A couple of days ago a new tenancy manager inspected the house and as stated previously we were surprised that he was in agreement with quite a number of the issues we raised. It appears that he has taken these matters seriously and yesterday a workman turned up to fix the sharp piece of metal sticking out of the wall in the bathroom.
I had preciously cut my foot in it after getting out of the shower and the adjudicator played this down as being a trivial matter however the new tenancy manager seems to have taken a different view on this and taken affirmative action.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Hollow Aplogies
Today we received a letter from our Tenancy Manger apologising for the confusion regarding the inspection but then later claiming or rather making an excuse that we had in fact arranged a meeting with he colleagues for the 6th. Apparently here colleagues arrived on the 6th and we were not home and this is why the letter was sent claiming we had not allowed access.
There are a few inconsistencies with this as,
Firstly neither my wife nor myself recall making any arrangements for the 6th and if this was requested given the history we would have requested the appointment in writing so as to have a paper trail.
Secondly I reviewed my phone records and email records and can state categorical I was here all day on the 6th with calls being made and received as early as 9:47 up to 14:56 and emails being replied to and sent from 8:21am to 7:50pm. and I'm pretty sure I did not leave home all day.
I would happily accept a genuine apology for a genuine error but given the circumstances and the continued attempts to cover up the facts I find such an apology to be conditional on us having to believe the untruths being told.
In the email Katrina does state that this recent inspection will be our last until just before we vacate the property in December so I can assume from that we will not see any further work being done to fix the issues with the house. This pretty much confirms to us that HNZ and more so Katrina has been angling for our eviction for some time.
We still have no idea how we are going to afford a new place as the rental prices are well above our combined income.
There are a few inconsistencies with this as,
Firstly neither my wife nor myself recall making any arrangements for the 6th and if this was requested given the history we would have requested the appointment in writing so as to have a paper trail.
Secondly I reviewed my phone records and email records and can state categorical I was here all day on the 6th with calls being made and received as early as 9:47 up to 14:56 and emails being replied to and sent from 8:21am to 7:50pm. and I'm pretty sure I did not leave home all day.
I would happily accept a genuine apology for a genuine error but given the circumstances and the continued attempts to cover up the facts I find such an apology to be conditional on us having to believe the untruths being told.
In the email Katrina does state that this recent inspection will be our last until just before we vacate the property in December so I can assume from that we will not see any further work being done to fix the issues with the house. This pretty much confirms to us that HNZ and more so Katrina has been angling for our eviction for some time.
We still have no idea how we are going to afford a new place as the rental prices are well above our combined income.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Flooding Continues Under House
Although in whole I was a little less than thrilled with the Adjudicators ruling in the Tenancy Tribunal he was pretty clear that he expected the Flooding under the house to be fixed and we have not in any way shape of form interfered with the contractors as per the order other than giving the Contractor a bag of lemons from our lemon tree.
Originally Housing New Zealand were going to fill under the house with cement and as indicated by them this was going to reduce the 2m+ from underfloor to ground unusable for storage. As indicated to us by a contractor this would not solve the water pooling and although it would cover it up the water would still be there and be absorbed and evaporate through the cement. Such a project would require approximately 5MX5MX2M or 50Cubic Meters of cement and at a cost of $192.00+gst per cubic meter this would not be a cost effective option not to mention the fact it is not likely to resolve the issue and just pouring cement would not work on its own as the foundations of the house would need to be modified.
Just the cement alone would cost over $10'000.00.
This is an issue we have been trying to remedy for over 7 years and have had little luck, the answer is pretty simple but it seems that rather than repair the problem properly in the first place like may other problems Housing New Zealands mentality is to slap a quick and dirty patch on it and hope for the best.
Out of frustration and concern that the job was not going to be done properly we obtained advice from a professional building inspector who also contracts to several large councils. His recommendation is to at the front of the house dig a trench below the depth of the ground at the rear of the house. The trench would need to go through the clay, Insert the relevant drainage tubing such as nova coil then fill with scoria.
It seems that someone was listening as after we submitted this document and went to court they changed their plans and partly did this however instead of going below the clay they dug down to it, inserted the drainage coil then filled it with gravel. In order to do this they had to dig up the path and replace it after the job was done.
