Landlord failed to return bonds

Press, 15 February 1989, Page 32

Landlord failed to return bonds

A landlord has been fined by the Tenancy Tribunal for not returning bond money to his tenants. Mr John Petrie was ordered to pay $25 each in compensation to three tenants, and a report has been called for on a fourth case. Mr Petrie did not need to be ordered to pay back the bond money because he had arranged for payment before he appeared at the hearing yesterday. The Tenancy Bond Division of the Housing Corporation was also represented at the hearing as Mr Petrie had failed to pay the tenants’ bond money to the division.

Under the Residential

Tenancies Act, 1986, all bond money received from tenants must be paid to the division. Mr Petrie failed to do so in the four cases before the Court, and did not return the bond money when asked to by the tenants after they had moved out. Mr Petrie told the barrister hearing the cases, Mr Terry Sissons, he had not been able to pay back the money because of cash-flow problems. Mr Petrie owed one couple $lBO, another couple $390, and one man $3lO.

Mr Petrie has been a landlord since 1982 and leases 80 units.