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Tenants kicked out after incidents including sweeping dog poo onto neighbours

Author
Vaimoana Tapaleao, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 26 May 2020, 5:05PM
The apartment block on Rosedale Rd in Albany. (Image / Google)
The apartment block on Rosedale Rd in Albany. (Image / Google)

Tenants kicked out after incidents including sweeping dog poo onto neighbours

Author
Vaimoana Tapaleao, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 26 May 2020, 5:05PM

A family has been kicked out of a property after ongoing complaints from neighbours - including a tenant sweeping dog poo onto the unit downstairs.

The Tenancy Tribunal has ordered Lulu Charlotte Meijler and William Coulter to pay their landlord almost $1500 after months of dealing with complaints from neighbouring properties and multiple call-outs by police to an apartment block in Albany, Auckland.

Documents show the anti-social behaviour also related to the tenants having multiple visitors at the home when the country was under Covid-19 alert level 4 lockdown - the most strict of the levels.

"This was especially troubling as the tenant had written to [the] landlord telling the landlord that she had tested positive to Covid-19," documents show.

That incident was one of 13 examples of the complaints received against the tenant and presented to the Tenancy Tribunal.

Another included Meijler, who owns a small dog, sweeping dog faeces from her decking onto the gardens and neighbouring properties below her.

Other complaints were in relation to fighting, the tenant not cleaning up after her dog and jamming the apartment block's main door to allow her visitors into the complex.

'Neighbours felt frightened, stressed and upset'

The tribunal was also told of an incident in which a shade sail delivered to one of the neighbours was instead picked up by the tenant and hung on the back of the balcony.

"When the neighbour confronted the tenant - and asked for it back - the tenants said they had ordered one identical and that they had mistakenly taken the wrong package and gave it back to the neighbours."

Up to five neighbouring units had complained to the apartment body corporate or to the landlord - named as the Lemmens Family Trust Sue Lemmens - directly since the tenants had moved in last October.

"The complaints include multiple occasions of screaming, fighting and yelling at the property," documents show.

"They gave statements to the tribunal which show that they fear for their safety. The neighbours feel frightened, stressed and upset.

"The neighbours have rung the police on multiple occasions about the tenants."

During the application to terminate Meijler's tenancy, the landlord discovered that her tenant had been the subject of several tribunal orders - including one for anti-social behaviour and rent arrears associated with the home they were in immediately before.

In the current case, Meijler had managed to move into the unit after telling the landlord she had no rental history in New Zealand as she had just moved back from living in Australia.

The landlord was awarded a total of almost $3000 that also included a $1500 payment from the Bond Centre.

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