"Scumlord"

[Lilith7]

Sounds just charming; insisting on 'tenants who vote National'




https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-...risis-hero


"Bennett says his rentals are often the cheapest on the market, and it isn’t realistic for the Government to expect his “entry level homes” to be “four or five star” quality.

“They’re [MBIE] going on about vulnerability like I'm forcing people to live in these homes.”

However, his former property manager, former tenants and a previous Tenancy Tribunal ruling say the properties were neglected, and Bennett played a crucial role in that.

Liz Ranger, owner-operator of the now-defunct QCPM, was once family friends with Bennett.

“Lee Bennett needs to be shut down,” she says.

Another former tenant, Teryn Powell, also went to the Tenancy Tribunal in 2020 with complaints about disrepair and Bennett.

Powell says Bennett was pleasant, even “lovely”, when her tenancy began, but as problems persisted the relationship soured.

Powell went without consistent hot water for more than two months, forcing her and her toddler to shower at her parent’s house.

When she suggested a rent reduction or compensation, Bennett “laughed in my face”, she says.

While Bennett sees his rentals – now fewer than 40 – as helping those who can’t afford to live elsewhere, Ranger believes it means Bennett has got away with not acting on issues, because his vulnerable tenants wouldn't complain.

Lack of repairs and misleading information

Ranger says she sometimes instructed tenants to issue her a 14-day notice to get work done in a timely and professional manner.

She says if she hired an external contractor to progress necessary repairs, she’d get an “abusive” call from Bennett. “He’d say ‘you’re bankrupting me’.”