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Landlords hunt defaulting tenants
By BECK ELEVEN - The Press Last updated 05:00 10/06/2010
A group of landlords is looking for a Christchurch man and his elderly mother who owe thousands of dollars in rent at a string of properties.
Five landlords waited in vain outside the Tenancy Tribunal in Christchurch on Tuesday for Michael Walsh, 55, or his mother, Margaret, 85.
In the past three years, the tribunal has found that the pair owe about $20,000 in rent and cleaning expenses.
The landlords believe Walsh may be using his mother as an unwitting pawn to rent homes in some of the city's affluent suburbs.
Margaret Walsh's name appears on most of the tenancy agreements, and a warrant for her arrest will be issued if she fails to appear at a tribunal hearing next week.
In April, tribunal adjudicator Christine Hickey said she had presided over hearings in which Michael Walsh had signed a tenancy agreement "ostensibly for his elderly mother and manages to convince landlords to give him the keys either for no rent and/or bond paid, or for a very small amount of money".
"The pattern is then that no [further] rent is paid ... Mr Walsh has no credibility left in this tribunal," she wrote.
The landlords say Walsh tells them his mother is in a rest home but has been assessed as fit to live alone and that Work and Income will pay the rent.
The landlords agree that Walsh's well-dressed, well-spoken guise has led them to feel comfortable granting tenancy without checking references.
Walsh then gives a variety of excuses over why the rent remains unpaid.
He becomes difficult to contact and, once he finds out he is being taken to the Tenancy Tribunal, abandons the property, leaving "filthy homes" in his wake.
The landlords say they are concerned for Margaret Walsh's safety as she "seems like a fragile old woman".
Walsh moved out of Andy Stone's Fendalton Rd property between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Stone said he visited the property on Monday afternoon to find Margaret Walsh in bed in a cold room "looking scared as a mouse".
Stone listed Walsh's excuses at the tribunal hearing, including that he had run over his laptop, his phone worked for only 10 minutes at a time, he stayed at the house only while his mother was ill and that he had paid rent and could not explain why it had not appeared in Stone's account.
Lee and David Rathgen said they were due $1671 in unpaid rent at a Plynlimon Rd property in Fendalton.
They called more than 100 phone numbers in the To Let columns warning others.
During one of those calls, Lee Rathgen contacted Rob Birch.
"I'd been burnt," Birch said. "But he was on to the next people by then."
Alfred Lyons was disgusted by the state his Avonhead property was left in. He said the landlords' problem was time lag. By the time Walsh and his mother were reported to the tribunal they had moved and, despite a court order for overdue rent, the landlords were unable to locate the pair.
Walsh did not return calls to The Press yesterday.
Do you know or have you rented property to Michael Walsh? Do you know where he is? Email [email protected].
By BECK ELEVEN - The Press Last updated 05:00 10/06/2010
A group of landlords is looking for a Christchurch man and his elderly mother who owe thousands of dollars in rent at a string of properties.
Five landlords waited in vain outside the Tenancy Tribunal in Christchurch on Tuesday for Michael Walsh, 55, or his mother, Margaret, 85.
In the past three years, the tribunal has found that the pair owe about $20,000 in rent and cleaning expenses.
The landlords believe Walsh may be using his mother as an unwitting pawn to rent homes in some of the city's affluent suburbs.
Margaret Walsh's name appears on most of the tenancy agreements, and a warrant for her arrest will be issued if she fails to appear at a tribunal hearing next week.
In April, tribunal adjudicator Christine Hickey said she had presided over hearings in which Michael Walsh had signed a tenancy agreement "ostensibly for his elderly mother and manages to convince landlords to give him the keys either for no rent and/or bond paid, or for a very small amount of money".
"The pattern is then that no [further] rent is paid ... Mr Walsh has no credibility left in this tribunal," she wrote.
The landlords say Walsh tells them his mother is in a rest home but has been assessed as fit to live alone and that Work and Income will pay the rent.
The landlords agree that Walsh's well-dressed, well-spoken guise has led them to feel comfortable granting tenancy without checking references.
Walsh then gives a variety of excuses over why the rent remains unpaid.
He becomes difficult to contact and, once he finds out he is being taken to the Tenancy Tribunal, abandons the property, leaving "filthy homes" in his wake.
The landlords say they are concerned for Margaret Walsh's safety as she "seems like a fragile old woman".
Walsh moved out of Andy Stone's Fendalton Rd property between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Stone said he visited the property on Monday afternoon to find Margaret Walsh in bed in a cold room "looking scared as a mouse".
Stone listed Walsh's excuses at the tribunal hearing, including that he had run over his laptop, his phone worked for only 10 minutes at a time, he stayed at the house only while his mother was ill and that he had paid rent and could not explain why it had not appeared in Stone's account.
Lee and David Rathgen said they were due $1671 in unpaid rent at a Plynlimon Rd property in Fendalton.
They called more than 100 phone numbers in the To Let columns warning others.
During one of those calls, Lee Rathgen contacted Rob Birch.
"I'd been burnt," Birch said. "But he was on to the next people by then."
Alfred Lyons was disgusted by the state his Avonhead property was left in. He said the landlords' problem was time lag. By the time Walsh and his mother were reported to the tribunal they had moved and, despite a court order for overdue rent, the landlords were unable to locate the pair.
Walsh did not return calls to The Press yesterday.
Do you know or have you rented property to Michael Walsh? Do you know where he is? Email [email protected].
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