Tenant ordered to pay $100,000 after meth lab forces Auckland house to be decontaminated five times
The Tenancy Tribunal ordered former tenant Han Jiang to pay the maximum $100,000 after a large methamphetamine lab rendered an Auckland rental uninhabitable.
Police raids in May 2024 exposed a large clandestine methamphetamine operation inside an Auckland rental, leading to Jiang's three-year prison sentence. The landlord, a major property management firm, faced over $160,000 in total losses, including extensive decontamination, refurbishment, and rent loss, and applied to the Tenancy Tribunal for reimbursement. The tribunal awarded the statutory maximum of $100,000 for remediation and ordered $59,120.10 in unpaid rent, while limiting further claims due to jurisdictional caps.
The house required five rounds of cleaning and a full interior overhaul before it could be relet, but stigma as a “meth house” delayed new tenancy until early 2025. Jiang did not attend the hearing, which proceeded in her absence via audiovisual link.
