The Tenancy Tribunal ruled in favour of Pan Kiwi Property. Photo / supplied
The Tenancy Tribunal ruled in favour of Pan Kiwi Property. Photo / supplied
A property manager stopped one truck leaving a North Shore rental with the landlord's furniture but failed to stop the first truckload.
That tenant was found to have illegally removed many items of furniture via a truck.
The landlord won $16,200 for lost possessions and damage after the place wasleft unclean and untidy.
The Tenancy Tribunal said it accepted the manager's evidence that items listed in a claim against the tenant were provided when the rental period began.
But they were not there at the end of the tenancy.
Pan Kiwi Property won the case against Chee Fung Yap and Carmat Auto, which rented 23 Corricvale Way, Northcross near Browns Bay. Pan Kiwi's sole director and owner is Meng Zhao of Glenfield.
The tribunal heard from the manager but not the tenant who could not be contacted on the phone number specified in the notice of hearing.
The landlord sought rent arrears and compensation for the losses he suffered as a result of renting the house.
"The property manager's evidence is then when he visited the property to do the final inspection a truck was there with workers who had been instructed by the tenant to remove the house contents. The property manager identified some items on the truck as being the owner's chattels and prevented them being removed.
"But an earlier truck had already taken a load from the property," the tribunal said.
The loss was hard to quantify but photographs at the start of the tenancy certainly showed furniture items from Asia.
Corricvale Way, Northcross on the North Shore. Photo / Google Maps
"The furniture was largely quality furniture imported by the owner from China and there is little comparative valuation information available," the tribunal found.
There was also extensive damage to the house, according to the final inspection.
"I am satisfied that those costs result directly from the tenant's breach of his obligations and the landlord is entitled to compensation," the adjudicator said.
A large quantity of rubbish was left and the premises were left very dirty. The tenant didn't return the keys.
The landlord presented the tribunal with invoices for cleaning, rubbish removal and key replacement.
The tenant was ordered to pay $5500 to replace the furniture and chattels, $5220 in rent arrears, $4197 for rubbish removal, repairs and painting, $2000 for carpet repair and replacement, nearly $900 for cleaning, $851 to replace locks and keys but also has to pay water rates, curtain replacement, window repairs and loses the bond of $3400.
All up, the landlord won $19,600 but keeps the bond so that was reduced to $16,200.
The tribunal said tenants must leave properties reasonably clean and tidy, take away all rubbish, return keys and security devices and leave chattels behind.
Final inspection of the Northcross property showed that tenant had not done that.
The landlord did not claim for all that was lost.
"The property manager says that the sums claimed relate only to the more major items that were taken and result from the owner giving information about the purchase cost of the chattels with a significant discount to allow for depreciation since it was bought."
The tribunal found the landlord's claim was reasonable.
But the landlord did not have insurance cover for the damage to the rental. The damage must be regarded as intentional because it resulted from ongoing issues of the premises.
Broken windows and damaged carpet meant that repairs were needed.
