problem getting bond refunded

[CjChris]

Hi there.

My daughters were renting a house in Wellington for a year, and in November, they moved from Wellington to Papamoa just before we all moved back to the US.

Their landlord did not meet us at the Wellington house on the day we moved them out. He was supposed to, but he texted saying he had a work emergency with broken water pipe in Lower Hutt and didn't think he'd make it before we left Wellington. He said he would forward the singed bond form to us in Papamoa.

I took pictures of the house just in case there were any questions about the condition we left it in (cleaner than when they moved in!). I left a detailed note about things, made sure he had our address in Papamoa for sending the bond form, etc. I made sure to remind him that the rent had always been paid on time, and that we appreciated knowing that our daughters were living in such a safe and warm house.

A week later, nothing.

My daughter called and left him a message. He texted back later saying he would put the form in the mail that day.

A week went by. Nothing. Another text. This time he said he must have "lost the form" and would have to get a new one.

We left New Zealand without telling him, but we had arranged forwarding service for our mail, so knew we'd still get the bond refund form at some point.

We've been in the US for nearly a month, and still nothing. I do NOT want him to know we've moved out of the country (probably never get a dollar then), so I asked a friend in NZ to text him (acting as me) to ask about the status of the bond refund form. He replied that it has been "misplaced at the office" and he might just "deposit the full amount" into our account next week.

I will call him on Skype next, since that won't give away my foreign phone number.

I strongly suspect that he spent the money and never deposited it with the tenancy tribunal or wherever bonds go.

I'm not sure how to handle this. It's NZ $1800.00 we are talking about here, so nothing to sneeze at!

Any suggestions? I have so much going on right now, and we could sure use that money!

Thanks,
Christine

[CjChris]

PS-- I do have the record of the money being paid out of my checking account, and my daughter has the copy of the forms signed the day they got the lease (but that is on the container!). She can't recall having received anything from anyone regarding the bond being lodged.

[Chiba]

All of the information you need to be able to deal with this is on the DBH website. NZ, in my experience, has a very clean system for dealing with tenancy issues. I forget the URL, but there's also a website someplace where you can look the landlord up to see if he's been involved in a disputed tenancy before.

[xanctus]

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/

contact them, they will help you out...Good luck!

[catt]

If your bond had been lodged with the government office you would have got the confirmation from them along with a reclaim form to be completed and returned to them signed by both parties when you leave the property. Thats what happened with us so i guess he never did lodge it i am sorry to say........keep chasing him and there is a small claims court you can go to for anything under $5000 if the worst comes to the worse. Good luck

[sophiedb]

Wrong country I know, but when we were in a very similar position in NSW, Australia we finally called the appropriate helpline and were told there was a form tenants could fill out to kickstart the process. We did and it worked: 100% bond returned.

Hope your problem works out soon!

[CjChris]

Thanks, everyone. I called the DBH and they have NO record of the bond being lodged. They said if he had indeed lodged it as he said, he could call them with bank account or check number and they could easily trace the deposit into their account. Otherwise, they figure he kept it. So, they gave me a number to call for advice if asking him for it straight out doesn't work.

I have left him a message telling him I called them and what they said. There is a template online for "ten days notice to landlord" that I will send next, I guess.

Thanks for the info, everyone. Fingers crossed that all will work out.

[MaryMc]

Get your daughter to send the bond refund form in - in CAN be sent with just her signature on.

As he hasn't lodged the bond, he's in for a fine of "up to" $750 - which will go to your daughter.

Good luck

[Super_BQ]

I recall talking about the tenancy agreement sometime 1 or 2 years ago in another thread. My argument was clear that landlords do not play 100% with the rules set out by the tenancy agreement act and with lodging of the bond.

Thanks, everyone. I called the DBH and they have NO record of the bond being lodged.

It looks like the only action you can do is through small claims court. For the amount you're claiming for, it may not be worth the hassle for many people. What makes it worse is the landlord could of ran overseas so in the best case, you may still get a judgment ruling in your favour, it's impossible to track down the person abroad and know what bank accounts you can claim $ from.

So as a lesson to other tenants, MAKE SURE THE BOND IS LODGED. Tenants have a duty of care to follow up through a confirmation at DBH. If it's not shown up, you're not protected!

BQ

[victoria24]

getting some mates to go round and have a "quiet word in his shell like" usually works