In a brief but interesting rubbish-related story that surfaced recently in New Zealand, a tenant was ordered to cough up $4,355 for vacating the property without disposing of all her rubbish prior to departure.
The case ended up going to a what’s known as a ‘Tenancy Tribunal’ in NZ, and in the ruling earlier this month she was ordered to pay the cost of removing all the rubbish as well as additional gardening work and the use of a locksmith to get the door lock replaced.
Abandoning the property
It appears that the problem first started way back in October 2020 when the tenant decided to move out of the property but didn’t bother letting the landlord know or send back the keys to the property. In a separate tribunal back then, she was also ordered to pay $2592.86 in unpaid rent.
It turns out that the tenant has actually left during the previous month of September and the landlord only discovered the property was empty when attending a routine inspection. In NZ, the law states that if a tenant leaves a property without telling their landlord, the landlord can claim rent for a further 21 days after the date that the property is found to be abandoned.
The ruling
According to the adjudicator:
“The tenant did not leave the premises (including the exterior of the premises) reasonably clean and tidy and did not remove all rubbish.”
Although the actual amount was described as “considerable”, there aren’t any details regarding the weight and type of rubbish that was left, nor what state the garden was in.
The moral of the story
Although certain rules and regulations in New Zealand may differ from those in the UK, it’s reasonable to assume that rental tenants over here may also end up finding themselves in hot water if they do something similar.
With this in mind, it’s a far safer (and less stressful) course of action to make sure you clear out your unwanted rubbish before you hand back the keys to your rental property. If you want to dispose of your rubbish correctly, we have two convenient and affordable options. You can either hire one of our skips when having a clearout or for bulkier loads, you can use our rubbish removal service instead.