We were in court a couple of weeks ago and finally it seemed that the Judge realized just how much of a crock this case is. The summary of accounts still had not been done and the index of evidence had not been received. In addition he asked the question as to How HNZ had laid the charges without having first done the summary of accounts and if they just laid the charges in the hope that we were going to plead guilty.

He made an order for the documents to be produced and stated that if these were not provided he would be open to a request from us to have the charges dismissed.

Today we had the a hearing to see if this had happened and, 2 days ago we received the summary of accounts however I have not yet seen them so have no idea what they/it is. In addition we have been informed that they can not provide the index of evidence as there is none. Now we have the summary of accounts we can move forward and have a forensic accountant look at the figures.

We asked for time to do this however the Judge stated that a fixture of 4 days has all ready been set and that this was not going to be changed. We have 2 months to deal with this and I am quite concerned that this will not be enough time. However from their summation in court the figures are pretty dismal.. Given that we know HNZ are trying to get a conviction their figures are going to be based in favor of a conviction. The prosecutor in summary told the judge that the income derived over this time was $43K. that's a combined income.... 3 kids, 2 adults. the figures my accountant has come up with differ from this greatly however even working on these figures and recalculating the income based on their figures their total claim is not correct.

We have also received a claim against us from Baycorp for 81K as HNZ have now lodged the debit regardless of the fact this has not been to court. Oh and yes the person who lodged the claim with baycorp was our wonderful ex tenancy manager who kicked this whole vexatious thing off Katrina O'Conner.

Victimised

Late last week we received a letter from HNZ claiming an income related rent debit of around $81k, it is quite clear that this is contestable and is directly related to the criminal matter before the courts at the moment however HNZ have made a demand for this money and haev further thretend legal action and state that this will impact on our credit rating.

The letter was sent to our new address after being forced in to having to release thiese details to HNZ by the tennancey tribunal when a previous adjudicator had supressed these details due to our concern for reprisal.

This weeken and allmost imediatly after receiving the letter some thugs smashed up our mail box in the middle of the night, I chased them up the road but it appears they had a car waiting for them. I should not be surprised by this as it is prety clear that our old tennancey manager has it in for us given the statements that we have read in the HNZ documentation and the lies that have been told by her in court.

Some may say that Im just being paraniod and this could be the case but on the entire street our letter box was the only one smashed and the fact a car seemed to be waiting up the road seems to me to be very strange.

It also was not an attack on the previous residence of this place as they were hear for quite a number of years and as luck would have it after moving in we found out we found out that I knew them for years before the move via another associate.

Who not to vote for

Well after our dealings with government its pretty easy to make this decision, our local candidate is Jame-Lee Ross and last week my wife and I had the opportunity to have a brief encounter with him. He was on the street campaigning with Hon Maurice Williamson who we have also had discussions with about our HNZ issues and who undertook to assist us giving me his guarantees however shortly after his involvement we were hit with the investigation and eviction.

We put several questions to Mr Ross and to be honest he was pretty shifty then stated we could speak to him later when he was elected and had the power to do something.

Now I have lived in this area for most of my life and have never really followed the local politics other than had a few aquantances who have been involved over the years but all i can say is Why on Earth would we elect people who have no idea as to what it is like to be an average Kiwi?

My wifes first comment when we meet Mr Lee was that he came across as a silver spoon boy and a quick review of his acheivments as well as schooling seems to confirm these views. Holds a Pilots Licence, Went to Dilworth School...

Someone needs to make a rule that before you are allowed to represent New Zealand and its people you need to have at the very least rubbed shoulders with us and know what its like to be an average joe.

Who will we vote for? as yet I have not seen anyone who in our view would be suitable however so far the only people who have actually taken the time to review our situation and to even visit and make comment on the substandard house we were being forced to live in were Labour candidates.
In addition the only peope who seem to be asking and answering some of the hard questions again are Labour Candidiates.

An email that was sent to several National MP's seems to have just been ignored and a previous query to nationals minister of housing came back pretty much stating that he had spoken to HNZ and was happy with their response to questions regardless of us having provided evidence showing that their response was full of lies.