While the cement was being poured it started raining and this has damaged the surface of the nice new footpath to a point where the surface just crumbles when rubbed. this may harden deeper down however I took a look under the house only to see that the rain had caused under the house to flood again. At this point I was not sure if this was due to the cement not being hardened or job not being 100% complete.
However around a week later (last night/this morning) 16th September 2010 we experienced come constant rain and this morning after taking a look under the house have found that its full of water again. Its pretty obvious where the water is coming from as I was able to watch it trickle out from around and under the foundations.
I think now I would be quite within my rights to claim that the job has not been done properly and the flooding has not been fixed. Our previous claims to the Adjudicator that work was not being completed properly was ignored and instead the Adjudicator chose to attack us in his summary. Needless to say that since we have now been evicted and have to leave 4 days before Christmas there is probably no need for Housing New Zealand to fix the problem.
New path and topsoil
Originally Housing New Zealand were going to fill under the house with cement and as indicated by them this was going to reduce the 2m+ from underfloor to ground unusable for storage. As indicated to us by a contractor this would not solve the water pooling and although it would cover it up the water would still be there and be absorbed and evaporate through the cement. Such a project would require approximately 5MX5MX2M or 50Cubic Meters of cement and at a cost of $192.00+gst per cubic meter this would not be a cost effective option not to mention the fact it is not likely to resolve the issue and just pouring cement would not work on its own as the foundations of the house would need to be modified.
Just the cement alone would cost over $10'000.00.
This is an issue we have been trying to remedy for over 7 years and have had little luck, the answer is pretty simple but it seems that rather than repair the problem properly in the first place like may other problems Housing New Zealands mentality is to slap a quick and dirty patch on it and hope for the best.
Out of frustration and concern that the job was not going to be done properly we obtained advice from a professional building inspector who also contracts to several large councils. His recommendation is to at the front of the house dig a trench below the depth of the ground at the rear of the house. The trench would need to go through the clay, Insert the relevant drainage tubing such as nova coil then fill with scoria.
It seems that someone was listening as after we submitted this document and went to court they changed their plans and partly did this however instead of going below the clay they dug down to it, inserted the drainage coil then filled it with gravel. In order to do this they had to dig up the path and replace it after the job was done.
While the cement was being poured it started raining and this has damaged the surface of the nice new footpath to a point where the surface just crumbles when rubbed. this may harden deeper down however I took a look under the house only to see that the rain had caused under the house to flood again. At this point I was not sure if this was due to the cement not being hardened or job not being 100% complete.
However around a week later (last night/this morning) 16th September 2010 we experienced come constant rain and this morning after taking a look under the house have found that its full of water again. Its pretty obvious where the water is coming from as I was able to watch it trickle out from around and under the foundations.
I think now I would be quite within my rights to claim that the job has not been done properly and the flooding has not been fixed. Our previous claims to the Adjudicator that work was not being completed properly was ignored and instead the Adjudicator chose to attack us in his summary. Needless to say that since we have now been evicted and have to leave 4 days before Christmas there is probably no need for Housing New Zealand to fix the problem.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Creative History
It seems from where we are standing Housing New New Zealand's staff practice the rewriting of history to suite their needs and in all honesty from what we have seen make false claims as to the count of events as well as create documents and backdate them so as to create their own paper trail.
On the 17th of August 2010 we received a letter from our tenancy manager Kartina O'Conner for access to the house for an inspection to take place Monday 30th August between 9AM and 12PM stating she would need to check all the rooms in the home. My wife and I arranged our schedule so as to be here however after waiting all day Kartina did not turn up.
Monday the 13th September 2010 a message was left on our phone from Katrina O'Conner and although I did not pick this up my wife said that Katrina wanted to arrange access for an inspection. That morning I sent an email to katrina.oconner@hnzc.co.nz asking her to clarify in writing when she would like this meeting.
Katrina then sent me a response and in noted under our name in bold the following statement
AS previously discussed It is necessary to complete an inspection of your home
I took this to mean as per the previous letter and the phone call.
This email was dated 13th September 2010 11:23am and the request was to visit Monday 20th September 2010 between 10am and 11am.
