Great! Several weeks of dirty dishes!
Over the past eight years, I have spoken to many Landlords with regard to abandoned properties who were not fully aware of the law pertaining to this problem.
With this in mind, following is a brief outline of this part of the RTA:-
To ascertain that the property has been abandoned the rent must be in arrears. You must have reasonable grounds to think that the tenant/s have left and are not intending to return. If you ascertain this and you know their whereabouts, you must obtain in writing from them that they are returning possession to you.
I find the latter somewhat absurd as generally speaking tenants abandon properties mainly because they are in arrears and are very unlikely to let you know their whereabouts!!! If you cannot obtain the above in writing, you must apply to the tenancy Tribunal for possession of YOUR property! Even though the tenant may not be there, you must still give notice of your intention to inspect the property (48 hours). You can be fined up to $1000.00 for entering a tenancy unlawfully.
Upon completing an inspection, if you find the tenant has left belongings there, you must apply for a disposal order. However, you may remove any perishables. Alternatively, you may remove them if they are worth more than storage costs but they must be placed in secure storage for 35 days.
You cannot dispose of any personal documents. If these (personal documents) are not claimed within 35 days they must be given to the Police.
If the goods are worth less than the storage/transporting costs, you can dispose of them immediately.
Should you sell the goods after the said time period, you can offset this against any debt owing. Should you sell the goods after the 35 days, then all proceeds must go to the Department of Building and Housing until all claims are settled.
The tenant can claim goods that have been in storage and the Landlord can claim costs for storage etc. A receipt must be given to the Landlord by the tenant should this occur.
Finally,to avoid further loss of rent, it is obviously quicker to place belongings into storage so that you can re-tenant the property.
I trust that you have found this informative and should you have any queries regarding tenancy matters please feel free to give me a call. For those of you who are not aware I have recently left the “Corporate” world and have ventured out on my own and as such looking for quality rental properties to manage in the Whangarei area. If you are interested, again feel free to call me.
This article was kindly provided by Judy Morgan.
Judy Morgan Property Management – Whangarei