NOTE: I stand corrected. Dilworth is apparently not a silverspoon school and from what has been pointed out things have changed a lot over the years. Now apparently you have to come from a broken family or come from "struggle street" to attend.

Equal Opportunities

Well there has been a few developments of late, however until we get to court I am a little reluctant to release some of the info as, although it's likely to be pretty embarrassing to HNZ I would rather not release it for HNZ to cook up an excuse for their actions.

However something that may interest the public is that it is a well known fact that we had tried to build a small business in order to try and get ourselves out of the hole we were in and into a self sufficient situation and that, as a result of a large council reneging on an agreement, we were left with a business that was not viable and was only just covering its costs.

We have also bore the brunt of some abusive trollers via this blog and been accused of all sorts of things, however the fact remains that out family is not well of and we are not making ends meet as we had hoped to after moving out of the substandard accomidation we've had, for the last 10 years, been forced to live in.

After we moved out, however, it appears that HNZ have now repaired the various issues we complained about and put a nice family into the house. They own a really flash late model holden and an exceptionally flash Harley Davidson.

Meanwhile we struggle to keep out heads above water. It looks like the boys will have to give up scouts as we are having problems even getting together enough money for their school stationary let alone other bills. Some may say how about getting child support and the other assistance, however have you ever tried getting this assistance when your already on the end of a government agenceis big stick.

Letter from Director of Government Relations Housing New Zealand

I will comment in line on these matters as that way it will keep things to the point and clearly categorised.

27 January 2011
Dear Mr Hooper

Thank you for your email of31 December2010toDrLesleyMcTurk,Chief Executive of

Housing New Zealand Corporation, about issues relating to the termination of your

tenancy at 353 Bucklands Beach Road, Bucklands Beach. Dr McTurk has asked me to

reply to your email, and I have looked into the matters that you raise.

In your email you say that Corporation staff have lied under oath, and that your tenancy

was terminated on the basis of incorrect information. However, I have looked into your

allegations and have found no evidence to support them. The Corporation made the

decision to end your tenancy and commence criminal proceedings after an investigation

found that you had failed to declare the true extent of your income while claiming an

 

You claim to have investigated however you have not contacted our accountants to ascertain what the correct figures were, You have not contacted witnesses who will testify that the damage you claim was done to the house existed prior to us moving in and you have not contacted us to ascertain what parts of the court transcripts show that your staff lied. It seems to me that looking in to the matter was nothing more than asking your own staff internally so therefore it could hardly be seen as unbias and fair.

In New Zealand we follow the Napoleonic Code and more importantly the Code of Criminal Instruction to which a person is presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law however it appears that not just in our case but others Housing New Zealand feels they have the power to be Judge Jury and Executioner based on whatever information they feel like and without ensuring the correctness of that information.

In your email you also say that Corporation staff have breached the Privacy Act by

refusing to supply you with information that you requested about your tenancy. I

understand that you were provided with this information on 20 January 2011. It may be

helpful if I explain that your original request of 3 November 2010 was understood to be a

request for disclosure under the Criminal Disclosure Act, and was met on 9 November

This to me sounds more like an excuse than anything else, regardless of what we were asking for there is no reason HNZ had to withhold our tenancy information and even to this day they have failed to provide all of this information. Again this is not an isolated incident and we are well aware of others being refused their information.

You also say that the Corporation has charged you for the cost of repairing damage and removing rubbish that you are not responsible for. I can confirm, however, that the charges of $1,430.29 relate only to the cost of repairing damage and removing rubbish relating to the period of your tenancy. This work was required to bring the property to an acceptable standard for re-Ietting. Corporation records show that the property was tidy and in good condition before your tenancy commenced in November 2000. If these records you claim show the property was tidy and in good condition when it was let are in existence then why have they not been supplied to us as per the request for information under the privacy act? further it is quite clear that the windows you have replaced were all broken when we moved in as I had to repair them myself and covered them over with lexan. This was brought up with our tenancy manager when we first moved in.

