Auckland tenants spent months confined to the upstairs of their damp rental property after their landlord failed to repair damage caused during two major floods earlier this year.

Now, that landlord has been ordered to pay his tenants more than $15,000.

The landlord - whose name is suppressed - was initially alerted to potential problems in March 2020 after a significant downpour when his tenant called to say the garage would likely flood in the future due to the trajectory of the driveway.

Three months later the garage and downstairs bedroom flooded forcing the tenant to send the landlord a quote for two options of installing a channel grate in front of the garage door. The landlord chose to ignore these options and asked the tenant to install a cheaper 60mm round open channel drain.

When Auckland was hit by two big floods on January 27, 2023, and February 24, 2023, the property suffered large-scale damage to the ground floor carpet, power points, walls, gib board and house contents.

The day after the February flood, the landlord issued a seven-day termination notice to the tenants on the grounds the property was “unsafe after the flooding under the provisions of an emergency, we are giving you seven days’ notice to vacate the property.”

Not wanting to leave, the tenants disputed the house was uninhabitable and advised they could live upstairs. A reduction of rent was given of 50 per cent until the tenant vacated.

But, the tenants were forced to take matters into their own hands, fixing gib-damaged walls, removing carpet, hiring storage units, fans, heaters and dehumidifiers and incurring extra costs for power and truck hire.

The tenant carried out repairs at the premises when the landlord took no action to do so. Photo / 123RF

At a recent Tenancy Tribunal hearing, the landlord produced two building and inspection reports from March 2023 that noted significant moisture and damage, however, neither of them stated the premises were uninhabitable.

The landlord said he made an insurance claim in early March yet made no attempt to remedy the issues at the property claiming he was waiting for an insurance assessor.

He did not produce any evidence in court to show he was awaiting an assessor’s report or that he had made a request to the insurance company for urgency.

Tribunal adjudicator Nicole Walker ruled in favour of the tenant’s claim for damages and said the repairs the tenant carried out were the minimum the landlord should have arranged and have likely reduced the landlord’s costs.

 “The tenants have spent three months in a tenancy that was flooded and virtually no steps have been taken by the landlord to remedy the situation or maintain the premises.

“The tenant has provided the landlord with information about the lacking drainage at the premises but the landlord has taken no steps to address this issue. This has resulted in the tenant being affected by three floods that may have been prevented if the landlord had taken action,” Walker said.

The landlord was ordered to pay the tenant $15,464.79 immediately and carry out remedial work on the property.

The application for termination of tenancy was rejected.

“There is a public interest in landlords providing tenants with a dry, comfortable and maintained home. It is not acceptable for the landlord to tell the tenant to leave rather than fixing the issues.”

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngātiwai/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked freelance in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.