On the 14th we received two letters from Housing New Zealand both written by Katrina, Postmarks on the envelope were for the 13th of September however on the letterhead one was dated 9th September and the other dated 13th September
The letter dated the 9th September implies that we have denied access or at the least made it difficult for Katrina to conduct her inspection and makes threats as to the tenancy tribunal and exemplary damages. As stated above the reason the previous inspection did not take place was nothing to do with us as we waited here all day on the 30th and Katrina did not turn up nor did she phone us to arrange an alternative time.
The other letter received was dated the 13th September and was in essence the same as the email received requesting access for Monday 20th September 2010.
This is not an isolated incident as We have previously received notices claiming we had denied access to contractors and despite being provided with information to the contrary these complaints have never been retracted. Even in court both Katrina O'Conner and her boss Robert Redford made these claims. We have a transcript that has been attached to one of the previous posts between myself and the contractor who states we had not denied access.
Another instance was when the window frame fell apart after having been repaired and the glass broke almost decapitating my youngest son, HNZ claimed we denied access to the contractor however the contractor refused to conduct the repair as requested by HNZ due to safety concerns. HNZ wanted only the glass replaced in the faulty frame.
I am sure that if this was a member of public and not a government employee questions would be asked as to what was going on and why this false information was being created and recorded in what can only bee deemed as an an official government document.
I have sent an email to katrina.o'conner@hnzc.co.nz he boss robert.redford@hnzc.co.nz and who I believe is the Chief Executive of Housing New Zealand Lesley.McTurk@hnzc.co.nz however as we have been evicted from the house in what we believe to be a retaliatory manner I do not hold out much hope of anything being done.
Here are copies of the original documents in order. Click on the image for a larger view
The original inpection date that Katrina failed to attend
Complaint implying we denied access
The recent inspection request
Envelopes that both the Complaint and Recent inspection request were received in
On the 17th of August 2010 we received a letter from our tenancy manager Kartina O'Conner for access to the house for an inspection to take place Monday 30th August between 9AM and 12PM stating she would need to check all the rooms in the home. My wife and I arranged our schedule so as to be here however after waiting all day Kartina did not turn up.
Monday the 13th September 2010 a message was left on our phone from Katrina O'Conner and although I did not pick this up my wife said that Katrina wanted to arrange access for an inspection. That morning I sent an email to katrina.oconner@hnzc.co.nz asking her to clarify in writing when she would like this meeting.
Katrina then sent me a response and in noted under our name in bold the following statement
AS previously discussed It is necessary to complete an inspection of your home
I took this to mean as per the previous letter and the phone call.
This email was dated 13th September 2010 11:23am and the request was to visit Monday 20th September 2010 between 10am and 11am.
On the 14th we received two letters from Housing New Zealand both written by Katrina, Postmarks on the envelope were for the 13th of September however on the letterhead one was dated 9th September and the other dated 13th September
The letter dated the 9th September implies that we have denied access or at the least made it difficult for Katrina to conduct her inspection and makes threats as to the tenancy tribunal and exemplary damages. As stated above the reason the previous inspection did not take place was nothing to do with us as we waited here all day on the 30th and Katrina did not turn up nor did she phone us to arrange an alternative time.
The other letter received was dated the 13th September and was in essence the same as the email received requesting access for Monday 20th September 2010.
This is not an isolated incident as We have previously received notices claiming we had denied access to contractors and despite being provided with information to the contrary these complaints have never been retracted. Even in court both Katrina O'Conner and her boss Robert Redford made these claims. We have a transcript that has been attached to one of the previous posts between myself and the contractor who states we had not denied access.
Another instance was when the window frame fell apart after having been repaired and the glass broke almost decapitating my youngest son, HNZ claimed we denied access to the contractor however the contractor refused to conduct the repair as requested by HNZ due to safety concerns. HNZ wanted only the glass replaced in the faulty frame.
I am sure that if this was a member of public and not a government employee questions would be asked as to what was going on and why this false information was being created and recorded in what can only bee deemed as an an official government document.
I have sent an email to katrina.o'conner@hnzc.co.nz he boss robert.redford@hnzc.co.nz and who I believe is the Chief Executive of Housing New Zealand Lesley.McTurk@hnzc.co.nz however as we have been evicted from the house in what we believe to be a retaliatory manner I do not hold out much hope of anything being done.