Finally, you say in your email that the Corporation has not resolved the problem with water ponding under the house, and has not repaired the remaining defects in the window frames. You may be interested to know that this work has been completed. This may be the case now but given that while we were in the house the problems were not resolved and given that the photos we have are clearly dated as well as independent witnesses viewed the flooding after the work was completed brings in to question your organisations integrity.

I trust that this information is helpful to you. If you have any further concerns, I invite you to contact Peter Lauina, Housing Services Manager at the Otahuhu Neighbourhood Unit, on (09) 261 5502.

I think any contact would be a waste of time and given that HNZ have failed to communicate as per their customer promise as well as remedy the damage to my property caused by your contractors it is prety clear where your organisation sits.

Privacey Matters

Finally HNZ have released some of the information under the privacy act regarding our tenancy and I say some as there is a lot of information that has been withheld, the fact that some of the information provided actually refers to other information that has not been provided makes it pretty clear that Housing New Zealand is not playing by the rules.

We allready have a complaint in with the Privacy Commissioner and they are investigating this matter along with Housing New Zealands claims that they do not have to provide this information under the criminal disclosure act.

Fact is that disclosure is disclosure and I'm pretty sure this act is not a mechanism to be abused by government organisation so as to allow them to refuse to make available information that could paint them in a bad light. Such actions are really just an abuse of power and process.

Also keep in mind that the criminal matters are based on our alleged failure to provide HNZ with our earnings details and as such according to HNZ obtained  lower rent based on the rental assessment. This matter has nothing to do with out tenancy and HNZ's investigations team have reiterated this fact several times so there for information regarding our tenancy should be available.

When discussing the matter with the office of the privacy commissioner I asked them how would they know if HNZ was with holding information and they informed me they rely on HNZ's honesty.

Damage to your home - paying for repairs

On the 20^th December 2010 we received a letter from Housing New Zealand claiming we had damaged the property and informing us that we had to pay $1430.29 by the 24^th December. Clearly this is an early Christmas present from the government department to cap off the other vexatious actions they are taking.

When we moved in to the house some 10 years ago the house was not exactly in tiptop condition and, given our circumstances, was our only option so we accepted it. We had a reasonable relationship with our tenancy manager and over time some problems were resolved. As would be the case with any tenancy or landlord we liaised with him and sought his permission before doing anything to or in the house.

Housing New Zealand however has continued with their relentless persecution of our family in what appears to be a common practice to extort money from those in need. There seems to be a great lack of checks and balances to ensure fairness and equality and little interest in sticking to their charter and customer promise let alone the enactments of government put in place to protect tenants.

At this stage I am hesitant to comment on a completely itemised list of what they are claiming and as to the evidence we have that rebuts their claim due to the fact we have not decided as to what action we need to take to deal with this albeit via the tenancy tribunal, district court or government ombudsman and if criminal charges will be laid against them.

I am also mindful that Housing New Zealand as we have seen are a large government sanctioned organisation and that they have an endless budget and resources to throw at people as they have been doing to us to make people’s lives a living hell.

To give you an idea as to the pettiness of the matter in, Bucklands Beach we use recycle bins and these are collected every 2^nd Thursday. We moved out a week prior to the collection, and all that was required was on the Thursday after the next, the bin needed to be put on the side of the road for collection.  HNZ charged us for the removal of this as well as the removal of bricks and other things that were at the property when we moved in.

These actions pretty clearly support my claims that Housing New Zealand have been using their position to victimise our family and relentlessly cause us as much grief as they can and regardless of the fact that we were forced to move out due to Housing New Zealand not adhering to the work order set by the tenancy tribunal and purposely misleading the courts and the tribunal.

And what does the government have to say about this? Well at present the only thing we have been told is that this is an operational matter with Housing New Zealand.

Due Process

Over the weekend we were going over some of the information HNZ have provided and the information provided is definitely not full disclosure, but then this really comes as no surprise.

But while going over these details I re-read our legal aid application and it struck me that the system is clearly broken.

