An Auckland landlord who operated an illegal boarding house for “vulnerable” tenants has been ordered to pay more than $20,000 for multiple breaches of tenancy laws.
Licensed real estate agent Angela Sun was found responsible by the Tenancy Tribunal for “multiple breaches” at a property she rented out in Takapuna. Sunny Rental Limited, a company of which Sun is a director, was also found responsible for breaches at a separate property it rented out in Pinehill, also on Auckland’s North Shore.
Issues at the properties included exposed wires and a lack of fire safety precautions.
Some tenants living at the properties included people released from jail struggling to find landlords willing to take them in.
Sun was ordered to personally pay $21,750, while Sunny Rental Limited was ordered to pay $1200 in exemplary damages to MBIE on behalf of five tenants at the two properties.
An investigation into the Takapuna property was launched in June 2021 after the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment’s (MBIE) tenancy compliance team received a complaint from one of the tenants. An investigation into the Pinehill property was launched in April 2022 after a complaint was referred to MBIE from the Ministry of Social Development.
Investigators identified numerous issues at the properties, including loose and exposed wiring, a lack of working smoke alarms, and the absence of written tenancy agreements.
The Auckland Council issued a dangerous building notice after visiting the Takapuna property due to the exposed wires and lack of fire safety precautions.
The house was listed on council records as a three-bedroom home at the time of investigations but had been converted into a 10-bedroom boarding house.
Photos from the property showed numbers above the doors, with two bedrooms also having showers inside.
At a tribunal hearing in Auckland, Sun claimed all rental activities at the two properties were conducted by Sunny Rental Limited and not her personally.
She also claimed to live at both properties and said there were “multiple exceptions”, meaning she did not need to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).
The adjudicator found “none of these exceptions applied” and did not accept Sun was actually living at the properties.
“I did not find Ms Sun at all convincing when she gave her recollections as to where she lived,” the adjudicator said.
“There is a big difference between ‘having a room’ at a property, being a room you might store some old furniture, junk and unwanted belongings, and then actually living there.”
Sun said she did not proceed with tenancy agreements because they were excluded, claiming she had been “mistaken” about the effect of the RTA.
“I do not consider that an adequate justification,” the adjudicator said.
It was also found that three of the tenants at the properties had their tenancies wrongfully terminated.
“All of the tenants in these premises were vulnerable tenants. They included people released from jail who struggle to find landlords willing to take them in,” the adjudicator said.
“They are the sort of tenants who are therefore vulnerable to being taken advantage of by landlords.”
TCIT national manager Brett Wilson said boarding houses had long been a focus for investigators, as the people who live in them may not be able to address tenancy issues themselves.
“The most troubling aspect of this case is that there were multiple people living in these properties without proper fire safety precautions in place and potentially hazardous maintenance issues.
“The tragic fire at Loafers Lodge is a reminder to all landlords, but particularly boarding house landlords, of the importance of maintaining fire safety systems.”
Wilson said boarding houses have needed to comply with healthy homes standards since 2021, giving “no excuse for any boarding house operator to claim they are unaware of the relevant law as Ms Sun tried to do in this case”.
“All landlords have an obligation to be aware of and comply with their responsibilities under the Act.
“As Ms Sun works as a licensed real estate agent we would expect she had more opportunity than most to ensure awareness and compliance with tenancy rules.”
