Lewis was ordered to pay:
Rent arrears $98,536.51 Filing fee reimbursement $27Lock/key replacement $186.49 Animal carer fee $360 Hay bales $250Eviction/bailiff fees and costs $640.00 Total award $100,000
The decision said Lewis took over her tenancy in 2022 but no written agreement was prepared.
The landlord’s name was suppressed. How that amount of rent arrears was accumulated was not stated in the decision.
It was only two years later that the landlord sought the rent but the decision did not explain why the rent was left so long before an attempt at recovery was staged.
It wasn’t until 2024 that the landlord sought the money.
There were three subtenants, but Lewis was the main tenant, hence she was liable for the rent being paid.
The landlord provided rent records which stated the amount owing as of July 2024 was $145,760.
But to keep within the monetary jurisdiction this was reduced to rent arrears of $98,536.51 after deducting vacate costs.
The tenancy ended last July after she was evicted following a tribunal order.
Lewis did not vacate the property until the bailiff attended the property, the decision said.
Lewis said she could not remove all the items from the subtenants and the previous tenancy in the time she had.
She had to make arrangements for the 49 horses, cats, dogs and chickens to be moved from the property.
After the eviction, the Ministry of Primary Industries became involved due to concerns about the welfare of animals left on the property without proper supervision or care.
The ministry put in place obligations on the landlord to provide for the care for the animals left behind.
“The landlord was obliged to pay an animal carer to dress and bandage wounds on two horses, feed and attend to all the horses’ needs. The landlord had to pay for hay bales to be delivered to the property to feed the horses,” the decision said.
Lewis claimed she paid for those hay bales, but it is clear from the receipts that the landlord paid for the hay, the decision found.
The landlord also sought to recover the costs of security cameras set up after the eviction to protect the tenants’ remaining property, their property from the tenant or others coming back unlawfully to the property and surveillance on the animals left at the property.
In addition, there was a water problem.
“Immediately after the eviction, the landlord realised that there was no water supply to the paddocks to provide water to the horses left in the paddock and called the plumber.
“The tenant says there was nothing wrong with the water supply to the paddock, but you had to know how to divert the system from the house to the paddocks.
“The tenant says if she had been able to assist the landlord, she could have shown him how to divert the water supply and a plumber would not have been needed,” the decision said.
Attempts were made to contact Lewis.
Companies’ office records show Nicola Antoinette Lewis of Whitford is a director of Whitford Park Equestrian.
WPE Twilight Stables’ social media profiles are active, showing many people riding.
An email to that business resulted in the Herald being told it would be forwarded to Lewis.
There was no response after an inquiry about the case.
Inquiries were also made to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment for further information.
Neither could tell how the rent accumulated to that extent.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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