Coronavirus: Tenant evicted from central Auckland apartment after inviting 'street mates' inside during lockdown

Sinclair had previously been served a 14-day notice for breaching the lockdown rules.
Sinclair had previously been served a 14-day notice for breaching the lockdown rules. Photo credit: File / Getty

A man has been evicted from his central Auckland apartment after inviting his "street mates" inside during level 4 lockdown.

The tenant, Nicholas Sinclair, "frankly admitted" breaching the rules but said after having spent 25 years living on the street himself he felt sorry for his homeless friends.  He invited them inside on cold, wet nights so they could sleep in a bed and use the shower, according to a Tenancy Tribunal hearing dated April 22.

Sinclair's landlord Compass Housing Services said kicking him out of the building was a "last resort" necessary to "protect the health and safety of its other tenants and staff".

As well as breaching the lockdown the landlord alleges that Sinclair had a history of antisocial behaviour, which was caught on a CCTV camera. His behaviour included assaulting a security guard at the apartment, smoking inside and becoming aggressive after drinking alcohol, the landlord said. 

As well as inviting people into his apartment, Sinclair also admitted visiting friends in another apartment in the building during lockdown.

The building has 92 apartments, 73 of which were social housing tenancies.

Sinclair had previously been served a 14-day notice for breaching the lockdown rules and his tenancy agreement and though "he had been quieter" after receiving the notice and "seemed to have stopped now" he had invited non-residents into his apartment on at least one more occasion after being served, according to the landlord.

Had Sinclair only shown anti-social behaviour he could have been given a "second chance", the tribunal said, but the lockdown breaches were "much more significant".

"Visiting persons outside his 'bubble' and repeatedly bringing other persons into his bubble not only breaches the rules but provides a real risk that he might contract COVID-19 and then spread the infection to other tenants and to the landlord’s staff," wrote the adjudicator J Greene. 

The tribunal ruled that Sinclair's tenancy be terminated to coincide with the end of level 4 lockdown.

"I accept that there will be an impact on Mr Sinclair. Hopefully, given the current situation, he will be housed somewhere more appropriate. But his situation does not outweigh the landlord’s right to have the tenancy terminated given the significant antisocial behaviour with its potentially serious consequences that has occurred in this case."