Landlord forces pregnant woman from home over sleep concerns

A pregnant woman has been booted out of her home by a landlord who was worried he would have “interrupted sleep due to the new baby”.

Christopher Norton Bradfield was ordered to pay $5574 in damages to Jelena Pavic for a failure to lodge a bond, issuing an unlawful rent increase and discriminating on the basis of pregnancy.

Ms Pavic, from Auckland in New Zealand, was 33 weeks pregnant when given a termination notice on January 17, stating she had 30 days to leave.

“The reason for our cancellation is that we originally rented out our apartment to two people, but due to you having been new in the country, we made the exception,” the notice said, according to documents from the Tenancy Tribunal.

“However, with another baby on its way, we feel that the apartment is not in our minds designed for the additional person, as you are already three.

“Furthermore, as you are aware our bedroom is right next to your lounge, and that we do not see our way fit to maybe have interrupted sleep due to the new baby.”

Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator John Hogan said Mr Bradfield was required to give 90 days notice as pursuant to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Ms Pavic said her and her husband Milos were forced to find another property as soon as possible.

“All this stress was even stronger and put me to a desperate and hopeless situation because of the discriminatory reason stated in the letter saying that my new born baby will disrupt his and his wife’s sleep,” she said, according to tribunal documents.

“Instead of planning my delivery and organising things ready for the baby, I had to run around, view more than 15 properties and after 6 applications we had to accept the first and only one that was successful and it is with the fixed term of 4 months”.

Mr Hogan ruled Mr Bradshaw’s management of the tenancy was “unsatisfactory” and ordered he pay the couple $5574, including almost $2300 for discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.