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Estate agent Dee O’Connor (pictured) was criticized by the administrative tribunal for falsely claiming a tenant was a hoarder.
A Sydney property manager who once slammed governments for not doing more to address the homelessness crisis has falsely accused a tenant of being a “hoarder” before attempting to evict him.
The tenant of the Pyrmont apartment, Ryan Anderson, represented himself before the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which last week upheld an earlier order in his favor that he be repaid more than $2,600 in damages. “excessive” rent.
The dismissed appeal concerned an October 2023 ruling by the NCAT in which sSenior member Philip French described the behavior of property manager Dee O’Connor of Little Real Estate as “vindictive” after Anderson complained that his oven was not working.
Anderson had tried for three years to fix a faulty convection oven and dimmer lights and finally complained to NSW Fair Trading.
Ms O’Connor then wrote to the agency saying that during a routine inspection with a colleague and three shopkeepers a few days earlier, Mr Anderson had been “rude”, “aggressive” and “made them feel unsafe”.
‘Due to the tenant being passive-aggressive in nature, no photographs were allowed.
“I think this is due to hoarding where you don’t want anyone to be aware of the developing situation.”
But Mr French said in his ruling: “Ms O’Connor’s detailed response to NSW Fair Trading shows considerable animosity towards the tenant and attempts to portray him as passive aggressive, obstructive, threatening and hoarding.”
‘I am convinced that these accusations are false and malicious. They are an attempt to characterize the tenant’s reasonable assertion of his rights as various forms of abuse by a person with a psychological problem.’
French described the response as “vindictive” and “childish” and said his behavior was “deplorable.”
Mr Anderson received an eviction notice shortly after lodging his complaint with NSW Fair Trading.
Ms O’Connor has previously argued that more should be done to reduce homelessness, saying her native Ireland could learn a lot from Finland about ways to “help people keep their homes”.
Ms O’Connor previously advocated that more should be done to help people “keep their homes”.
A tenant at an inner Sydney apartment building in Pyrmont (pictured) was hit with $2,600 in “excessive” rent charged by a landlord amid a three-year dispute.
According to court documents, Anderson first filed a complaint after a new convection oven was installed in the apartment in 2020 that she said couldn’t reach 200 degrees and “doesn’t get hot enough to cook anything.”
He also complained about non-working lights that were eventually replaced with LED fixtures that were not working properly due to the unit’s dimmer switches.
French said both issues constituted a breach of the owner’s duty to maintain the property in a reasonable state of repair.
With the two issues still unaddressed by May 2023, Anderson contacted NSW Fair Trading and received an eviction notice the following month.
French said the notice was “retaliation” and that the owners, Vince and Patricia Fimmano, used their “superior title to the property to override the tenant’s legitimate right to make repairs.”
They were ordered to pay more than $2,600 in rent deemed “excessive” due to unresolved maintenance issues at the property.
Mr. Anderson also received $112.80 for printing and binding costs to prepare his case.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms O’Connor for comment.