Auckland landlords had to pay $ 2,500 in compensation for the maggot epidemic, so their renters moved to tents with their children and fled.
Oaks Property Management rented a house in Glen Eden, western Auckland, to three mothers, Nikosha Clark. Clark was seven months pregnant with her fourth child at the time.
Approximately six months after moving in, on May 31, 2021, Clark sent an email complaining of an “unpleasant odor” that appeared to come from the ventilation system of the house. It was later discovered that it was the corpse of Possums.
According to a recently announced decision from the Tenancy Court, heat pump technicians refused to install bathroom ventilators, heat pumps, and kitchen hoods until they were sorted, resulting in a terrible odor.
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* The tenant left the house with a bag of human excrement on the carpet and a maggot in the oven.
Clarke and Oaks Property Management exchanged multiple emails on this issue over the course of two weeks, but the case was not removed.
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The maggot epidemic at this house in Glen Eden, western Auckland, was terrible, driving three mothers into tents and then to emergency accommodation.
In one of the emails, Clark said the landlord maggot from the corpse had fallen from the HRV vent.
“The tenant was vacuuming when the maggots fell on the carpet and floorboards … she advised that the maggots were in every room and now in all their belongings.”
The next day she sent an email to say that her 6-year-old daughter screamed and woke up as the maggot fell to her in bed.
To escape the smell and maggots, Clark and her children – 6, 5, 4 years old – moved to a tent in the front yard.
“This was June and it was a cold month to sleep outside,” the court ruling said.
The family used their neighbor’s toilet and shower, and the tent had no cooking facilities, so they had to live in a takeaway home.
Clark and her children were then placed in emergency accommodation for two weeks, during which time the children had to stop attending school.
When they found another rental property, they had to transfer to a school near their new home.
Ross Gibrin / Staff
The maggot fell from the vent to the child’s bed. (File photo)
Clark also wrote a letter from a midwife stating that she was suffering from the stress of not having stable accommodation in her health.
“Because of this, she suffered from pregnancy complications, including the threat of preterm birth.”
Oaks Property Management told the Tenancy Court that fumigant had processed the property but was unable to remove the corpse.
They said the animal “contracts and stays there within the unit and eventually the odor disappears.”
The landlord also said he would reimburse the renter for two weeks’ rent to solve the problem.
However, Nicole Walker, a judge in the Tenancy Court, said he did not mention the damage suffered by Clark and his children.
“When the issue was raised, the landlord should have acted faster and went further,” she said.
“Note that when the landlord learned that the renter and young children lived in the tent, it seemed that no assistance was provided.”
She ordered Oaks Property Management to pay Clark $ 2,500 to compensate for the trauma she suffered.