By Lachlan Forsyth
This is a story about a regular house, in a regular neighbourhood. It could have happened to any family.
Instead it was James Fuller's family, and the Pakuranga house they'd rented that hid an alarming secret.
“We're all getting sick, not just one or two of us, all of us,” Mr Fuller said.
Swelling, rashes, James soon suspected their family home was a former meth lab.
The boarded up windows and stained floors of the garage were another clue.
Mr Fuller ordered independent tests on the property, which confirmed his suspicions. Methamphetamine. The family moved out that same day.
So imagine their thoughts upon seeing this potentially dangerous property advertised on Trade Me the same day they moved out.
“I was livid, I couldn't believe the landlord would move another family in there without proper testing, I told him what his responsibilities were,” Mr Fuller said.
He believes the landlord knew the property was contaminated with P.
In 2009 police found 135 meth labs throughout New Zealand in every type of neighbourhood. Once found they cost tens of thousands of dollars to clean.
There's no legal requirement for landlords to disclose that a house or building has previously been contaminated, although they must fully and fairly answer any questions asked by a prospective tenant. In 2004 the tenancy tribunal ruled that renting out a contaminated house would breach their obligation to provide premises in a reasonable state of cleanliness.
Miles Stratford of Methminder says the problem is “massively widespread”.
“Every suburb of every town, and certainly every suburb of Auckland has got meth being manufactured in it,” Mr Stratford said.
He set up a business guarding homes against meth manufacture - which often goes overlooked by landlords.
“With bad contamination there can be signs that you can look for: Staining on the walls, there can be chemical smells, but often there is no indication whatsoever,” he said.
The noxious chemicals from meth manufacture linger, they permeate throughout houses and materials, seeping into walls, concrete, ceiling.
So Mr Fuller felt he had a duty to inform the older couple that moved in after him. He says they were disgusted.
“Their jaws dropped open, they had no idea what the landlord had done,” Mr Fuller said.
The former tenants say they were given no indication of any issue with this property. Like Mr Fuller, they developed skin issues, swelling, rashes, and they are horrified that the landlord would not only put their health at risk, but that he continues to do so with other tenants
The property's owner, Chaobin Wang, has accused Mr Fuller of interfering with his business by informing other tenants and trespassed him.
“He tried to blacklist me as a landlord, he tried to blacklist my place as a safe tenant house,” Mr Wang said.
He says he's informed the current tenants of possible contamination, and suggested they just stay away from the garage.
Despite numerous tests confirming the presence of meth, he hasn't had the property professionally cleaned.
“It could have been caused by smoking, or caused by some other source,” Mr Wang said.
While Mr Wang is convinced there's no issue, saying the property is 100% safe, the tenancy tribunal, who Mr Fuller complained to, wasn't.
"Although no single piece of evidence is conclusive... the evidence points to the likelihood of a P lab at the premises"
Failing to decontaminate a property may mean the landlord is breaching the Residential Tenancy act, but without rock-hard evidence that a lab existed, there is also no legal requirement for them to do so.
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