Neighbour from hell's path of destruction

[essence]

07/02/2010

Antonyanne Reihana has pledged to try to cut down the number of visitors to her next rental property.
She's been described as the "tenant from hell" – trashing homes and making life miserable for her neighbours.

In the space of just three months Antonyanne Reihana – a 38-year-old mother of 10 – has been ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to pay $12,000 for repairs to a state house that was trashed and abandoned, and then to leave a privately owned home after neighbours complained of late-night visitors, police raids, all-night parties, threats and intimidation.

Security guards had to escort a landlord doing an inspection of the second property. Reihana is believed to have gang connections, but told the Sunday Star-Times she no longer associated with such people.

"I believe I'm a good neighbour ... I pay my rent... all I want to do is live peacefully. If people only gave me a chance," she said.

A source familiar with Reihana said "tenants from hell" like her were a small but significant group who wreaked havoc on communities and proved costly for landlords.

Reihana is believed to have had up to six other adults, including relatives and partners, and numerous children crowded into her homes.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3300807/Neighbour-from-hells-path-of-destruction

So, the Government is going to change the tax regime for property investing to make it more difficult for LL's to make such HUUUUUUUUUUGE (LOL!!) profits.

Bad tenant, repairs, judicial system, taxed to the bottom of your socks, tax on equity.

If Housing NZ is not prepared to have a woman like this as a tenant, why would any private LL even be bothered??

[muppet]

More from the above article

Photo: Grahame Cox
Antonyanne Reihana has pledged to try to cut down the number of visitors to her next rental property.



The bill included:
$2714 to repair eight holes in walls, damaged doors and door frames.
$100 to repair a ceiling, broken when Reihana's nephew fell through it while skylarking.
$259 to dispose of maggot-infested bags of kina and 3m3 of rubbish.
$1573 to replace a missing hot water cylinder.
$1073 to repair and clean the lounge, including missing smoke alarms, broken ranch slider windows and filthy walls.
$691 to repair the kitchen, including fire-damaged ceiling, filthy stove and cupboards.
$881 to clean the exterior of the house and mow the overgrown lawn.
Last month the empty house was destroyed by fire. Police are investigating – Reihana says it had nothing to do with her.

Housing NZ says its tenants were charged with $8.4 million worth of damage during the year to June 2009, with another $4.7m so far this financial year. A spokesperson said the organisation introduced a new policy last year of using 90-day notices to evict tenants who are "severely anti-social". So far, 25 such notices had been issued.

After leaving her Housing NZ property, Reihana moved to a privately owned home in Henderson, West Auckland. The landlord could not be reached for comment, but tribunal documents released last week state that neighbours complained of disruptive and noisy behaviour from tenants, the driveway being blocked by cars and Reihana allegedly allowing the property to be used for an "unlawful purpose".
Reihana conceded her son had stolen a television, necessitating a police raid, but disputed claims of noise and all-night parties. She was angry the tribunal had given her just four days' notice to move, and that the landlord had come to her property demanding rent at 6am.
She also showed the Star-Times a "petition" signed by neighbours saying she had not caused trouble.
Reihana said she had given up methamphetamine. "I don't care about the stuff, it's taken a few years, but I'm at a place I want to be emotionally and mentally." She has custody of three of her children, and is fighting CYF for the others.
Reihana agreed her house was often overcrowded, but mostly with children rather than adults. "I'm one of those ladies who if children haven't got anywhere to go, I take them under my wing."
She pledged to try and cut down on the number of people visiting her next rental property."There's a lot I can do better – not have my friends and family come over, but family's everything to me."

TIPS FOR LANDLORDS
Sources in the security industry say gangs and crime families often use a "mare" – a female associate, preferably with a child – as a presentable front-person to get a tenancy, then move in en masse. Such tenants will insist on two-year fixed-term tenancies, which are hard for the landlord to break.

