A tenant who left a property after discovering faeces and maggots underneath the carpet ended up having to face the Tenancy Tribunal due to her hasty exit.
Jacqueline Gough and another unnamed tenant signed a 12-month lease on the $650 per week property in Albany, Stuff reports.
However the day after they moved in, the residents woke up covered in bug bites. They flea bombed the house but continued to wake up covered in itchy bites.
At this point they pulled up the carpet in the dining room and discovered live maggots and animal faeces underneath.
The pair called property manager Matt Robertson, who inspected the house and agreed to end the tenancy immediately at no cost to them.
He then sent two men "free of charge" over to help Ms Gough load a container with their belongings.
But shortly after Ms Gough had left the property the management company, Topgun Property Management, took her to the Tenancy Tribunal for the cost of the carpet, eight days of rent, a letting fee and payment for the two men who helped her move out.
Adjudicator Jane Day dismissed the claims as well as some from Ms Gough herself.
She said while Ms Gough should not have removed the carpet from the property, it was very old and past its useful life.
She found while the tenants had moved out early, it was at Mr Robertson's agreement and he could not change his mind after they left.
Ms Gough had claimed for the cost of replacing property damaged in the move, including $800 for loss of earnings, $1099 for a new mattress and $140 for a commercial cleaning bill.
Ms Day said these were unnecessary as if the bites came from fleas, a hot wash in a domestic laundry machine would have been sufficient to kill them.
Newshub.
