ALDEN WILLIAMS/The Press
Tom Burdak fell ill due to his rental’s water supply being contaminated with e coli. (File photo)
A landlord has been ordered to compensate his tenant, who fell ill twice due to the property’s water being contaminated.
Tenant Tom Burdak fell ill four months into his tenancy of a property in Ngunguru, Whangārei in September 2021, according to a recently released Tenancy Tribunal decision.
Suspecting that the house’s water supply – a rainwater tank and a bore – was contaminated, Burdak had the water tested by the Whangārei District Council.
It was discovered the water contained bacterial coliforms including e coli, suggesting the water may contain faeces.
The property was previously landlord Keith Whalley’s family home.
Whalley had lived there for more than 20 years without any water contamination issues.
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The same day Burdak informed him of the water test result, Whalley treated the water tank with a non-toxic antibacterial product.
But Whalley would fall ill again in December 2022.
Another water test found e coli contamination at a “significantly” higher level than the September 2021 test.
When the landlord went to treat the water again, Burdak declined.
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He later contacted the council, which contacted Whalley, who installed a UV filter system the same day.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords must adhere to the Heath Act and the Building Act, which state residential properties must have a potable water supply.
Landlords who do not provide this may have to pay their tenants exemplary damages of up to $7200.
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator N Blake found that while Whalley dealt with the immediate problem by treating the water in September, he had failed to address the “underlying inadequacy” of the property’s water system.
“When the second incidence of contamination occurred, it was reasonable for Mr Burdak to refuse another one-off treatment and to insist upon effective filtration.”
“On both occasions, Mr Burdak was sick and unable to work. Mr Burdak is self-employed.”
As Whalley, did not refuse to take action when Burdak requested a filtration system, he was not required to pay exemplary damages.
However, he was ordered to compensate Burdak $1750 on that grounds he had twice proven the water supply was not potable, that he was sick and unable to work, that he had purchased drinking water for his family as he did not trust the property’s water supply and to cover the cost of the water tests.
