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An Invercargill couple who stopped paying their rent because they believed their rental property was substandard has now been evicted.
Tamarah Clark’s lease of the Appleby home was terminated in a Lease Court hearing in Invercargill on September 21 due to rent arrears.
Clark, his partner Lyndon Winsloe, their children and pets had to be off the property before September 29.
At the hearing, Winsloe said she just wanted her story to be heard regarding a number of property issues, including leaks and black mold.
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Court Judge Shelley Munro took note of the concerns, but said that without him presenting any evidence, she could not address those issues.
It was a new hearing after the couple failed to attend an earlier hearing on August 10.
Munro also ordered the couple to pay the $ 3807.14 in arrears.
Winsloe has been in the house for the past five years, but had a different owner then. He says he also complained to the previous owner, but nothing was done.
The home was sold in July 2019 to IPI Properties Ltd and has been managed through Todd & Co Realty since August 2019.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Invercargill’s couple, Tamarah Clark and Lyndon Winsloe, were evicted because they stopped paying their rent.
After the hearing, Winsloe said she had been mending the house since they moved in on November 19, 2015.
Winsloe decided to take a position in mid-2020, saying that he told the real estate company that he would not pay the rent until the problems were resolved.
However, Todd & Co Managing Director Mike McCurdy said the only problem with the property requiring repairs that the tenant had reported to him was problems with the wiring.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
The bathroom ceiling of the Invercargill rental property.
A work order for the wiring was issued in February, but after numerous attempts, the electrician was unable to access the property, nor was his insulation consultant, McCurdy said.
A fire alarm installer came in to install fire alarms.
McCurdy said, “We were very surprised to hear tenants testify at the hearing that they were not paying rent because the issues were not being addressed.”
It was not the company’s first step in jumping straight into the eviction, McCurdy said.
Winsloe insisted that he had verbally told the property manager about various issues.
Current problems include black mold in the bathroom, concerns with wiring, the fireplace, and drafts from windows and doors, Winsloe said.
IPI Property Solutions director Ian Rutherford said he would look at the house when it arrived in Invercargill next week.
“We have met with tenants who have had similar issues and have addressed them directly,” Rutherford said.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Daylight can be seen through the floorboards of the Appleby House bathroom.
“Without disrespecting Todd & Co, but I think the situations could have gone beyond communication for whatever reason.
“I’m not saying who is right or who is wrong, but we have handled, I know, two or three situations, we sat down and solved the problems with the tenant and we reached an agreement whereby it was complied with, solved greatly for everyone. satisfaction.”
When told that Winsloe and his family had abandoned the property, Rutherford said: “I wasn’t sure what the process was, I asked that. I said we’d give them a little time, but they’re obviously gone. “
The two leasing court hearings indicated that there was “more than what you are hearing from the tenant,” Rutherford said.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Lyndon Winsloe says he and his partner would be better off with a profit.
McCurdy said Todd & Co staff attempted to inspect the property on December 4, 2019 and May 26, 2020, and access to the property was a recurring issue.
“We have made many attempts to reach out and work with this tenant, but constantly we have not been able to communicate with him and also have access to the property.
“Unfortunately, if we are not aware of these issues and cannot access the property, then it is impossible for us to address them,” McCurdy said.
Winsloe said he and his partner had been absent from work multiple times to sit at home and wait for inspectors, only for them not to show up.
Now they stay with friends and wait for emergency social housing.
Winsloe, a trucker, said they would do better with a profit or if they found an abandoned house and squatted down.
They have applied for 47 houses in three months, with no luck. The family was repeatedly beaten by their pets, she said.
