Bernadine Munro (51), of Dunedin, rented the home from a private owner for five years, until 2003, before it was bought by the Otago Regional Council the following year.
However, she only learned the property was contaminated by lead when she read about the plight of the existing tenants in the Otago Daily Times last month.
Harveys Dunedin, which managed the property for new owners the Otago Regional Council, had failed to warn the tenants not to grow or consume produce at the address, despite lead levels between two and nearly four times' residential guidelines.
Soil tests had found lead levels of between 700mg and 800mg per kg of soil, and one of 1100mg/kg, well above the recommended safe level for residential use of 300mg/kg.
The tenants were now waiting on a second batch of blood test results before deciding whether to move out.
This week, Ms Munro said during her stay the home was managed for the owner by a Dunedin property management agent, who also did not provide any warnings about contamination.
She could not recall the name of the agent.
Ms Munro said she raised three children - a son, now aged 21, and two daughters, now aged 24 and 18 - cared for two others, and grew and consumed vegetables.
She believed private companies should do more to warn tenants about contamination, as those looking for short-term rentals were unlikely to seek information about flats held by city and regional councils.
"People should be able to make up their own minds. If we were told not to grow vegetables then we could have made that choice ourselves."
Dunedin City Council development services manager Kevin Thompson said the council's records were public information and available to anyone upon request.
Harveys principal Bruce Robinson - whose company did not manage the property when Ms Munro was a tenant - said there was no industry standard for providing tenants with information about contamination.
Companies operated "on the good faith everything is as it should be", although they should share what they knew, he believed.
Harveys Dunedin had already acknowledged its error in not doing so for the existing Selwyn St tenants, he said.
"If you have got knowledge you have got to share it."
Mr Robinson would raise the issue at next month's Real Estate Institute of New Zealand property management national group meeting, where he represented Otago, Southland and the Queenstown Lakes district.
But he doubted a new system was necessary: "Occasions such as this are so rare."
Ms Munro said she feared lead exposure from the property could be the cause of health problems faced by her two daughters, who had both been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which caused infertility.
Information held by the Ministry of Health and National Poisons Centre at the Dunedin School of Medicine linked lead exposure with infertility, particularly among males.
However, Dunedin School of Medicine associate professor Wayne Gillett - whose areas of expertise included infertility - said there was no link between lead exposure and polycystic ovarian syndrome, which was a genetic condition.
