Tenants of this Kamo property were not happy that the salesperson entered without their consent.

A real estate agent who entered a rental property without the tenants' consent – and made their beds – has landed the property's owner with a fine.

Susan Agnew told her tenants in January that she planned to sell the Kamo, Whangarei, property.

The real estate agent selling the property, Zoltan Waxman, contacted tenant Tylah Reihana the same day, asking if he could take a photographer through.

She replied and said she would like time to tidy up – suggesting the Thursday or Friday of the following week would suit.

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The next Monday, Waxman sent a text to ask if the photos could be done on Wednesday. He told Reihana he had a key.

She did not receive the message and when she returned from work on the Wednesday, she and the other tenant, Dillon Wihongi, found the children's beds had been made and Waxman's business card left on the kitchen bench.

Waxman told the Tenancy Tribunal that he assumed that because there was no reply to his text, Reihana did not object.

The Residential Tenancies Act allows landlords to enter a premises to show it to prospective purchasers, including for photography, with the consent of the tenant. But entry without consent is unlawful, and damages up to $1000 can be awarded.  

Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator N Blake said because Reihana did not receive the text and did not consent, Waxman's entry with the photographer was unlawful.

The tribunal also sided with Reihana and WIhongi in their concerns about an incident the next month, in which they agreed to allow Waxman to show through "a few investors" from out of town. They later discovered that the viewing was more of an open home and a number of people were shown through over half an hour, including local buyers.

"I accept that Mr Waxman reasonably understood that the tenants had no objection to him coming to the property with the photographer," Blake said.

"[Regarding the open home] Mr Waxman's actions were over-enthusiastic but certainly not malicious. The viewing lasted half an hour only, and the 'extra' un-consented viewers were limited to about half a dozen people."

But the adjudicator said the breaches warranted an award of compensatory damages. The photographs in particular had been disturbing for the tenants.

The tenants had already had their rent waived for the final weeks of their tenancy and the tribunal required Agnew to pay them $365.

Reihana said she had not been expecting anything out of the hearing but wanted recognition of how they had been treated. "I just wanted them to be held accountable for their actions."

She said it had been upsetting to come home to find the salesman and photographer had been there.

"We just felt violated and gross almost like someone's broken in and rummaged through our belongings, which is pretty much what he'd done."

 - Stuff