Auckland landlord suffers $99k meth damage

Hillsborough as seen from Onehunga. Picture / supplied.

A landlord of an Auckland property says she suffered $99,958 of damage to her place in Hillsborough when it was rented.

Esther Simmons of Christchurch appeared on last night's Fair Go programme on TVNZ, telling of extensive damage to her Hillsborough Rd house.

Extensive work had to be undertaken at the property when it was vacated, mainly due to methamphetamine contamination, Simmons said. Repairs were carried out to walls, floors and fixtures which had to be replaced.

"It's the worst thing that's ever happened in all the years I've been renting," Simmons said.

The property was managed by Barfoot & Thompson and Simmons said neighbours had complained of the smell of marijuana coming from the rental place, objecting to the many people living there, dogs at the no-pets place, cars blocking access and people arriving regularly in the night, including around 3am.

"The unit you were supposed to manage with care was damaged, incurred $99,958.00 worth of damage, none of which is recoverable through my insurance company," Simmons said in a letter to Barfoot & Thompson.

Footage was shown of a police raid on the property which Simmons said occurred in August, 2016.

But the agency said drug use could not be eliminated and it had taken all steps possible when it was alerted to issues.

"As regards the suggestion that a neighbour raised potential drug use on 8 June 2016, that is not correct. Our emails with the neighbour at that time show that this was not raised. A regular inspection took place on 27 July 2016 with no evidence of any illegal activities being present. Had the suggestion of drug use been raised beforehand, we would most certainly have investigated it. After being advised of potential drug use at the property, we immediately sent an email on 12 August 2016 seeking further information," Barfoot and Thompson said in a statement.

"Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the earliest that the next inspection could take place was 24 August 2016, or by an order of the Tenancy Tribunal. We required actual proof to support an application to the Tenancy Tribunal. We sought it, but did not receive it. Matters moved quickly from there, with a police raid which then allowed the tenancy to be terminated," Barfoot and Thompson said.

"Again, while we take all reasonable, practicable and legal steps to minimise the risk to our landlord clients, it is a risk that unfortunately can never be eliminated, and will either be borne by the landlord or insured against. We have the utmost sympathy with the situation our landlord found herself in, have throughout rendered full assistance and are willing and able to render any further assistance that we can," Barfoot said.