HNZ have a full time investigations team working to rake up any and all information and prepare a case that is then handed over to the crown. This investigative process, as we have been told, is extremely thorough and leaves no stone unturned, and has the backing of legislation so as to ensure all information is available to it.
The costs involved in running such a team must be huge and having a dedicated investigator work on a specific case for several months would not be cheap.

Then the report is prepared and HNZ have a meeting with the crown prosecutors office who seem to have an unlimited budget and can afford to call whatever experts they choose in to give opinion as well as continue the investigative process to prove your guilt.

Now someone who is on a low income such as us really only have Legal Aid to assist us and unlike the crown these guys draw a line in the sand only allocating a specific amount of hours to the lawyer to work on the case and only providing a certain amount of money to lodge a defense.

So you have a machine with an endless budget and unlimited funds going up against someone who has very limited resources, and people expect that person to be able to prove their innocence as this definitely seems to be the case these days because, without proving their case, HNZ have invoiced us for what they believe is the shortfall in rent, revoked our rental assessment and evicted us.

In addition to this the Prosecution seems to be able to pick and choose what it supplies as evidence and not have to hand up the details, warts and all. In a way I would say this is customizing the evidence to meet the allegation's.

Acceptable by Housing New Zealand Standards

Yesterday I drove past the old place and spotted from the street that the wall paper has now been stripped from the walls. This is the same wallpaper that HNZ stated that was acceptable by HNZ standards.

Speaking with our next door neighbor he said that some woman from HNZ had been over and asked them to keep an eye on the place over Christmas as it was likely they would not be able to get anyone in there until the new year.
She further stated that if any vehicle was seen on the property he was to immediately call the police.

HNZ Staff not being treated with respect?

Well how can HNZ staff expect to be treated with respect when they don't treat their tenants with respect. I am in two minds after reading this article outlining that HNZ has used "Bully Boy Tactics" on its staff but given that their staff have treated us in a less than reasonable manner over the years it comes as no surprise.

If the organisation is so inept then why are they not being held accountable to the public and why are they being given so many powers when it is very clear that these powers are often being misused,

http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10691378&ref=rss

This organisation seems to have forgotten what it was set up for and is being run by what I can only describe as power hungry little Hitlers. Yes HNZ I do know you are regularly checking these blogs and you did hear me right. It may also interest you to know there is a lot of international interest in the blog as well as many New Zealanders.

Long Term Mould Problems

I have stated before in the blog that I suffer from depression and various other health issues and its all very well going to the doctor to get poked and prodded however there is only so much a doctor can do and test for.

Prior to moving in to the HNZ house we know for a fact that I did not suffer from depression or many of these other issues some of which have not been able to be checked out as I can not afford to run to the doctor every day.

During our 10 year stay in the HNZ house we know that I have been diagnosed with chronic depression, have had repetitive nose bleeds usually in the morning, fungal infections and man many other issues.

There now seems to be pretty conclusive evidence that mould can cause depression and many other problems. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070829162815.htm

The above link is only one of the many web sites that state this however even our own OSH documentation seems to back this up.

HNZ were alerted for these issues years ago but did nothing and from the information I have found it seems that the damage caused is not reversible. Thanks HNZ.

Handed over the keys

We handed the keys to John Heaton who is the HNZ tenancy manager assigned by HNZ to work with us on the handover. While there he was taking photos of pretty much every scratch spot and pinprick so i suspect that although we had moved in the house some 10 years ago and the house was not in great condition when we moved in with windows broken, wall paper torn and other issues we aer going to get blamed for these issues.

But its great to finally be in a house that does not have these problems and is not so full of mould it causes health problems.

While we were doing the walk around I did capture some video of John opening the cupboards that were not repaired correctly and fell off after HNZ replaced them. as well as a few interesting comments regarding the state of the mould and paint that was flaking off the ceiling and other issues such as the rotten window frames that the tenancy tribunal stated should have been repaired in their order to HNZ.

A visit from David Collings

Tonight I meet with David Collings at our old Bucklands Beach Road residence as we will be handing the keys over to Housing New Zealand tomorrow at 2PM and will no longer have access to the place.

