Tenant fights to stay in P-tainted home
He lives in a meth-contaminated home but one Aucklander is fighting eviction – wanting to stay put despite the risk.
Nicholas Keesing was served an eviction notice so his landlord could decontaminate the property.
But with a shortage of houses in Auckland and a tight rental market, Keesing went to the Tenancy Tribunal to fight the eviction.
The case comes amid increasing concern about the number of meth-contaminated properties and Government legislation to help deal with the issue.
Housing NZ said that in March, 393 of its properties were not tenantable because of methamphetamine contamination.
A bill before Parliament will allow landlords to evict tenants at methamphetamine-contaminated properties with one week’s notice.
Keesing lost his case at the tribunal after residents of the Kingsland Station House lodge were served an eviction notice. Shared areas like the lounge, bathroom and several bedrooms tested well above acceptable limits for methamphetamine.
Results were sometimes over 10 times the standards – and this is after the Government loosened those standards.
While the Government is toughening the law to allow landlords to more easily evict tenants of contaminated properties, it also said the standards of contamination were too low.
The earlier limit of 0.5mcg/ 100m2 had been criticised by scientists, including Nick Kim of the school of public health at Massey University.
He said the old standard was thousands of times lower than the amount of methamphetamine safely swallowed by children in the United States through ADHD medication.
The change in standards set a threshold of 1.5mcg/100m2, three times higher than previous Ministry of Health guidelines.
This would allow up to 50 extra Housing NZ houses, including 15 in Auckland, to be rented out, according to last year’s numbers.
Tenancy adjudicator Aaron Davidson said Keesing argued he had lived there for several months and moving would cause him considerable stress.
He also said his room had tested within safe levels of methamphetamine, so the property was inhabitable for him under the purposes of the act. Keesing is appealing the ruling. Aaron Martin, a former meth decontamination professional said: ‘‘I wouldn’t be in a place with those levels.
Levels of contamination at the Station House Lodge were probably from use rather than production, according to Martin.
But in a city short of thousands of houses, meth testing limits was not always an option tenants put first, said Darryl Evans, Mangere Budgeting and Family Support Service chief executive.