Overpriced rent: Board of St Stephen’s School ordered to lower rent for residential property in ‘bad state’

Jun 11, 2023

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The Parnell property was first rented to the tenants in 2019. Photo / Google Maps

The board of a former Auckland school has been ordered to reduce the rent of a property that has sagging floorboards, rotten windows and mould-covered weatherboard.

But the general manager of the school trust that owns the house says the decision of the tribunal was wrong and stands by the condition of the property, as well as the $800 weekly price tag for the two-bedroom flat.

St Stephen’s School, an Anglican school that taught through a tikanga Māori lens, was one of New Zealand’s oldest boarding schools. It closed in 2000, but the trust has plans to reopen the school in 2025. Its sister school, Queen Victoria School, closed in 2001.

The trustees of St Stephen’s and Queen Victoria Schools Trust Board own and manage a Parnell property that was rented to three tenants in 2019 for $600 a week.

Four years after they moved in, the landlord alerted the tenants to a $200 weekly rent increase.

The tenants queried why the rent was to be raised, and were shown an email by their landlord from a Barfoot and Thompson agent that assessed market rent at around $750, “taking into account that the property is in a bad state”.

The appraisal also referred to the property as having three bedrooms, but it only had two.

Unimpressed with the rent rise, one of the tenants lodged a claim with the Tenancy Tribunal, which can assess whether a property’s rent exceeds market rent by a “substantial amount” and can order it be reduced.

Photos of the property were provided to the tribunal by the tenant, who can’t be named. The tribunal adjudicator ruled the property was in “very poor condition”.

“There is flaking paint, peeling wallpaper, flooring which is sagging between the joists, carpet that is stained and in very bad condition and ceilings that are sagging and cracked,” adjudicator Nicole Walker ruled.

Recent electrical work had left exposed conduit on the walls.

Outside, the driveway was in a poor state, the front gate was broken, there was rotten window joinery and framing and cracked concrete under posts supporting the kitchen. Weatherboard was covered in mould and grime.

The tenant did not challenge the standard of the property and while its poor condition was detailed in the decision, the tribunal made no findings as to whether its condition was adequate.

The board of the trust that owns the property is chaired by the Right Reverend Te Kitohi Pikaahu, the bishop of Te Tai Tōkerau. He referred queries to the trust’s general manager, Adam Martin.

Martin told the tribunal there had been no increase in rent since the tenants moved in. Referring to the $750 appraisal, he said the trust considered the market rent was higher than that and felt $800 was fair.

He provided a document from an appraiser, showing the market rent for a similar house in the area was $1068 per week. He later conceded this was for a three-bedroom house, not a two-bedroom flat. He also accepted there had been no improvements to the property since the tenancy began.

The tenant provided official market rent statistics from Tenancy Services, showing of the 99 existing two-bedroom flat tenancies in Parnell, the median rent was $645.

Walker ruled that the $200 increase was substantially higher than market rent. She ordered rent be reduced to the former rate of $600 per week.

Speaking to NZME, Martin said the trust disagreed with the finding, but will not be appealing as the tenants no longer live there.

“We definitely do not agree with the finding, no.” He remained firm that $800 was fair for the area.

Asked about the quality of the property, Martin said the property was legal and fit to live in. He said the condition was not as described by the adjudicator.

“These tenants had been in there so long, we didn’t need to comply with the Healthy Home standards until July, however, the home already complies.”

The property is currently vacant, with the trust looking at doing work to the kitchen before relisting, Martin said.

NZME could not reach the former tenants.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.

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