This week has been like a journey down a dark hallway- much like the one here. Firstly on Tuesday morning I went out to feed the chooks only to find a pile of feathers near the shed. On further investigation I discovered a demolished bantam that I recognised as being Little Gay, one of the chicks born in December 2007. I remembered the previous evening that Briar had been acting disturbed, running around and snorting. Just then Peanut, the farm manager's little fox terrier ran out and along the fence out of this place so it looks like he was responsible for killing the hen.
Then I received an email from my aunt to say her older sister who was diagnosed with cancer a year ago is very ill and bedridden. Karen was the first person from my birth family that I ever met and she had always been very kind to me so this news is a great blow, especially as she is still so young.
I was still reeling from that news when late yesterday morning a message was left that the property manager was coming out to see me at 12.30pm. I had a bad feeling about this as a tenant is meant to be given 24 hours notice when an inspection is due. I rang my friend Gay from down the road and she came to keep me company.
At 12.50pm there was a knock at the door and my landlord was standing there. The first thing he said was that I better not lie about things as he would think very little of me and I better not go the "Tenancy Tribunal way" either. This was referring to the fact that he has never put it in writing that I need to leave here which legally means I don't have to although I have never stated this to him. He said the property manager was bringing a letter which I was to sign in front of them stating that he had told me to leave in October "and you better not lie and say I didn't say that". He went on to say that he had been "very good" to me yet further on he stated that he had not fixed the broken window or done any other repairs while I was here as he was going to renovate the place for the new resident anyway and didn't want to waste the money. He also said he had given glowing references to three different people about me but when I asked him who he stuck his chin in the air and said he wasn't going to tell me. However he was now "over it" and over feeling sorry for me.
The property manager then told me the landlord had not put anything in writing as he was trying to be a gentleman. She handed me the letter which I tried to read although my hand was shaking so much I could barely see the writing. I asked if I could read it on my own and she said she would send me a copy so I was made to sign my own eviction notice with them both standing over me. The landlord told me to move into town if I couldn't find somewhere suitable. There was alot more that he said and fortunately Gay was behind me listening so I have a witness as to the illegal behaviour that took place by my front door.
By the time I shut the door and went through to the kitchen I was a crying mess. I cried solidly for two hours. It never ceases to amaze me how callous and cruel people can be and how they think they can bend the law to suit their own ends.
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2 comments:
Really sounds like the landlord from hell! He has no right to put you through the wringer like this. He has actually broken tenancy laws by not giving you a written notice to end the tenancy in the first place (see http://www.virtualrealty.co.nz/endoftenancy.html). Have you thought of getting advice from a lawyer through the Citizen's Advice Bureau (free)? I hope that things do finally work out for you and you can find somewhere nice to live in peace.
Hi Kathy. Thanks for reading the blog. I think he finally realised that he should have put it in writing and was trying to put it right retrospectively which of course is not the way to go. His property manager kept saying that he'd tried to go about things "the gentlemanly way" by not putting it in writing. I found somewhere else yesterday thank goodness so hopefully things will begin to look up from now on.
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