7 Feb 2011

Lower Hutt women win reprieve from eviction

8:49 pm on 7 February 2011

Three Lower Hutt women given 24 hours to vacate their homes by Housing New Zealand on Monday have won a reprieve.

Robyn Winther, Huia Tamaka and Billy Taylor were first issued with 90-day eviction notices in March 2009.

Notices mistakenly attached to the orders described the women as partners of gang members who were facing charges of burglary or intimidation, which were later dropped.

The women claimed Housing New Zealand acted unlawfully by terminating the tenancies in the suburb of Pomare and in doing so breached the Bill of Rights.

The Tenancy Tribunal upheld the eviction notices, but the women appealed to the District Court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal, which dismissed their appeal in December last year.

Earlier, bailiffs with a police escort served them with notices to leave within 24 hours or be forcibly evicted.

However, on Monday afternoon they were granted an interim injunction, pending the full hearing of their case by the Human Rights Review Tribunal.