Tenant wreaks $21k in damage

DISGUSTED: Mike Slater of Greytown says the Tenancy Tribunal was no help in sorting out his wayward tenant.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

A former Wairarapa landlord is calling for a revamp of the complaints process after a tenant left him more than $20,000 out of pocket, he says.

Greytown farmer Mike Slater had a tenant "do a runner" from his Carterton property last April, leaving the property with considerable damage.

"It was disgusting," he said. "There was animal faeces on the floor, rubbish everywhere and substantial water damage."

Mr Slater sold the property recently because he was "completely done" with being a landlord.

Before selling, he spent $21,000 fixing up the property. He was owed $490 in rent and the tenant had not paid the $530 bond Mr Slater required, despite living at the property for six months.

Mr Slater was awarded $12,481 by the Masterton Tenancy Tribunal. But more than a year since the tenant left, he has received only a couple of hundred dollars.

"The tribunal doesn't hold people to account at all. [The tenant] completely trashed my property, left without saying a word and all I'm getting is $5 a week, because that's apparently all she can afford.

"The tribunal asked her to provide a financial statement but the statement clearly doesn't show all the money she's getting." After his own investigations, Mr Slater says, he discovered the tenant owned two vehicles.

"I was told that her assets could be seized to pay off the debt, so I informed the Ministry of Justice when I found she had not one, but two vehicles.

"Still nothing has been done.

"She says she has no money and so she is able to keep driving these vehicles around, she apparently got from money she received from friends and family."

Mr Slater believed the tribunal was completely in favour of tenants.

"I've heard [the tenant] trashed the next property she went to, putting that landlord out of pocket as well.

"It's just so frustrating because landlords have no rights.

"I know four or five other landlords that have had the same sort of thing happen to them."

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment spokesman Gordon Irving said any tenant or landlord who did not comply with a Tenancy Tribunal order could face enforcement through the collections unit of the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Irving said the collections unit was responsible for enforcing civil debts, including orders from the Tenancy Tribunal.

The Wairarapa Times-Age has reported a four-year high in the number of complaints to the Masterton Tenancy Tribunal.

Property Brokers Wairarapa manager Guy Mordaunt expected greater awareness of the tribunal's functions was behind the increase.

Mr Mordaunt believed the tribunal provided "fair" and "just" mediation.

NZME.