Serepisos moves on but action threatened
Former TV star Terry Serepisos has cleared out of his Miramar home, taking with him a shower nozzle and a raft of chattels but leaving a lonely potato chip and a mystery puddle.
The move out of the eastern Wellington house on Tuesday marks an end to the curious saga of Serepisos versus the home’s new owner, Matthew Ryan.
But it opens a new chapter and potentially another legal battle over the disappearance of chattels – including a built-in stovetop, oven and rangehood, dishwasher, two heat pumps and the downstairs shower nozzle.
Just what Serepisos was entitled to take comes down to one contract versus another, and whether the one Serepisos relies on had lapsed in the 70-plus days he has been technically squatting in what was until recently his mother’s house.
Ryan got into the house yesterday when he took Stuff on a walk over unvacuumed floors and he pointed to gaps in the walls where some of the missing items used to be.
A rusty fridge stood in a shed, its freezer stocked with some leftover food – a lone uncooked potato fry lay nearby on the sticky concrete floor and close to a puddle of an unknown substance.
Upstairs a table was left in the bathroom where a second shower head was left intact. In one of the three bedrooms a lamp and security monitor drawers.
Ryan vows he will again begin legal action against Serepisos after he allegedly took a selection of whitegoods and household fittings from the Caledonia St home when he left.‘‘Any such monies retrieved will be donated to Women’s Refuge.’’
While Serepisos did not deny taking the items, he said Ryan had no chance of winning back possession of the chattels because sat atop
aset of of the contract, signed on September 10, which struck the items out. Ryan could, however, purchase the items back from Serepisos’ mother.
Serepisos said Ryan was using his former reputation against him and stringing the media along a false line. He and his family were being harmed in the process and his mother, who recently had a hip operation, just wanted to be left alone.
If Serepisos had taken the chattels at the time of settlement in September he would have been legally allowed to, Ryan said.
But his lawyer outlined a 76-day lapse which meant the items fell into Ryan’s possession.
The heat pumps and a stove were hard-wired which meant they were not chattels, Ryan said.
The Serepisos versus Ryan feud goes back to a series of loans that turned bad – though Serepisos says there is now no outstanding debt.
Those loans forced the mortgagee sale of two properties owned by Serepisos’ mother.
A third property in Caledonia St – which Serepisos and his mother lived in – was bought by Ryan without Serepisos’ knowledge.
Ryan has been trying to get Serepisos out since and in one incident the encounter ended in a physical altercation.
Serepisos took a Tenancy Tribunal case last week, claiming Ryan was harassing him and should stump up $35,000.
But an adjudicator said Serepisos did not have a valid tenancy agreement, meaning he was technically squatting and was therefore in the wrong court.