I contacted Mr Collings as we felt that its all very well having Photos of the mould and various problems within the house that we have been living with for the 10 years we have been there but these do not describe dampness and smell in the house caused by the mould.

Mr Collings has agreed to be witness to the smell and other problems encountered and his testimony will only go to further solidify our claims that we were being forced to live in a sub standard house with little regard for our health and the safety of our children.

It is clear the Housing New Zealand believe that this house is according to them acceptable however I can guarantee that they will completely revamp it before it is given to any one else.

I am still very concerned as to what the long term exposure to the mould spores and the toxins in the house are going to be on both myself and my family and given that I was suffering from nose bleeds every morning however after having left have not had one instance its pretty clear that something nasty has been going on.

I am still finding myself short of breath but hope that over time this will get better.

Mould is Mould

I think it is pretty clear that the HNZ house we have been living in has quite a bit of mould that has been caused by the flooding under the house creating a damp environment. The mould is not just on the walls and ceiling but is also in the new underfloor insulation recently installed.

Now I was under the impression that i only had to worry if the mould was Stachybotrys but it turns out that this is not the case and that I had been feed a bit of a red hearing. Mould is Mould and although Stachybotrys produce toxic compounds all moulds should be treated the same according to OSH, and from the CDC's website in the US its pretty clear that any mould can pose a health risk.

http://www.level.org.nz/health-and-safety/mould/
http://www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm#Q7

While living in this house every morning I would wake with a blood nose, problems breathing and quite often it would feel like I was breathing with a plastic bag over my head and something sitting on my chest. I would often after waking be pretty lethargic and my motivation over the last 3 years had pretty much vanished. In addition to all this I was diagnosed with a Petty high level of depression.

Now according to Housing New Zealand this house is acceptable to them.

Its only been a week in the new place we have moved to and I have not had one blood nose other than the first night here and not had one headache. I am hoping that breathing gets a little better and some of the other issues sort themselves out in the near future.

I will be sure to take some recent photos of the mould and publish these before we hand over the house.

Moving House

We have almost finished moving from the HNZ house to our private rental, finally by daily blood noses and headache seem to have stopped and there seems to be a dramatic improvement to the rest of the family even over such a short time. No more coughing and spluttering during the night. With all the furniture moved out its possible to see what we have been living with. Deep in the carpet is a white fungal growth under our bed in the master bedroom. The walls behind the furniture have quite a bit of mould on them and there is a distinctive damp smell in the house that was being absorbed by our clothing and furniture but how has nowhere to go and just lingers.

I invite anyone who is interested in seeing the condition of the house to contact me for a viewing, I have a journalist from a news paper meeting me at the house on Thursday evening however we will more than likely retain access to the house up until mid next week as there is some work to do outside with tidying up what we were told could not be stored under the house and disassembling the work bench and shelving in the garage.

It should be kept in mind that according the HNZ this house is fine given the age and character and our continued requests to get these matters resolved over 7 or so years were pretty much ignored. One of my only concerns at this stage however is what the long term health effect are going to be.

In order to gain access and look for yourself fire me a text to 021 212-9200 or phone me.

At least someone gets it

The new manager of Panmure branch so far seems to understand the problems and situation, I feel somewhat sorry for him as its pretty clear he has been dropped in the deep end and inherited a mess from his predecessor.

We had a short meeting with him last week and discussed moving out as well as several other matters including the new toilet that was installed by us. We have given HNZ the opportunity to reimburse us for half of this otherwise we would remove this.

Peter informed us at the time that after looking at our rental statement he believed we were in rental arrears and said that any reimbursement would be put toward any arrears. We agreed to this and he went away to look in to the matter.

On Saturday I received an Email from him stating that he had examined out rental account and we were in fact in credit for quite a reasonable amount and that although they would not change their position on the reimbursement for the toilet he offered to credit our account for an additional $200.00 as a token of good faith.

Tomorrow being the 9th November we have our first hearing in the district court over HNZ's breaches in the tenancy act and our other claims and given that HNZ have refused to provide information under the privacy act that would have been used to solidify the facts in court.

