Large payout for tenants of Christchurch’s worst landlords

Saturday, 22 July 2023

Lee Bennett owned the 26 subpar rentals - which resulted in a large payout to former tenants.

The owner and property management company of some of Christchurch’s worst rentals will pay former tenants nearly $230,000 in compensation and face ongoing monitoring by investigators.

Investor Lee Bennett rented out 26 properties which were earthquake damaged and “in an extremely poor state”, risking the health of tenants.

Ray White New Brighton, also known as Results Realty, a property management company owned by Maxine Jones, managed Bennett’s properties and “significantly breached” tenancy law by failing to act on issues and uphold tenants’ rights.

Both agreed to a settlement with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in June, nearly three years after an investigation into the properties began.

Brett Wilson, national manager of MBIE’s tenancy compliance and investigations team, said although Bennett appeared to show “little regard” for the wellbeing of his tenants, it had been “extremely disappointing” to see a professional property management company fail to act and uphold tenants’ rights.

Glenn Sutton was one of the 26 tenants involved in the investigation. He said his house had structural issues which weren’t addressed while he lived there, including rot.

Wilson said even when Ray White New Brighton and Bennett were made aware of the investigation they failed to remedy issues in a timely manner.

He said the case stood out because of the large number of properties involved, which he said were bought by Bennett “as is, where is” following the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

A final settlement was reached in June, with Bennett paying a total of $163,000 in compensation and exemplary damages.

Ray White New Brighton pro-actively agreed to pay $54,995 in compensation in July 2022, and this year paid an additional $11,600 for exemplary damages.

Wilson said $229,630 had been paid to MBIE and would be distributed among affected tenants.

Ray White New Brighton, owned by Maxine Jones, paid over $66,500 in compensation to former tenants of properties it managed.

As part of the settlement agreement, the investigations team provided Bennett with a list of any outstanding work required to do on any of the 26 properties still being tenanted.

The investigations team will continue to monitor Bennett and Ray White New Brighton to ensure they follow the law, Wilson said.

He said Bennett and Ray White New Brighton came to investigators’ attention because of the number of previous tribunal actions against them regarding poorly maintained properties.

Investigators visited houses owned by Bennett in 2020 and found they were still earthquake damaged. Issues ranged from leaking roofs, damaged pipes, missing insulation, mould and holes in flooring.

Wilson said property managers need to ensure they are acting in accordance with legislation governing residential tenancies.

“Where they believe an owner is failing to support them to ensure the safety and wellbeing of tenants, they need to look at whether it is appropriate to continue to act for that owner.”

Brett Wilson, national manager of MBIE’s tenancy compliance and investigations, says his team will continue to monitor Ray White New Brighton and Bennett’s properties.

Former tenant Glenn Sutton was approached by MBIE investigators in 2020 after moving into a property owned by Bennett and managed by Ray White New Brighton.

Ray White New Brighton had only recently taken over management of the rental, previously managed for Bennett by Q C Property Management’s owner-operator Liz Ranger.

Ranger — who previously told the The Press she’d called Bennett a “scumlord” to his face for neglecting his properties — had warned the former tenant in Sutton’s rental that an MBIE investigation “might condemn” some of Bennett’s properties.

She said she had told Bennett, a family friend, about issues with his properties, but said he failed to act on issues in a timely and professional manner.

Bennett refuted Ranger’s claims and said he “sacked” her for failing her duties.

Sutton said he was promised by a Ray White New Brighton property manager that significant repairs would be made early in his tenancy, but only minor issues were acted on.

He took MBIE up on its offer to join 25 other tenancies in taking Bennett and the Ray White New Brighton to the Tenancy Tribunal because he thought it would result in the house being repaired.

Instead, Sutton and his whānau were issued a 90-day eviction notice by the landlord so the significant renovations could be made.

Although Sutton received money from the settlement, he told The Press on Friday it couldn’t compensate for the stress, energy and money it took to move house.

Through a Ray White spokesperson, Jones said she was glad the matter had been resolved and they could now focus on serving the New Brighton community.

Jones’ company had implemented significant changes to its property management business since MBIE began tribunal proceedings, the spokesperson said.

She did not respond to questions about ongoing work with Bennett.

Bennett was approached for comment.