Vindication for tenants

Christine Jordan moved from the Hibiscus Coast at Anzac weekend to join her partner, and ended up renting a hovel in Buccleugh Street for $180 a week because of a desperate housing shortage in Greymouth.

With nowhere to go, they moved into a house with a stove that did not work, rotten cupboards, rat droppings and cockroaches, a broken shower that would not stop running, dangling wires, floors covered with dirt, a derelict laundry and broken windows.

"It was like a very bad camping nightmare. We couldn't even put our food in the cupboards, it was so utterly appalling," said Jordan, a former teacher and publisher.

The property is owned by an Australian and leased by a Greymouth real estate and rental agency, E. V. Arthur and Son First National.

After the first week, the couple refused to pay the rent until the house was habitable. Instead, they ended up with two eviction notices and a summons to the Tenancy Tribunal last week.

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