Otago Property Investors Association says DCC lacks commonsense

Dunedin City Council has displayed a lack of commonsense after it fined one of its members the Otago Property Investors Association says.

OPIA executive member Cliff Seque was upset no one from the Council had contacted the member before fining him for rubbish his tenants had put out on the street several days prior to collection.

“The fine was for $100 with a note saying he should seek reimbursement from his tenants. This seems pretty unreasonable. The tenants had done everything correctly. They had put glass in the blue recycling bin, paper and plastics in the yellow bin and waste in the tenant supplied wheelie bin for collection.

They were leaving town and did not want to leave stinking rubbish in the house.”
“The Council often collects large items, like broken furniture, beds and rubbish in non regulation bags from around the University without leaving fines. Yet these tenants tried to do the right thing and they are penalised.

Where is the commonsense?”

“If we want to encourage students to do the right thing, by putting out their rubbish and leaving their flats tidy, then surely there has to be some give and take? What student would be happy getting a $100 fine for this? It also penalises the landlord. Wouldn’t it have been better for the Council to communicate the problem to the landlord before sending the fine?

“It is an exceptional situation in the North End of Dunedin because we have large numbers of students coming and going at certain times of year so it should be treated differently. Surely there can be something worked out instead of fining people,” he said.

“Is this the lasting impression of Dunedin we want to give students?”

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