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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui mother of six desperate for new rental home after being told to leave

Jacob McSweeny
By Jacob McSweeny
Assistant news director·Whanganui Chronicle·
3 Dec, 2018 04:00 PM3 mins to read

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Melissa Walsh has to leave her Wanganui East home by January 31.

A Whanganui mother-of-six has less than two months to find a new home for her and her kids.

And she says they'll live out of her car if they need to.

Single mum Melissa Walsh received a letter from her property manager, Ray White, at the start of November telling her she would have to leave the Whanganui East home she has rented for 10 years.

The owner is planning to renovate the tired property, and Walsh and her children have to go by the end of January.

"They don't care," Walsh said.

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"They said the next day they're getting people in to renovate ... they just don't seem to care.

"I'm stressed ... just before Christmas as well, especially when you're doing it by yourself.

"I've got no family support, and there is no housing whatsoever out there."

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Walsh, who needs at minimum a four-bedroom house, has applied to Housing New Zealand for a property but she's been told there's a waiting list of up to three months.

She doesn't know what will happen if something doesn't turn up before Janurary 31.

"We'll be living in my car ... that's not even going at the moment," she said.

It is more likely, however, that the family Walsh would be put in emergency housing supplied by Housing New Zealand.

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Four of Walsh's children have health issues. Two have heart problems, one suffers from seizures and tourettes and her youngest, Jaxs, has global development delay.

The Walsh family also have a number of pets, which makes securing a private rental very difficult. On Trade Me at the moment there are six houses for rent in Whanganui that have four bedrooms, but none will accept pets.

Walsh was getting support from Jigsaw and a few friends in searching for a suitable place.

A representative at Ray White Wanganui, the property manager, was sympathetic to the family's situation.

She believed Walsh was in line to get a Housing New Zealand property in February but she wasn't sure when exactly.

"At the end of the day it's just wear and tear of the property. The property has suffered a lot of wear ... so we're going to do it up.

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"The owner's really just wanting to ... upkeep his rental. He can't do that while she's in there.

"We would offer her another property - of course, we would - but we don't have anything that's more than three bedrooms in her budget at the moment on our books."

Ray White said Walsh had good references, wasn't a bad tenant and paid her rent on time.

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