-2025
- Health
- 1News
No-fault law sees tenant facing eviction after major knee surgery
Desmond Adams knew his upcoming knee surgery would be tough - weeks in recovery and months before he'd walk normally - but what he didn't expect was to be doing it all while facing eviction. A painter by trade, years of physical labour have taken a toll on the 52-year-old Hamiltonian. Scans in April 2024 revealed fractures in both knees, with overgrown bone that needed to be shaved. The bone was pressing into a tendon on his left side which needed to be cut and repaired. "My knees were poking out like nobody's business," Adams said. Post-operation, doctors told him to expect crutches for three weeks, a minimal amount of walking and no driving for at least six weeks. Full recovery was expected to take four to five months. ADVERTISEMENT Knowing how limiting this would be, he made sure to notify his landlord through his property manager well in advance, saying he notified them first in June last year and reminded them at every three-monthly inspection after that. "At my last inspection in March, I had also reminded them about my surgery," he said. "She said to me, 'Yes, you have mentioned that a lot, and we hope everything goes well'." Desmond's flat in Whitiora, Hamilton. (Source: Supplied) Just days on from that inspection, a letter arrived. Adams had been served a 90-day notice to vacate his Whitiora home. "I felt really gutted, angry, and frustrated. It was like, what's going on here? You guys have known about my surgery for a while, and now you're serving me with this? "How the heck do you expect me to look for a house in 90 days when I've got surgery, and then about four to five months in healing? I can't actually get out to look for houses in that time." He says he asked for an extension on the notice to give him more time to heal before trying to move. But he claims that wasn't granted. ADVERTISEMENT Recovery on pause The surgery went ahead as planned but with limited mobility and no ability to drive, Adams had to put his recovery on pause to begin house hunting. Desmond had to have overgrown bone shaved on both knees. (Source: Desmond Adams) He has had to rely on Driving Miss Daisy, the ACC-funded companion driving service, to attend property viewings. He's been to 15 so far. "It's a slow process," he said. "I've got 16 stairs to walk down, and then get into the car, go look at the house and then have to climb those 16 stairs again back to the house with two crutches." The house hunt has already come at a cost to his recovery and Adams said he "got a growling" from doctors when he went to his three-week check-up after the surgery. "They saw my knees were bruised, not just from the operation, but they could tell I'd been doing some walking on it. They said 'you're supposed to be resting', and I said 'I can't, I need to find a house'." ADVERTISEMENT Adams considered taking the matter to the Tenancy Tribunal to delay or set aside the eviction notice due to the severe hardship it would cause, but he abandoned this bid as under the legislation an eviction notice can only be challenged if it's deemed to be retaliatory. A landlord can serve an eviction with 90 days' notice without giving a reason. The property manager declined to comment when contacted by 1News. No-cause evictions Renters United president Zac Thomas blamed the reintroduction of no-cause evictions by the coalition Government in February. "When life knocks you down, the law now lets someone take the roof off too. This is exactly the kind of harm the government was told would happen." Renters United president Zac Thomas. (Source: Supplied) He described Desmond's situation as "crazy". ADVERTISEMENT "I think any New Zealander with half a heart would look at this and say 'this is not the society that we want to live in'." In a statement late last year, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the reintroduction of no-cause evictions would "give landlords more confidence to offer homes to tenants who may otherwise have been considered too risky". "We've heard from many landlords that, without the backstop of 90-day 'no cause' terminations, they were unwilling to take a chance on a tenant who may, for example, not have perfect references or a steady 9-5 job."
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- RNZ News
Students expected to keep paying rent for house of horrors
A warning to Otago students after a group of would be flatmates were expected to keep paying for a house of horrors they never even moved into. The three students have been awarded more than $4000 in damages and compensation following a Tenancy Tribunal hearing. Otago student Zoe Eckhoff spoke to Lisa Owen. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Tenants scarred by flat of horrors
Zoe Eckhoff is speaking out about her tenancy ordeal involving a notorious Dunedin landlord. Photo: Otago Daily Times A student who took on a notorious Dunedin landlord is sharing her "traumatising" ordeal over fears others could end up trapped in the same situation. Zoe Eckhoff, 19, and two of her close friends signed a year-long fixed-term lease for a Queen St property, which was set to be their first flat. However, the tenants soured on the property after inspecting it in late January and discovering vegetation choking gutters, black mould and grease in vents and windows, curtains covered with black mould, rubbish strewn throughout the property, borer dust throughout wooden fittings, peeling lead paint in soffits and broken gutters. "It was horrendous, to be honest, there was just random furniture everywhere. "There was pots and pans outside the door, and so much borer as well. "All of the utensils in the drawers were wet, the whole bench was wet - there was mould everywhere, and wallpaper peeling, and all the stuff you don't want to see as a tenant." Damage caused to the exterior of a Queen St flat due to lack of maintenance. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Supplied She said the experience was "traumatising" and "terrifying". In February, the tenants advised the landlord, Man-Oock Holdings, they would be withholding rent and taking her to the Tenancy Tribunal. The tribunal's first ruling found the landlord "turned a blind eye" to many of her responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act, but it was also "not open for one party [the tenants] to unilaterally decide to stop paying rent". No suppression was available to the landlord because she was only partly successful, the tribunal ruled. Mould damage. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Supplied It was only after mediation that Eckhoff and her fellow tenants were able to end the tenancy. A second tribunal ruling followed, saying "as a result of the agreement all costs will lie where they fall, and the previous order of the tribunal cannot be enforced". Eckhoff felt the system was stacked against her. "I think that landlords need to be held way more accountable for the kind of stuff that they get up to. "It just feels like I was set up for failure." The emotional toll had been "wrenching". More mould damage. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Supplied Last week, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment tenancy compliance and investigations team conducted visits to 53 Dunedin properties. The majority had some maintenance issues and three properties had "multiple breaches" of the healthy homes legislation. Eckhoff said she was pleased to hear about MBIE's initiative, calling it a start. "I was very happy to hear that, to be honest - thank God someone is doing something about this. "I hate to say cross-examine your landlord, because it feels like something that shouldn't be our duty, but honestly, it's not a bad idea. "I wish that I had, because I probably would have found a lot more and it would have been very helpful." The Otago Daily Times reported in 2019 there had been 21 Tenancy Tribunal cases involving Man-Oock Holdings since 2017. Man-Oock Holdings did not wish to comment. - This story was first published on the Otago Daily Times