HNZ seem to think they are above the law

On the 8th September 2010 I requested a copy of all information HNZ have on file about me/us under the Privacy Act 1993, The request had to be either fulfilled or reasons why the information was not going to be supplied had to be outlined within 21 working days.

After this time on the 6th October 2010 I contacted HNZ's privacy officer Karaka Tuhakaraina who stated he would look in to the matter.

The reason we need this information is that we are due in court 9th of November 2010 regarding HNZ's breach in the tenancy act and the appeal process.

Today being the 22 October 2010 we received a letter from Karaka Tuhakaraina denying us this information under section 29 (ia) of The Privacy Act 1993.

• (ia) the request is made by a defendant or a defendant's agent and is
• (i) for information that could be sought by the defendant under the Criminal Disclosure Act 2008; or
• (ii) for information that could be sought by the defendant under that Act and that has been disclosed to, or withheld from, the defendant under that Act;

It should be noted that HNZ only filed their claim on the 4th October 2010 and from memory we were not served with any proceedings until the 7th October 2010 (actually this is the date on the video when I recorded both Debbie and I being served).

Now I am not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure that retrospectively denying access to information is a little unfair and given that we will not have this information for our hearing against HNZ on the 9th of November really goes to show what dirty tricks these guys are playing.

Housing New Zealands Customer Promise

Last week we received a glossy printed 12 page news letter from HNZ called Close To Home, this was Issue 27 September 2010. On page 7 I found two articles that were somewhat related to our situation the first being information about their Customer Promise.

The document is and Information Copyright Housing New Zealand Corporation 2010 and I have included the relevant extracts as reference material.

It is all very well HNZ making a customer promise but when this promise is breached who is held accountable. In our situation it is clear that this promise has been breached by Housing New Zealand on not just one account but all of them.

• be honest fair and objective.Clearly this is not the case in relation to our requests for repairs of the retaliatory nature of the events after we were forced to take action via Tenancy Services. Further by their own statements they have used the GROSS TURNOVER of the business and assessed that as by income not taking in to account the operational expenses and have at no stage provided us with either any reports or fulfilled their obligations under the privacy act.
• have the right skills and knowledge.This applies to more than one issue and the fact that we have for 7 years been trying to get HNZ to repair various house related problems and that there is the continuous growth of rot and black mold in the house shows that the skill set required to resolve these problems are not there. Further the contractors who were to repair the issues have taken shortcuts or not been able to complete the repairs due to their lack of skills.
• do what we say we will do.
  In court HNZ stated that all exterior walls in the bedrooms were going to be relined and insulation was going to be inserted, they have since decided not to do this. Further for 7 years we have been informed that the repair work of the flooding under the house was a priority and it still has not been repaired. Granted they did finally replace the cupboards in the kitchen but the fact that they are falling off the hinges and have not fixed them only goes to further show the lack of skill involved with their contractors.
• listen and understand your individual circumstances.We have had several meeting with HNZ and highlighted the fact that the community wireless network is struggling after any hope of funding was pulled and that the income only just coves the expenses. The fact the network is still in place is only because I do not have the heart to pull the plug on the only form of broadband in the area and send them all back to dial up.
  If we were bringing in the money that is being claimed I can tell you now that my wife would not be working insane hours for minimum wage.
  Further they did not seem to care about the dangers of their repairs or damage that was caused by their contractors to our car.
  
  When we moved in to the house there was ample storage under the house but were told to move our stuff our from under the house so the flooding could be repaired and not given any alternative for storage. The attempt to repair the flooding was done from outside the house not under it.
• provide you with the right information at the right time.Only 2 to 3 years ago we were investigated by HNZ and i provided information to HNZ's investigator regarding the network and our situation. Surely if there was an issue or a perceived issue this would have been up to the investigator to inform us. Our circumstance have not really changed since then.
• make it easy for you to communicate with us.Communications are a two way street, We have contacted HNZ many times and been promised that they would call us back with a resolution but we never received a call back and the matter just got ignored. I even have recorded conversations with the Panmure manager stating he would call me back over the damage and theft of property by their contractors but he failed to call back with a resolution.

