Tenants trashed the place and are now threatening to property manager and myself

[rx7rotary]

Hey guys,

I need an advice from some of you with some similar experience.

I had a tenant in for 2 years. They signed up with 2 weeks bond and 2 weeks in advance. During the 2 year and a bit, of their tenancy they have wore the place down considerably and on a number of occasions broke a window, lock, smashed the door, police was in and out etc.

Finally property manager went for an inspection and the tenant was not there, the neighbors told the property manager that tenants have left 3 weeks ago in a big argument and a fight, so property manager quickly went in to have a look and found 200 stolen laptops and other stolen goods.

Police came and seized the goods, and charged them with a conviction. Based on illegal activity inside the property and the property completely trashed now, carpets ripped out, kitchen smashed, walls kicked in etc, we managed to get the eviction notice to two weeks.

Now they are threatening the property manager that they will come to their house etc, also asking for money. They want some money in order not to trash the place even more. I am not sure what to do now....

I thought of telling them I will gift them some money once they take all of their belongings and clean the place or at least remove the rubbish... ?? not sure...

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Nick G]

Get the police involved this is a criminal act. Don't give them anything and the property manager should be speaking with the police about this also.

Man I feel for you. Don't back down. They will take everything they can squeeze and more if you give an inch.

[artemis]

Is there a Tenancy Tribunal order for damages, unpaid rent etc? If not this needs to be lodged to at least get the bond back, create a debt and put these tenants on the record as feral.

Your PM should be advising you - that is what you pay them for. 200 laptops? Have regular inspections been happening?

[Sportsvee]

Inform the police and see if you can trespass them. You might not be able to as for 2 more weeks they are the legal occupiers but worth a shot.

Otherwise as above.
Sorry to hear BTW.

[eri]

you would appear to be working with known crims here

think of leaving a hidden security camera somewhere to record their movements

http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics...-995357846.htm

[Keys]

Hello?

Finally property manager went for an inspection and the tenant was not there

Something sounds fishy in this post. To me, it reads like you have a totally slack PM. They left three weeks ago? And still paid rent for those three weeks?

It is the PM who is being threatened, not you. There is the possibility that the PM, in their absence of due care, has put bad tenants in and is now learning the error of their ways.

[rx7rotary]

Hello?

Something sounds fishy in this post. To me, it reads like you have a totally slack PM. They left three weeks ago? And still paid rent for those three weeks?

It is the PM who is being threatened, not you. There is the possibility that the PM, in their absence of due care, has put bad tenants in and is now learning the error of their ways.

Hi Keys, thanks for your response

Yes the rent was paid apparently during their absence... strange I know. But the rent comes from WINZ. I am thinking they were scared when police went in to seize the stolen property, now they might believe they will be arrested or something like that, who knows with these kind of profiles.

In regards to the PM, they are good, and it was my mistake for placing those tenants in there. I have only hired a PM across my properties 2 months after placing these tenants. So the mistake with the "right" tenant picking is absolutely mine.

I guess PM could involve Police a maybe more in order to protect from threats too.

There should be a tenant review website or something like that where after this kind of drama their full names, and the damage they caused as well as their photos get put up with a negative review so that the poor next landlord doesnt go through what I did.

Thanks

[rx7rotary]

Is there a Tenancy Tribunal order for damages, unpaid rent etc? If not this needs to be lodged to at least get the bond back, create a debt and put these tenants on the record as feral.

Your PM should be advising you - that is what you pay them for. 200 laptops? Have regular inspections been happening?

I guess all that has happened so far was Police was called on site, and PM logged for an eviction. Meanwhile the tenant handed in a two weeks notice which is great. I guess regular inspections have been happening this is what I was told. PM is a very genuine business and a person.

200 laptops apparently all stolen property.

[rx7rotary]

Inform the police and see if you can trespass them. You might not be able to as for 2 more weeks they are the legal occupiers but worth a shot.

Otherwise as above.
Sorry to hear BTW.

Get the police involved this is a criminal act. Don't give them anything and the property manager should be speaking with the police about this also.

Man I feel for you. Don't back down. They will take everything they can squeeze and more if you give an inch.

Hey SportSteve, yes thats what the PM has done, Police is now involved into this.

Nick G, cheers, yes it is a terrible situation to be in and not just financially but being asked for money and having a place trashed etc... sometimes I dont know if it is all worth the effort.

Cheers all!

[FJW]

Hi rx7rotary

Their threats are of a criminal nature, the police will intervene so I would go down that route.

Depending on the tenant whos threatening us but if we don't trust them then we will get the police involved. A lot of the time the bark is worse than their bite.....

Hope that helps

Fraser

Hey guys,

I need an advice from some of you with some similar experience.

I had a tenant in for 2 years. They signed up with 2 weeks bond and 2 weeks in advance. During the 2 year and a bit, of their tenancy they have wore the place down considerably and on a number of occasions broke a window, lock, smashed the door, police was in and out etc.

Finally property manager went for an inspection and the tenant was not there, the neighbors told the property manager that tenants have left 3 weeks ago in a big argument and a fight, so property manager quickly went in to have a look and found 200 stolen laptops and other stolen goods.

Police came and seized the goods, and charged them with a conviction. Based on illegal activity inside the property and the property completely trashed now, carpets ripped out, kitchen smashed, walls kicked in etc, we managed to get the eviction notice to two weeks.

Now they are threatening the property manager that they will come to their house etc, also asking for money. They want some money in order not to trash the place even more. I am not sure what to do now....

I thought of telling them I will gift them some money once they take all of their belongings and clean the place or at least remove the rubbish... ?? not sure...

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[ScottSI]

Always log threats with police and provide copies of texts, emails or specific times calls made to police. Why:

1 - Incase it is trashed after eviction you have track record for insurance claim that post tenancy.

2 - It is logged on police system so faster response time if someone is threatened on site.

3 - Police will often do drive bys if they know it is a volatile situation.

4 - If something happens more serious and evidence of threats documented.

If eviction has occured then the place should be secured (new locks, screw windows shut) & I even screw all internal doors if a messy eviction to slow movement through the house. Install a battery powered alarm to ward off vandals.

Your property manager took over after 2 months and tenants have been in 2 years? You should have written inspection reports for every 3 or 4 months and if they haven't been doing their job then go them for costs as not doing their job.

Did all the damage just suddenly happen???

[skid]

Not so sure about screwing windows and doors shut .
Aside from the obvious damage of doing that -vandals are just more app to kick the doors down in retaliation.

[pjtj]

I had similar situation with one my property,
Best thing is to stay away totally from the direct conversation with any one altogether
Now you must engage a good property lawyer if possible barrister and your property lawyer
will then engage the right people to tackle this issue with the help of police.
This is a civil and criminal case.
Do not tell them where you live, else they will come to your house and may do damage to your property
and harm the family.
Try this barrister in the city 09 369 5696

[Viking]

Can you be sure who is the worst? Barrister or tenant?

[cube]

Your property manager took over after 2 months and tenants have been in 2 years? You should have written inspection reports for every 3 or 4 months and if they haven't been doing their job then go them for costs as not doing their job.

Did all the damage just suddenly happen???

The implication I got was that it was self-managed (or not) up until 2 months ago.