Otago landlords struggle to evict 11 people living in four-bedroom house with three dogs

Frustrated landlords say the tenants they're trying to evict won't leave despite their lease being terminated by the Tenancy Tribunal.

Landlords Tuffley Developments Ltd bought the Oamaru property on Kingsley St in December 2018, according to a tribunal decision released last month.

The tenants' lease was terminated on January 20 and according to the decision, they were ordered to pay $3183 in unpaid rent and bond.

But the landlords, who were granted possession of the house in the decision released last month, could not get the tenants to leave after they applied for a rehearing, Stuff reports. Occupying the four-bedroom house were 11 people and three dogs.

"What right do these people have to our property?" landlord Leanne Tuffley told the publication.

And that eviction process is being made more difficult by proposed changes to the rental sector, Andrew King of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation told Stuff.

Proposed changes announced in November revealed tenants' security would be improved by removing a landlord's right to use no-cause terminations to end a periodic tenancy agreement, according to Associate Housing Minister Kris Faafoi.

King earlier told The Project that a lot of the proposed changes were reasonable but removed an important tool for landlords.

"It used to be that we could end a tenancy without having to say why," he said in November. "It was incredibly important to do that because in cases of antisocial behaviour from a tenant, neighbours would complain but they wouldn't be willing to do it in writing."