Jeff Montgomery, of the Department of Building and Housing, offers the following tips for landlords:
Ask prospective tenants for photo ID such as a driver licence – some will use fake or slightly altered names.
Check whether the person has been taken to the Tenancy Tribunal at www.tenancytribunal.govt.nz.
Ask for references from previous landlords.
Do a credit check with Veda Advantage – www.vedaadvantage.com – look for signs of unpaid debt or court orders.
Ask for as much personal information as you can, so you can track the person down if they do a runner.
Ask all adults who intend to live at the address to sign the tenancy agreement, they will then be jointly liable for damage or unpaid rent.
Restrict number of vehicles permitted on property.

[essence]

The full breakdown of costs are listed on the TT website -

\\http://www.tenancytribunal.govt.nz/o...Id=09/02694/HE

$84 for Bond!! Oh, FFS!!!!!!

[Hawkeye77]

I like her comment on the Stuff website, "family means everything to me" does that justify her treating anyone not in her family like shit?

[SuperDad]

Animals like this don't evolve overnight. You can guarantee sshe has left a trail of destruction in the past.

I notice that there is only the one TT order against her, from the HNZ tenancy. (Actually 2, if you count both applications.) What this means is that when she has burned other LLs, she has not gone to TT.

I wonder what kind of checks HNZ does on its tenants?

Paul.

[Keys]

I wonder what kind of checks HNZ does on its tenants?

Paul.

I wonder what kind of checks PM companies, which are attached to RE companies, cary out.

[Munga]

I would love to know how she explained the missing hot water cylinder. How bizarre!

[essence]

Hey Munga

It's quite common for HWC's to go "missing" in houses. They're reasonably easily portable and easy to sell for cash.

If a house is vacant and it has a HWC, ALWAYS do a property inspection the day of settlement (preferably in the morning) and note any deficiencies.

It's amazing what can go "missing" in a house between conditional date and settlement date. Always pays to do that inspection - if it's missing you ask the vendor to either reduce the purchase price or delay the settlement date and instal a new HWC.

[motivated]

I know of someone who bought an ex state as a rental and all the copper spouting and downpipes were gone when he took over. Apparently that is not uncommon either in some lesser areas

[tickytickid]

i think one of my property managers has landed me with one of those tenants from hell types judgeing by the neighbours reports to me and all the trouble that they have caused in the street .

[essence]

Don't muck around - things will only get worse.

Issue a 90 day notice to vacate.

[Keys]

i think one of my property managers has landed me with one of those tenants from hell types judgeing by the neighbours reports to me and all the trouble that they have caused in the street .

Read your PM authority. Does it include reference/credit checks of the eventual tenants? If so, ask for copies of the reference/credit checks your PM did on this tenant. If they haven't done any then you will have a claim of negligence over the PM at a Disputes Tribunal hearing. Eventually you'll need to have bad tenants evicted. Be proactive in this instance.

[WGN ex-property manager]

This thread does raise the intersting question - when a tenanat is so badly behaved that HCNZ cannot handle them then what should society do with them?

Bad options include jail, continuosus trash tenanat merri-go-round, debtors prison, boot-camp rehabilitation, mass homelessness

I'm struggling to think of any good ones.

[Borgette]

In our town they usually end up in the cheapest (read most basic, oldest, most run down) caravan park, in a rented caravan that they also proceed to trash. The only good side of this is that a caravan costs a hell of a lot less than a house and its not so easy to rip off and trash the kitchen and bathroom facilities - which are usually so basic there is bugger all there to trash and have others coming and going in them.

Good for the tenants too as this seems to be a gray area as far as giving notice is concerned,so they know if they don't keep up they are out on the street the next day, also good as there is no power bill, water rates etc, just rental on site and rental on caravan .

The negative side is, these are not set up for permanent housing and its the kids again that suffer.

[humvee]

She appears to be appearing in the TT online listings again, with a continuation to a previous ruling