Property manager must pay $250 for not lodging bond
Gray lodged the bond ‘‘well after the time it should have been lodged and after the tenant had asked her several times to produce evidence that she had lodged the bond and approximately a month
after this application was filed’’. R Armstrong
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator
A South Canterbury property manager, who has been accused by her tenants and clients of failing to lodge bond and pass on rent money, has been ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to pay compensation for not lodging a bond.
In a May 31 ruling, tribunal adjudicator R Armstrong ruled that property manager Amanda Gray had ‘‘plainly committed an unlawful act’’ in not lodging the bond for a rental on Wai-iti Rd, and ordered her to pay the tenant $250 compensation.
The ruling said the tenant paid the $1560 bond to the landlord on January 29, 2021 – the first day of the tenancy – but Gray did not lodge the bond with the Bond Centre until May 25.
Armstrong said Gray lodged the bond ‘‘well after the time it should have been lodged and after the tenant had asked her several times to produce evidence that she had lodged the bond and approximately a month after this application was filed’’.
Under tenancy law, a bond must be filed with the Bond Centre within 23 working days of it being paid. The maximum amount of exemplary damages that can be awarded for not lodging a bond is $1500.
‘‘Because the bond has now been lodged, I am making an award towards
the lower end of the range,’’ Armstrong said.
‘‘But this business has caused the tenant a considerable amount of stress and inconvenience and that ought not to have happened.
‘‘Gray has not offered any explanation for the delay in lodging the bond.’’
Gray did not attend the hearing. Armstrong noted that while the tenancy agreement named South Canterbury Property Management as the landlord – a company of which Gray is the sole director and shareholder – ‘‘there is no evidence that the tenant was made aware she was acting on behalf of the company’’ and, as such, ‘‘Gray is personally liable as landlord’’.
In November 2019, Gray was ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to pay $600 compensation to a tenant for not lodging her bond, as well as $2500 for failing to provide adequate insulation.
Last month, at least two of the people who spoke to The Timaru Herald with concerns over bond payments not being lodged and rent not being passed on, said Gray had paid them back.