Sarah Bradley and Rhiannon San Venk began renting a two-bedroom unit at Papamoa Beach Road in December. The unit on the ground floor below the landlord’s home is adjacent to another unit where the landlord’s friend boards.

Property owners Martin Weipeihana and Suzi Gambitsis say they had multiple applicants for the rental but took on the tenants because Weipeihana felt they presented well with the support of some of Venk’s family attending.

The references provided by the tenants were also favourable. Wehipeihana also felt they were helping Bradley and Venk out because they told him they were commercial cleaners looking to relocate their business from Hamilton.

However, only a month into the tenancy their aggressive and insulting behaviour prompted the landlord to apply to the Tenancy Tribunal for termination for:

• Venk assaulting the landlord;
• Both tenants telling lies about why they wanted to live in Papamoa;
• Did not tell the landlords of a pregnancy;
• Misled the landlords over who one of the referees was;
• Harassing and upsetting the neighbours by threatening to kill one of their dogs;
• Operating a brothel from the premises in breach of the tenancy agreement;
• Damaging a boarder’s outdoor property.
   

At the February tribunal hearing, Weipeihana and Gambitsis were represented by property managers Jason Whitty and Craig Bentley of Rentcare.

Bradley and Venk did not turn up. Instead, Bradley emailed saying she was travelling to Waikato as part of her brother’s bridal party, and requested she attend by phone. It was declined. Venk sent abusive text messages to the property managers during the hearing, which adjudicator R Lee was shown. 

Spitting assault

Wehipeihana, says on 31 January he was upstairs when he heard an altercation between his partner Gambitsis and Venk.

Venk was standing on Wehipeihana’s private land near the front gate and after being asked to leave refused to do so. He became angry at Venk’s refusal to leave and threatening manner towards his partner so he stood between the two women and swore at Venk to pay her overdue rent and get off their property.

He says this resulted in Venk calling him “an ignorant nigger” and then spitting directly in his face. He says he did not react to this, and was drawn away by his partner.

The police were called, and they brokered an agreement with Venk to stay at her mother’s place in Te Awamutu, but this did not occur.

Wehipeihana lodged a complaint with the police, provided them with a statement, and is waiting to hear progress on the complaint.

The following day Wehipeihana had a Covid test and was negative. He also had blood tests to check he had not been infected with any other illness.

He told the tribunal his manner was exacerbated by previous incidents and behaviour when the tenants’ associates threatened him with physical harm and damage to his property. The delay in obtaining a tribunal hearing did not help.

On one occasion Venk had gone into Wehipeihana and Gambitsis’ garage where they were working, abusing them and refusing to leave when repeatedly asked.

An associate of Venk’s joined in and tried to enter but Wehipeihana stood in front of him. The associate then complained about the security camera the owners installed to help prevent the night visits. The associate then threatened Wehipeihana and said words to the effect of:  “I’ll come back with 100 patched gang members and smash you and your house”.

Neighbours abused

Another time, the boarder left a note to the tenants to stop intimidating her and vandalising her property, Venk reacted angrily threatening and swearing at the boarder so loudly neighbours at a nearby property were disrupted from having their lunch, were concerned about the possibility of violence, and called the police.

These neighbours were also abused by the tenants’ visitors when looking from their deck, and were told if they didn’t stop looking their dog would be killed.

Two months ago, Wehipeihana noticed a man walking down the next door neighbours’ drive carrying several bags and a trundler. He seemed in a daze. The police were called as the neighbours were not expecting a visitor, and their children were due home from school. The police arrived and discovered the man was looking for Venk.

Witness statements from neighbours corroborated the landlords’ version of events and adjudicator Lee says there was nothing unexpected in the statements that might have taken the tenants by surprise.

“The landing of spit on Wehipeihana’s face is the application of force. So I find Venk’s action of spitting on the landlord to be an assault. Wehipeihana’s acknowledged angry state at the time does not negate that the assault occurred. He was still visibly upset over the incident.

Brothel started

Wehipeihana says when Bradley and Vent moved into property there was never any sign of a commercial cleaning business being operated and no cleaning equipment was brought to the unit.

Instead there were men who arrived late at night and early in the morning looking for Sarah who was conducting a “service”.

“The landlord provided robust evidence of an escort service or prostitution being carried out from the tenancy premises,” says Lee. “A google search of Bradley’s phone number showed she was advertising on an escort site as Charli with a price list of sex services on offer.” On the advice of police vehicles coming to the property were logged showing the regular late night visits.

Lee was satisfied Wehipeihana and Gambitsis were disturbed by this activity as was the boarder who was woken by vehicles parked directly outside her entrance door.

On one occasion a male visitor/client walked straight in to the boarder’s unit and at other times clients knocked on her door in the late hours. The boarder’s outdoor pot plants were vandalised.

“This is a significant interference with the rights of the owners, boarder and neighbours to live in reasonable peace,” says Lee.

False referee

Wehipeihana subsequently discovered one of the referees Venk used was her mother Nicole Cavanagh. He learned of this when reading a newspaper in which Venk had written a letter to the editor about the treatment of her autistic brother and stating the name of her mother and step- father.

Lee says it was a misrepresentation in the form of a half-truth by the tenants not stating one of the referees was Venk’s mother. “Even if not a half-truth, there is a duty to acknowledge a close family relationship when offering a referee, where independence and objectivity are critical.

“The statement about a commercial cleaning business is also a mistruth and along with the non-disclosure of the referee’s family relationship induced the landlord to enter in to the tenancy agreement with Bradley and Venk.”

Wehipeihana also says the property was advertised as being “unsuitable for children”, and occupancy was limited to two people. During the tenancy he discovered Venk was pregnant when she reacted unfavourably to the property manager being appointed by texting abusive messages to RentCare, including saying she would commit suicide killing herself and her unborn child. “This never eventuated and nothing further pointed to that being a likelihood,” Lee says.

Extreme breach

However, the assault and nature of the interference was the deciding point in terminating the tenancy.

“It is at the extreme end of a breach of the neighbours, boarder and owner’s rights to live in reasonable peace privacy and comfort. The owners have taken appropriate steps to involve the police,” says Lee. 

“The disturbances have been ongoing since the tenancy started with no assurance the disturbances will not continue.

“The owners, their boarder, and neighbours should be able to live free of threats from the tenants and their visitors. While the erection of a security camera at the front of the property by the landlord has reduced the number of night movements to the property, they still continue. This also resulted in further threats to the landlord.

“There is nothing in the behaviour of the tenants, says Lee, to suggest anything is likely to change and improve. To the contrary Venk’s texts during the hearing reinforces her abusive and erratic behaviour continues. The owner reasonably fears for the safety of his partner, their boarder and the neighbours.”