Property manager David Sharma owes $358,000 to 67 landlords, liquidators say

Henderson property manager David Sharma, whose contract with Ray White ended last month, denies owing the landlords any money. Photo / File

The company of Auckland property manager David Sharma owes 67 landlords more than $350,000, a liquidators' report says.

Liquidators, of firm Rodgers Reidy, said 67 landlords were owed funds by Sharma's company Property Management Out West Limited, formerly Ray White Henderson, which he put into liquidation last week.

Rodgers Reidy liquidator Lynda Smart said most of the rental payments owed dated back to January and February this year, however, there were 20 historical sums dating back to an unspecified earlier period.

"There's a small trade creditors amount, but the bulk of that is owed to landlords," Smart said.

A total of 12 bond payments were also found to have not been lodged with tenancy services, a number which is expected to rise, Smart said.

"There are no assets available for immediate recovery and the company bank accounts had a net overdrawn position. We have commenced our investigations to determine what further avenues of recovery, if any, may be available," she said.

A number of landlords contacted the Herald last week concerned over rental payments they were owed from Sharma, who formerly managed their properties.

One West Auckland landlord, Neil Pinto, claimed Sharma owed him $20,000. He said the situation had put him and his family under "extreme financial hardship".

Sharma began managing his property in October 2016 and shortly thereafter Pinto said he began to notice he wasn't being paid as regularly as before.

"As of August last year the payments completely stopped coming," he alleged.

Pinto claimed he approached Sharma, who offered to pay back the $20,000 in weekly instalments but had not received any funds as promised.

Another landlord who had three properties managed by Sharma, and did not want to be named, claimed he was owed between $1,200 and $3,500.

In a statement to the Herald last week, Ray White said the matter had been reported to the police, a forensic audit was underway and the Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) was currently investigating.

The real estate company said it was working with those who had been affected "to ensure that they are not left out of pocket."

A Ray White spokesperson said yesterday that the liquidators would not allow the auditors it appointed access to any information.

"Late last week, they further advised Ray White in writing that they will not provide us with any of their findings as we are considered an 'external party' to the issue, so we are unfortunately not aware of any developments. We have advised all tenants and landlords of this."

Sharma said he did not owe any money to landlords and would not comment any further when approached by the Herald last week.