I do understand that we have responsibilities as well and so as to be fair I will also publish these regardless of the fact that HNZ have laid criminal complaints against us.

• provide us with the right information at the right time.We have always provided relevant information to HNZ and contrary to their claims have informed them about the business. When the fence was damaged by us accidentally reversing in to it we provided the relevant insurance details however HNZ chose to ignore this and demand that we pay for this ourselves.
• keep any agreement with us.We have allowed access whenever it was requested and contrary to their claims have never denied access for anting that was pre arranged. Recently HNZ claimed we had done so (again) but it turns out that our tenancy manager sent us a letter with the wrong date listed. An earlier claim was refuted by the builder who was supposed to have been denied access.
• tell us if your situation changes.HNZ have allways known that the network existed and it was with their blessing that part of the business was situated here. Allthough slightly out of my field I had helped a previous tennancey manager with his computer problems.
• treat us like you like to be treated.We have always treated and welcomed HNZ however as observed by independent witnesses during some interaction with both our tenancy manager and her boss it was stated by the independents on two separate occasions that they seem to have it in for us. I suffer from chronic depression and their actions have only ever been confrontational and abusive.

On the same page as this there is also an article about 114 needy families housed claiming there are over 100 cases of tenant dishonesty before the courts. I will post about this in my next blog as its OK for a large government organisation with an unlimited budget to make claims against people who are just trying to make ends meet but the fact is that in their investigations HNZ seem to be ignoring their own responsibility and victimising people.

More Flooding under the house

As HNZ have evicted us this is not going to be our problem for much longer but even after 7 years and despite us paying for an independent expert to take a look at the problem HNZ and the courts ordering HNZ to fix the problem they have still failed to do so.

Last night it rained and although it sounded pretty heavy this morning I took a look at one of the local weather sites. I have also put a call in to NIWA so as to get the official records.

The second to last photo shows the water is nearly 20mm deep.

In the last photo the orange paint was put there by the builders who came in to put some cement around the foundations as water had been tracking under them. The area to the right had been excavated and used to fill up with water so HNZ told the builders to just fill it with dirt. You can see that the dirt is becoming pretty damp and the discolouration of the paint is being caused by the water underneath.

Simplified Events

I have received quite a number of comments from people who are a little confused about the situation so have decided to simplify and clarify what is going on. Dates unfortunately are to the best of my recollection as we did not keep records of these events and HNZ have not provided us a copy of our file so we can state an accurate timeline. I asked for this file over 4 weeks ago under the official information act but still nothing is being released to us not even the investigators report. So much for open and transparent government information even when it pertains to our own housing records that by the way is being used against us to evict us.

Some time around 2000/2001 Debbie, Myself and our two boys aged 8yrs and 3yrs were renting a very nice place in Pakuranga however for the safety of our sons we had to move quickly as as the neighbour was going to court over serious charges that unfortunately we did not want to be anywhere near. It was a reluctant move as we had been there for about 3 years.

We were put into emergency accommodation by Raymond Fitsmanu from Housing New Zealand and over the next few years we had a great relationship as our Tenancy Manager, Raymond was aware that I was working from home and even had me help him out with computer problems. It’s a pity  no one from Housing NZ nor its investigative team has been able to locate nor talk to Raymond. Which is very useful in their current persecution of the our family.  Its interesting the the HNZ investigative team states they have the powers to find all sorts of things but cannot find a ex HNZ employee of <6 years ago. Obviously just not in the brief to persecute and get our family out of this HNZ house.

The first winter after moving in 10 years ago in we found there were several flooding issues which were mostly resolved by Raymond and HNZ, however the persistent flooding under the house was never resolved. The house continued to have considerable mould growth appearing on the inside and outside walls and ceiling of the house. Inside the house was always damp despite us using a heater and burning a considerable amount of power trying to keep the place warm.

