Things can go wrong you know!
Don't let this happen to you!
This warning came after a Dunedin property owned by a Mosgiel based landlord was trashed by evicted tenants.
Bags of used disposable nappies were strewn over the floor among piles of rubbish and the house was littered in cat faeces. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was vermin in here .. somewhere," he said.
"I made a mistake in not checking out the tenants properly and it has been a headache ever since," he said.
What followed was three months of trying to evict the residents, involving lawyers, the Tenancy Tribunal and finally the police.
He now faced a large cleaning bill and a vacant property, and warned people about the perils of becoming a landlord.
"This whole process has cost me thousands."
Otago Daily Times - Saturday 12/07/08
Repentant tenant
A 22-YEAR-OLD Dunedin man has been left red-faced and facing a charge of assault after interrupting a person he believed was an intruder inside his Pitt St flat on . Wednesday night.
As the supposed intruder left the house, the man gave chase and punched him in the face, Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken said. "It was about then he realised the intruder was in fact...
his landlord."
Otago Daily Times - Saturday 12/07/08
Ill-health blamed on mouldy flat
By SARAH HARVEY 
FOUR first-year university students believe they are suffering health issues after living for half a year in a damp, mouldy and poorly insulated flat.
When the Otago Daily Times visited yesterday, wallpaper was peeling from the walls of the flat, ceilings were sagging under the weight of leaks, mould was growing on the bathroom walls and ceiling, the carpet was disintegrating and the spouting was broken.
The four girls, all from Dunedin, signed up to the City Rise, flat during the warmer months.
"The flat is in a condition that no person should ever have to live in, with broken windows, leaking ceilings, insane amounts of dampness and mould, and rooms that are impossible to heat in the winter and summer,"one of the flatmates said.
The tenants signed a 12-month lease which ends in December 08 and pay $280 a week in rent.
They compiled an A4 page of problems in the flat which they forwarded to their landlord, He said he was in the process of fixing the flat, by replacing spouting and putting on new weatherboards to replace rotten ones.
He said the house, like many others in the area, was old and it was therefore "impossible" to make it as warm as a new home.
The house was insulated and had a heat pump. He would be happy to supply the flat with a dehumidifier if it would alleviate some of the moisture problems.
The landlord came round one day, when it was raining, to fix leaky ceilings. He placed a bucket in the ceiling cavity to catch the leaks.
Ms Henderson claimed the bucket overflowed and the water damaged the carpet and lino. She said some of the windows in the living area were cracked while others had large gaps between the wooden frame and glass.
Two asthmatics in the flat said they had been wheezing and unable to control their asthma since moving into the flat.
Another said she had chills in her back which gave her constant pain for two weeks.
First-year students have been unwell since moving into a cold, damp and mouldy flat in Dunedin. Top right: The mouldy ceiling.
PHOTOS: STEPHEN JAOUIERY ODT