PHOTO: Property management. FILE
A troubled property management firm based in South Canterbury, which is currently undergoing liquidation proceedings, is facing outstanding debts totaling $18,189.43. However, none of the creditors are expected to recover any funds.
South Canterbury Property Management Ltd, with Amanda Gray as its sole director and shareholder, entered liquidation on April 11, 2022.
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The appointed liquidators, Emma Laing and Trevor Laing of Trevor Laing and Associated Ltd in Dunedin, have recently issued their final report. According to the report, South Canterbury Property Management will soon be deregistered from the New Zealand Register of Companies.
The report highlights that claims were submitted by one preferential creditor and three unsecured creditors during the liquidation process. Regrettably, the report concludes that there are no available funds for distribution to any of the creditors.
In the second six-month report from May 10, 2023, it was revealed that Amanda Gray owes $9,517.43 to the Inland Revenue Department and an additional $8,618 to three unsecured creditors. South Canterbury Property Management gained notoriety in 2021 when Gray failed to properly handle tenant bonds and neglected to return money to both tenants and property owners. The company ceased its operations in mid-2021, as stated in a prior liquidators’ report.
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The report notes, “The director explains that she was unable to sustain the business due to difficulties in collecting owed amounts from certain tenant clients and non-compliance issues related to property management responsibilities. These factors have contributed to the company’s current financial crisis.”
Gray was the sole employee of the company, working from a home office and utilizing her personal vehicle for business purposes. The financial records submitted to the liquidators do not indicate any significant assets held by the company.
In May 2021, property owners, tenants, and former tenants who had interacted with Gray and her property management company expressed their concerns. They raised issues regarding the non-lodgment of bond payments with Tenancy Services and the failure to return bonds to tenants upon moving out.
South Canterbury Property Management had previously been brought to the tenancy tribunal in 2019 for violations related to insulation regulations and the failure to lodge bonds within the statutory timeframe.