Landlords last to know of police raids
It can be months before property owners find out that tenants were manufacturing and dealing in meth, writes Rob Stock.
Don Nightingale’s Auckland investment property stands empty despite the housing crisis and a demand for rentals. In 2018 police executed a search warrant on the house, suspecting methamphetamine dealing at the semi-rural home.
The damage to the front door from the police raid paled in comparison with the clean-up bill for meth contamination, and it has left Nightingale fearful of renting his house out again.
At a tribunal hearing in October 2018, Nightingale said he knew he was in for a rough ride with tenant Lauren McKenzie (also known as Lauren Farquhar) after she moved into his Auckland property.
‘‘According to Mr Nightingale a ‘rowdy party’ was held at the property on the first night of the tenancy in 2018.
‘‘Following this, repeated damage was caused to the property . . . windows were broken, the front door had been kicked in causing serious damage. Pool fencing was damaged and safety gate removed and locks damaged.
‘‘All smoke alarms were removed or made inoperable, cigarette burns were throughout the house, all door locks were changed, extensive damage was caused to floor tiles, down pipes were removed . . . CCT cameras were installed without consent and serious damage was caused to roof tiles when cables were laid over and under the tiles causing serious leaks and damaged ceilings,’’ Nightingale told the tribunal.
On March 27, 2018 Nightingale received a letter from police telling him of a raid 12 days earlier ‘‘in relation to drugs and firearms offences’’.
Glass meth pipes, zip-lock bags, three sets of digital scales, an intravenous syringe, ‘‘several bongs for consuming cannabis’’, shotgun shells, and drugs were found, the tribunal recorded.
‘‘Due to the nature of the items recovered at the property we would strongly suggest that you consider having the property tested for methamphetamine contamination . . .’’ police said in the letter.
Seeking more information, Nightingale learned from police there had been ‘‘24 recorded intelligence and incident occurrences’’ at the property since January 2018, including visits from people with convictions for violence, drug, firearm and dishonesty offending, the tribunal said.
The damage was so extensive, the tribunal ordered McKenzie, who acknowledged methamphetamine had been smoked on the premises, pay him $30,165.15 for decontamination, loss of rent, repairs and rubbish removal.
Tenancy Tribunal rulings show police taking varying approaches to keeping landlords in the loop on raids, including one instance in which a landlord was told to keep away from a property about to be raided.
But even if police do tell landlords, it could be anywhere from days to months after raids have taken place – even in cases where they suspect methamphetamine pollution to the properties.
Landlords Renwick and Gillian Stewart were also warned by police to meth-test their property in a letter that came a day after a search warrant was executed at the home.
In February this year the landlords went to the tribunal, which ordered their tenant Riky Berland to pay them $5553.05 including $1300 in unpaid rent on their Barry Rd, Cromwell property, which Berland had left on August 4, 2018.
It also included just over $2000 to cover the cost to the landlords of replacing the front door, which was damaged during a police raid.
Tenants are responsible for damage caused in police raids because they were a reasonably forseeable damage directly arising from unlawful activities, tribunal referees have ruled.
Police took the proactive step of writing to the landlords on November 29, 2017. Detective Shaw from Alexandra Police said ‘‘strong evidence exists’’ that methamphetamine had been used at the property, the tribunal said.
In the case of a raid on a Tuakau property, police did not inform landlords Rebecca Gray and Chris Ellis for three months. The police letter told them that two people, including their tenant’s partner, had been charged with offences relating to the supply and possession of meth.
The raid took place on April 18 last year but the letter did not arrive until July 14.
The landlords had tested their property for meth on June 14. It showed four areas of the house were higher than the safe level recommended in the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s 2018 report.
Landlord Wei Peng Jiang learned his Auckland property could be meth-contaminated only after a new tenant had moved in.
Tenant Wayne Senk moved out on January 23, 2017, but it was not until March 8 that Jiang was notified the property had been used for the manufacture of methamphetamine.
‘‘The landlord was informed for the first time that police attended the property with a search warrant on 13 December 2016 and uplifted equipment (chemicals acetone and hydrochloric acid) believed to be used for the manufacture of methamphetamine. They also found a small amount of methamphetamine,’’ the tribunal said in its determination.
‘‘The police waited three months to inform the landlord of the drug test result. The property had
‘‘All smoke alarms were removed or made inoperable, cigarette burns were throughout the house, all door locks were changed . . . CCT cameras were installed without consent and serious damage was caused to roof tiles when cables were laid over and under the tiles causing serious leaks and damaged ceilings.’’ Don Nightingale catalogues damage to his property
been re-tenanted on 10 February 2017 before the police notification was received.’’
The new tenants had to move out so the property could be decontaminated.
At the tribunal hearing in December 2017, Senk admitted he used methamphetamine ‘‘occasionally at the property’’. The tribunal ordered him to pay the landlord $7173.49, including $1000 in exemplary damages for using the property for an ‘‘unlawful purpose’’.
Police told the Sunday Star-Times there was no legal obligation for officers to tell a property owner when a home had been searched, but tribunal cases show they often did, and would sometimes suggest landlords get their properties meth-tested.
The Search and Surveillance Act only requires police to notify the occupier of a property.
Andrew King, executive officer of the New Zealand Property Investors’ Federation, said there should be a duty on police to notify landlords of raids prompted by drug use and firearms.
‘‘Any form of meth use should be notified,’’ King said.
Landlords had an obligation to keep their
properties healthy for tenants, and should be told promptly about meth use so they could test, and, when needed, decontaminate before new tenants moved in.
Landlords should also be told immediately of any incidents at their properties which could indicate a future threat to their safety, including searches in which illegal weapons were found, King believed.
Nightingale said that once the damage was done, getting compensation – even if it was ordered by the tribunal – was unlikely. He engaged a debt collection company, but does not expect to get the money back, which is especially galling as police found cash at the premises during the raid.
Nightingale said that when meth cash was found at a house where dealing or manufacture had occurred, the money should be shared with landlords to help pay for decontamination.
The Government is failing landlords, and he is dismayed the focus remained on tenants’ rights.
It had not acted on the Office of the Prime
Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s 2018 report and set an official safe meth contamination level.
There remained stigma about meth contamination, when all but meth manufacture did not produce enough contamination to be a threat to human health.
King said the Government now planned to set standards next year.
‘‘We’re kind of in limbo,’’ he said. Nightingale said another risk to landlords was their ability to keep future tenants, who may be told by nosey neighbours about a property’s history.
He believed older landlords, who owned rental properties to supplement their meagre NZ Super, were unaware how prevalent meth use was.
He had sympathy for meth addicts – ‘‘it’s evil stuff’’ – and was moved to read a poem by an addict, who later committed suicide, on the power of the drug to take over and destroy lives.
‘‘She said, ‘If you try me once, it will be fine. If you try me twice, and you will get me for life. If you try me three times, I will never let you go’.’’
Insurance is expensive. He said he was quoted $70 a week for full meth decontamination cover.