Billed $2200 with no warning: Debt collectors put on to grandmother who refused to pay

Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Tauranga grandmother Sue Jayes has always prided herself on being debt-free. That changed when Public Trust fees increased without her knowledge. Tony Wall reports.

When Sue Jayes’ husband had a massive stroke three years ago, a social worker at the hospital helped her with the paperwork to become his official property manager.

“They did it all for me,” she says. “I didn’t know what to do, my world had just been turned upside down.

“They organised it all for me, there was no cost, no charges, nothing.”

Jayes, 59, got on with her upended life, as her husband went into rest home care and she was left to pay the bills from her part-time job as an office administrator.

Contact the reporter: tony.wall@stuff.co.nz

As his property manager, she was required to present annual financial statements to be audited by Public Trust, the Crown entity mandated by law to examine financial statements of protected people.

Jayes admits she got behind with the paperwork, and received a reminder email last year saying she was late.

She says there was no warning that fee changes were about to come into effect.

As Stuff revealed on Sunday, the Government last October removed a subsidy it had been paying for people with assets below a certain threshold, meaning they were never charged for the Public Trust audits.

They are now charged at an hourly rate of $247 (up from $132).

The Government justified the change by raising the asset and income threshold at which property managers must be appointed, meaning fewer people had to submit the annual statements.

Te Puke woman Irene Rivers described to Stuff the shock of receiving a bill for $2447 from Public Trust, as she knew nothing of the fee changes.

Rivers has now lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the charges and the way they were implemented.

Jayes says she was also caught unawares.

The first she knew was when Public Trust sent her an interim bill for a few hundred dollars earlier this year, she says, followed by a final bill of $2223.

“I said, ‘I’m not paying, I haven’t got any funds, [my husband] hasn’t got any funds’.

“They kept sending me messages, and I’m going, ‘I’m not paying, I can’t pay’.

“They eventually handed me over to the debt collectors. That’s never happened before, I pride myself on being debt-free.”

Jayes says she contacted the Ministry of Justice and local MPs, but no-one could help.

Finally, she reached an agreement with Public Trust, she says, whereby she paid a $500 lump sum, with the remainder to be paid off at $10 a week.

Public Trust spokeswoman Georgie Hills says when the fee changes came in, Public Trust notified about 900 of the more than 2000 property managers nationwide who had reports awaiting examination.

“As we did not have a report on hand for Sue’s husband at the time the changes came in, she would not have received advance communication from Public Trust.”

Hills says her understanding is that Family Court employees were advised to notify property managers of the changes four weeks in advance of a statement’s due date.

Public Trust may refer an account to a credit control agency if payments aren’t made by the due date and reminders go ignored, Hills says.

“However, we always aim to work with people to set up practical and manageable repayment terms to suit their situation.”

The protected person is liable for the costs, rather than the property manager, Hills says.

Jayes says she’s recently had to renew the property managership for another three years, which involves submitting more financial statements, and expects new bills to arrive soon.

It’s hard enough to keep her head above water as it is - having to cover mortgage, rates, insurance and rest home premiums - without the added cost, Jayes says.

“The cost of living is absolutely atrocious, and to have this added on top of it - it’s unbearable.”

Because she and her husband jointly own their home, their assets are well above the $25,000 threshold at which a property manager must be appointed.

Jayes says that she’s had to set up separate bank accounts because initially Public Trust was auditing their joint account.

“What I earn, and what I do with my money, is nothing to do with them.”

Jayes says the final invoice wasn’t itemised, so she’s not sure why it was so high, although she accepts that she’d essentially just sent through bank statements, invoices and receipts.

“They want it all written down like old-school book-keeping - I haven’t done that for years.”

(Hills says the size of the invoice reflects that Public Trust reviewed two years’ worth of statements.)

Jayes says she finds being a property manager time-consuming and stressful.

“We’ve been married since 1989, I’ve been doing the finances for 36 years, why would I rip my husband off now?”

She feels that the Government’s new fee structure is unfair.

“These are vulnerable people that we’re dealing with, and they’re just extracting money from them.”