At this stage I was not working full time and the income from my radio networks and online business was rather sporadic, thus I volunteered some of my time to community organisations and new business indicatives for building community broadband in the under served communities of Tokaroa and Auckland areas.
Anyone will tell you I am a computer / radio techhead hence not all of my time was charged for and I will always admit that I am not all about commercial gain verses doing what others cannot because I could which isn’t always good for direct commercial results or record keeping. We have always helped others regardless our situation and around 2004 we helped a family get out their feet who had some over from South Africa and ended up with no where to stay. We managed to get a caravan down the back yard for the family of four where they stayed for about a month while they got on their feet.

In 2003/2004 I approached Raymond our HNZ Tenancy manager and explained to him how I wanted to try and build a community wireless broadband network in the area and had his permission to erect an 11m mast on the property that became the foundation for the community wireless network and the development of a unique communications system.  HNZ are now prosecuting our family for running this business form the property.

This was reported by the Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/telecommunications/news/article.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=3556244

HNZ was all good until Raymond left HNZ Panmure and went to work at another HNZ office and subsequently left HNZ around 2007/2008.
At this stage the new HNZ tenancy manager ordered us to remove the 11mtr mast claiming we did not have permission to put it there and we provided proof of us notifying them and what we believed to be HNZ approval and once again outlined how it was being used for our Wireless network business around Auckland.

Once again tried to get other issues resolved with the house such as leaking plumbing, leaking toilet, leaking cistern, flooding under the house, windows that don't close and leak when it rains, the ranch slider that opens out to a 1.2m drop and will not close correctly, excessive mould and rot in the house leaking guttering and the roof as well as many other more minor problems.

In or around 2006 A more immediate problem arose when the hot water cylinder located under the house began to squirt water from the high pressure cold side. This took HNZ some time to resolve despite the leak squirting water over the power outlet located under the house. This outlet however this was not replaced when the cylinder was replaced and to add my safety concerns the side panel on the hot water cylinder had not been installed leaving the electrical contacts exposed.

Some of these problems have been ongoing over the last 7 years and due to the lack of repair have resulted to damage to our own property and loss of things like personal records, clothing and family health issues. Some of the repairs completed by the HNZ cowboy contractors resulted in damage to our property including the splattering cement on my car and a glazier who replaced a window left shards of glass that ended up in one of my kids feet.

Out of frustration in 2010 we tried to get HNZ's management involved and then felt that the only way we were going to get any resolve and that was to take it to the tenancy tribunal. Shortly after filing the applications we got a call from a number of customers from the community wireless network stating they had been contacted by a fraud investigator and that we were being investigated for operating a business from a Housing New Zealand house as well as not declaring income from our business operating from the property.

We fully co-operated with the HNZ investigator having nothing to hide and provided all of the available information we had to them and attended their interviews.
The investigation was apparently concluded as the first we saw was a letter from the Tenancy manager stating the income related rental assessment was being reversed and a arrears invoice for $81,000 and sign here.

We have at no stage been given the opportunity to look at their investigation results nor review nor correct the information they claim to have however in conversation with one of the manager it turns out that the undeclared income is the gross turnover of the business and there seems to be little regard in their figures to the operational costs of the business. I advised the investigator that we were preparing the audited Accounts of the business which would be available to them as soon as they were completed.

Instead The HNZ actions indicates they are using the report to;

1. Evict us from our home.
2. Revoke our income related rent, and backdate the revocation from what we can see to when we moved in and bill us for the difference $81k.
3. Pass the information to the crown and file charges against both my wife and myself with imprisonment terms of 7 years each. Without the right to see and address the information they obtained nor even obtain a copy of our tenancy file so we can show where HNZ was aware of and approved the operation of the business form the property.

Where is the fair and reasonable right of reply to their claims gone in our case?

As for the fairness please keep in mind that at no stage other than being intimidated in to giving a statement and even applying for information under the privacy act as well as HNZ's claim that due process would have seen us having been given a copy of the investigation results so we could correct any problems have we ever seen any information from them.

We have been honest and forthcoming with information to the HNZ investigator however this information seems to have been ignored and this is clear by some of HNZ's claims being made.