Here are copies of the original documents in order. Click on the image for a larger view
The original inpection date that Katrina failed to attend
Complaint implying we denied access
The recent inspection request
Envelopes that both the Complaint and Recent inspection request were received in
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Statement of intent
With the recent termination of tennancey and the lack of any formal reason for the termination I started to have a look at the Statement of Intent and found that in our case alone there were many discrepancies in both the response to problems and the way our case was handled.
http://www.hnzc.co.nz/hnzc/web/about-us/statement-of-intent/online-version---statement-of-intent/2009-2010-statement-of-intent/2009-2010-statement-of-intent_home.htm
It certinly makes for interesting reading.
http://www.hnzc.co.nz/hnzc/web/about-us/statement-of-intent/online-version---statement-of-intent/2009-2010-statement-of-intent/2009-2010-statement-of-intent_home.htm
It certinly makes for interesting reading.
Temination of Tennancey
We have have now received a letter from Kane Patena at Housing New Zealand informing us that our tenancy is to end in 90 days with a termination date of 20th December 2010. pursuant to s 51 of the residential tenancies act 1989.
No other information or reason has been provided in writing as to any breach or claim of breach.
The letter is dated 6th of September so it seems that the work being done is not being done to bring the house up to a reasonable standard for us but for the next tenant.
No other information or reason has been provided in writing as to any breach or claim of breach.
The letter is dated 6th of September so it seems that the work being done is not being done to bring the house up to a reasonable standard for us but for the next tenant.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Afirmative Action after 7 years
Today I received a call from Spotless who are the new contractors to Housing New Zealand. Apparently tomorrow the builders etc will be here to start work on the flooding under the house. From what i have been lead to believe they are putting drainage at the front of the house as was suggested in the independent report we requested and creating a path under the house to the water to get out if any gets under there.
At present the water is not too deep but the runoff down the drive has caused the drive to get pretty slippery.
The front lawn is really soggy at the moment and the contractor who came to repair the windows was not too impressed as he almost fell over.
At present the water is not too deep but the runoff down the drive has caused the drive to get pretty slippery.
The front lawn is really soggy at the moment and the contractor who came to repair the windows was not too impressed as he almost fell over.
A few repairs
This morning my wife received a call from a company who was being set out to look at the windows and why they don't close correctly. He was only sent to repair one window however decided to look at the others as well. The curvature in the aluminium extrusion was not repairable and as he stated the only way to fix this is to replace the frame. The best he could do was to ensure the window catches pull the window tight into the seal as best as possible.
A piece of aluminium was cut and screwed to the frame so as to allow the catch strike it and pull the outer frame in to the inner frame. The curvature of the frame still prevents the window from closing correctly however it is a lot better than it was previously.
The same was done on several other windows and one in the lounge had new catches fitted. However that one now has the top of the window pulling outward from the frame.
The contractor seemed to think that the reason the windows have bowed is because of the lateral movement in the house however he has never seen this before. I then showed him a window that has cracked in the corner and is behind the couch in the living room. It looks like the frame has moved sideways causing the window to flex and crack.
He voiced his concern as apparently any windows at that height should have been replaced by safety glass and eh stated that we were lucky that we had something over the window. I then showed him a window that was replaced around 4 or 5 years ago and he stated that at that time it really should have been replaced by law with safety glass as it is below a specific height.
The contractor finished up his work and stated he would make notes of the cracked glass, safety glass and problem with the frames.
I did not get to examine the work before he left however after taking a look was surprised that he had not cleaned up after himself and had left aluminium turnings in the window channel, on the window sill and on the floor.
A piece of aluminium was cut and screwed to the frame so as to allow the catch strike it and pull the outer frame in to the inner frame. The curvature of the frame still prevents the window from closing correctly however it is a lot better than it was previously.
The same was done on several other windows and one in the lounge had new catches fitted. However that one now has the top of the window pulling outward from the frame.
The contractor seemed to think that the reason the windows have bowed is because of the lateral movement in the house however he has never seen this before. I then showed him a window that has cracked in the corner and is behind the couch in the living room. It looks like the frame has moved sideways causing the window to flex and crack.
