The four-bedroom villa at Fairway Ave, Red Beach, Whangaparaoa, is owned by large-scale methamphetamine dealer Brett Campbell Bogue, who was jailed for more than nine years in November.
But when Kadon Captain rented the house for $720 a week in January she had no idea about its past.
She rented the property through a North Shore letting agency. Bogue's mother, real estate agent Janice Bogue, was the acting landlord, and his sister, Krishla, was Captain's initial point of contact for any property issues.
On Thursday, Captain appeared in the Tenancy Tribunal seeking compensation from Janice Bogue, who in return is counter-claiming, seeking $6,582 in alleged unpaid rent from Captain.
Captain became aware of the property owner's history after being informed by a neighbour two months after moving in.
"I was horrified," she told the Herald on Sunday. "I know residue from that drug is toxic and I had real worries for my family's health."
Captain told the tribunal she contacted Janice Bogue at the end of March about the possibility of contamination.
Two weeks later, Bogue indicated she would organise a meth test, but nothing happened, Captain said. She went ahead with private testing, conducted by MethSolutions.
"Results showed the lower part of the house was 25 times Ministry of Health guidelines for decontamination," Captain said. "My teenage son was staying there."
Miles Stratford, director of MethSolutions, was alarmed at the results. "There can be short-term symptoms such as skin rashes, eye irritation and headaches. Longer term, people are at increased risk of cancer, lung disease, stroke and birth defects," he said.
"If you are living in houses with meth contamination in them, but have no resistance to P because you don't use the stuff, you can still get a mild meth effect."
Captain reported her concerns to the police and contacted Environmental Health at Auckland Council. Her insurers, State Insurance, are carrying out tests on her family's possessions for contamination.
The hearing will continue next month when Krishla Bogue is due to give her side of the story. Janice Bogue was not at Thursday's hearing.
Meanwhile, further testing at Bogue's house - which has a 2014 CV of $600,000 - was conducted by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and State Insurance this week.
Etienne Dyssel, acting manager of Environmental Health at Auckland Council, said if a rental property returned methamphetamine levels exceeding Ministry of Health guidelines, council would serve the owner with a cleansing order.
Brett Bogue, 44, a former award-winning real estate agent was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland after pleading guilty to six charges covering class-A drug offending and unlawful possession of a pistol.
- Herald on Sunday
