Landlord evicts solo parent with brain tumour, relists property days later - Stuff

A landlord who used renovations as a reason to evict a solo parent with a brain tumour has been ordered to pay $5500 after relisting the property four days after the family moved out.

The tenant and her two young children moved into the Mosgiel property owned by Roshan John Mureekal and Anu Abraham and managed by Property Brokers in July 2020.

According to a Tenancy Tribunal decision, the tenancy was for a one-year fixed term, which was then renewed. The rent was increased at the time of renewal.

Before the second fixed term ended in July 2022, the tenant – whose name was suppressed by the tribunal – told the landlord she was unable to renew for another year as she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and would need brain surgery.

The rent was increased again and the tenancy became periodic.

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If you have a problem with a tenant or landlord, you can go to the Tenancy Tribunal for help.

On February 21, 2023, Mureekal emailed Property Brokers business manager Tania Simpson, about a planned change in rental agency.

He also asked Simpson to “give the tenants a notice to leave as I am planning to do some renovation before the new agents taking over. I assume it is 90 days’ notice.”

Simpson confirmed she would give the tenant notice and manage the property until the end of the tenancy.

“Please note that if the property is not being renovated as you have advised, and you have given the notice for the tenant to vacate due to these reasons, it is illegal (just so you are aware),” she said.

“Renovations mean rebuilding, repairing and upgrading areas in the house and out.”

Mureekal replied that he was planning work which “would be hard” with the tenant and her family living in the house.

“I understand you have to give notice to tenants if the work affects their stay.”

At the tribunal hearing, the tenant said she had brain surgery in November 2022 and was still in the early stages of recovery when given notice to end her tenancy.

Her children were settled at the local school, and she had built up a support network of neighbours who could help her manage through the recovery period.

The tenant said the house was not well maintained but that she had treated it as her home and had planted a garden and was very reluctant to leave given her circumstances.

However, she moved out of the property and into a new tenancy on April 24, 2023.

The tenant said suddenly having to look for a new home was “very stressful”, caused her sleepless nights, and impacted her recovery. A letter from her occupational therapist confirmed she could not engage fully in her rehabilitation programme as she had to prioritise relocating.

She suffered from extreme fatigue and months after moving in had still not been able to finish unpacking, she said.

After she had moved, the tenant discovered the property had been advertised for rent on Trade Me two working days later, at $130 per week more than she had been paying, and no renovations appeared to have been done.

Annie Gray/Unsplash

Renovations can be a valid reason to end a tenancy, but only if the work is actually done. (File photo)

At the hearing, Simpson said it was the second time Property Brokers had given notice to a tenant in good faith only to find the property had been transferred to a new agent and immediately re-let at a higher rental.

Mureekal told the tribunal he was in two minds about selling the property when he asked that the tenant be given notice.

By the time the tenant found a new property, the market was unfavourable and he decided not to do the work or put the property up for sale, he said.

Mureekal said some carpet was replaced and some painting and outside work done in the four days between the tenant leaving and the property being advertised.

However, he could not provide any details or receipts for the work or identify it in photos used to advertise the property.

Tribunal adjudicator M Allan said, based on the evidence, the notice given was unlawful.

“There [is] no evidence to support any alterations, repairs, refurbishment or repairs and certainly not to the extent required. If any renovations were done at all, they were very minor and not of the extensive nature that would justify terminating a tenancy,” Allan said.

“The fact that the property was immediately re-listed with another agency and advertised only four days later, at an increased rental of $130, leads me to the inevitable conclusion that notice was given so that the landlord could increase the rent.”

Allan said the effect on the tenant had been severe and the landlord’s breach of the Residential Tenancy Act was “at the high end.”

“Tenants find themselves in a vulnerable position when given notice to terminate their tenancy. They must find a new home at short notice and make all of the many life adjustments that such a move entails.

“There is a strong public interest in ensuring that landlords comply with the law and only give notice when they are lawfully entitled to do so.”

Mureekal and Abraham were ordered to pay $5500 in damages and a $20.44 filing fee.

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