Evicted man faces $8000 cleanup bill
FIRST he was kicked out of his council flat, then came the $8000 bill.
Bart Kropelnicki was left temporarily homeless after the Wellington City Council evicted him from his Taranaki St council flat in early August.
Shortly after he received the bills addressed to him with the council’s City Housing unit as the payee.
But the council says the bills were not intended for him and were instead evidence for the Tenancy Tribunal.
They included a staff member for five hours at $64.46 per hour for ‘‘supervising and assisting with packing’’, and three staff at $39.91 per hour for four hours each to take rubbish to the tip.
Another person was charged at $76.22 an hour to remove and dispose of needles – which Kropelnicki said he had none of and the council could not immediately supply photographic proof of.
‘‘This is character assassination by them saying I’m an intravenous drug user – I’m not.’’
He took a drug test yesterday to prove this.
Carpentry on the home came to nearly $1800, yet he said the council had no plans for new tenants in it till it was demolished.
There is also the $4225 bill to ‘‘loan and transport’’ the possessions that were removed from his house after he was evicted.
The final bill, after repairs, a new smoke alarm and wiring checked, came to $8224.13.
The Tenancy Tribunal has given him two working days to clear his stuff out of storage before it is disposed of.
Kropelnicki, who has found accommodation in Mt Victoria, gets by on a benefit of less than $250 a week, of which $140 goes on rent.
‘‘First they made me homeless and now they are crippling me with an $8000 bill . . . It may as well be $1 million – there is no way I can pay it.
‘‘The way the council housing is, they will bankrupt me anyway to get the money.’’
The council knew his financial situation because it gave him the Taranaki St rental as he was on a low income and had suffered a traumatic brain injury, he said.
The council has said the eviction was a last resort, and safety had become a serious concern in the cluttered home.
Council spokesman Clayton Anderson said the invoices were not intended for Kropelnicki and had not been posted out.
In a recent Tenancy Tribunal hearing about disposing of his chattels the invoices were handed to a judge and then on to Kropelnicki, Anderson said.
Kropelnicki would be sent a final invoice once the council had figured out what to actually charge him – a figure expected to be substantially less than $8000.
Factors, including the state of the property before Kropelnicki moved and wear and tear, would be taken into account.
But, as with any tenancy bills of more than $100 the case would go to the Tenancy Tribunal.
The council had not ruled out letting the house again before it was demolished, he said.
Now his gear was neatly stacked in one storage room and two working days to move it out ‘‘should be enough time’’, he said.