He voiced his concern as apparently any windows at that height should have been replaced by safety glass and eh stated that we were lucky that we had something over the window. I then showed him a window that was replaced around 4 or 5 years ago and he stated that at that time it really should have been replaced by law with safety glass as it is below a specific height.
The contractor finished up his work and stated he would make notes of the cracked glass, safety glass and problem with the frames.
I did not get to examine the work before he left however after taking a look was surprised that he had not cleaned up after himself and had left aluminium turnings in the window channel, on the window sill and on the floor.
Monday, September 6, 2010
First Call
on the 27th of August the courts set down a time in October as the first call on the rehearing of the matter taken to the tenancy tribunal and the order made on the 13th of August. Unfortunately it appears that all remedial work has now been stoped as we have not heard from anyone in relation to the repairs.
As yet we have not received the 90 day notice however have begun looking for alternative accommodation as it appears that due to the way HNZ have investigated and sent us a claim for the $80k we would not be able to appeal this in the tenancy tribunal as it is well above the amount they can hear.
As yet we have not received the 90 day notice however have begun looking for alternative accommodation as it appears that due to the way HNZ have investigated and sent us a claim for the $80k we would not be able to appeal this in the tenancy tribunal as it is well above the amount they can hear.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
90 Day Eviction Notice
Well it appears that we are to be evicted along with the likelihood of other action being taken.
Let me be quite clear that I have never hidden the fact that I have operated wireless network that provides broadband service to a community who's only other option for Internet is dial up. This business was created with the goal of attracting government funding and after this was lost due to the local council altering the plans for service the network was no longer viable. I however did not have heart to pull the plug on it and hoped that someday it would become viable.
We have on more than one occasion informed Housing New Zealand of this BUT due to our recent complaints HNZ decided to investigate and it appears have taken the entire network turnover as income ignoring the operational costs and are no claiming that we have undeclared income.
Based on this they have backdated our income related rent and sent us a demand for payment of around $81'000.00 as well as sending us a 90 day eviction notice.
To top this off I as informed today that the matter has been handed over to the crowns lawyers who will be contemplating the prosecution of both my wife and myself.
I have been in contact with various ministers and none of them seem to feel that there is anything they can do in relation to the repair of the property or the way that a government organisation seems to be swinging its might and using what ever means to cause as much stress as possibe to myself and my family.
At this stage I would say there is little left for me to do and although there may be some legal options the reality is that these cost money and contrary to what HNZ's claim is we do not have it. If we did we would have moved out long ago rather than having to live in a house full of problems that has had an adverse effect on our health.
Earlier tonight I came very close to suicide and this is not the first time whilst having to deal with these issues however I am mindful of the fact that even if i did this HNZ would still pursue my wife.
Let me be quite clear that I have never hidden the fact that I have operated wireless network that provides broadband service to a community who's only other option for Internet is dial up. This business was created with the goal of attracting government funding and after this was lost due to the local council altering the plans for service the network was no longer viable. I however did not have heart to pull the plug on it and hoped that someday it would become viable.
We have on more than one occasion informed Housing New Zealand of this BUT due to our recent complaints HNZ decided to investigate and it appears have taken the entire network turnover as income ignoring the operational costs and are no claiming that we have undeclared income.
Based on this they have backdated our income related rent and sent us a demand for payment of around $81'000.00 as well as sending us a 90 day eviction notice.
To top this off I as informed today that the matter has been handed over to the crowns lawyers who will be contemplating the prosecution of both my wife and myself.
I have been in contact with various ministers and none of them seem to feel that there is anything they can do in relation to the repair of the property or the way that a government organisation seems to be swinging its might and using what ever means to cause as much stress as possibe to myself and my family.
At this stage I would say there is little left for me to do and although there may be some legal options the reality is that these cost money and contrary to what HNZ's claim is we do not have it. If we did we would have moved out long ago rather than having to live in a house full of problems that has had an adverse effect on our health.
Earlier tonight I came very close to suicide and this is not the first time whilst having to deal with these issues however I am mindful of the fact that even if i did this HNZ would still pursue my wife.
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