Maggots and faeces under carpet at $650 per week Auckland property

Thursday, 5 July 2018

Jacqueline Gough found maggots and faeces underneath the carpet at 189 Lonely Track Rd.

Tenants who moved out of a property after finding maggots and faeces under the carpet were taken to the Tenancy Tribunal for the cost of replacing it.

Adjudicator Jane Day dismissed claims from both a landlord and a tenant for costs related to the hasty move-out from a rental property in Albany Heights, north Auckland.

Jacqueline Gough and another tenant moved into the Lonely Track Rd property on February 9 after signing a year-long tenancy for $650 per week.

The day after they moved in, they woke up to find themselves covered in insect bites, the June decision said.

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Suspecting fleas, the couple set off several flea bombs in the house, but woke up after the second night with bites all over their faces, torsos and arms.

They removed the carpet in the dining room, which Day said had live maggots inside it, and found both maggots and animal faeces underneath.

Property manager Matt Robertson came to the house, saw the tenants were covered in insect bites and agreed to end the tenancy immediately at no cost to them, Day said.

Robertson even sent two men 'free of cost' to help Gough load a container with their belongings, she said.

After Gough moved out on February 12, the property management company, Topgun Property Management, brought proceedings at the Tenancy Tribunal against Gough for the cost of the carpet, eight days of rent, a letting fee, and payment for the men who loaded the moving trailer.

Day agreed that Gough should not have removed the carpet from the property, saying it was not the tenant's property to remove.

However, it was also about 40 years old and well past its useful life, she said.

Taking depreciation into account, Day said Gough owed the landlord no compensation for replacing it.

Day also found the tenants had moved out at Robertson's agreement that they would not be charged for anything and he could not then change his mind about after they moved out.

The adjudicator applied the same logic to other claims for the letting fee and the cost of the men used to load the container.

'He advised that the tenants on 12 February 2018 that they would not be liable for any costs under the tenancy. He cannot now change his mind and claim the letting fee,' her decision said.

Counter-claims by Gough for money related to the move-out were also unsuccessful.

Those included a claimed $800 loss of earnings, $763.05 to hire a moving container, $1099 to replace a mouldy mattress, and a $140 commercial cleaning bill.

'If the bites were in fact flea bites, washing in a domestic machine on a hot wash with laundry detergent is an effective way to kill fleas,' Day said.