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• A prospective tenant claims an Auckland rental’s advert photos don’t show how dirty and worn it is. 
• The home’s property manager rejects the claims, saying she and the property are being unfairly targeted because of their past. 
• The property has previously been a rehab centre with gang links that was raided by police in connection with drugs, and a pistol was seized. 

An Auckland rental that was formerly a rehab centre for gang members once raided by police has left a prospective tenant “appalled” by its alleged “dirty” state. 

Merle Kotze claimed the Dairy Flat property had damaged stairs, a bad smell, didn’t look like its advertised photos and was not safe – claims wholly rejected by its property manager Qian Jane Zhou. 

Kotze said she raised her concerns with Zhou during a rental viewing on February 7. 

“I said: ‘Aren’t you ashamed to show this to anyone,” Kotze said. 

She claimed Zhou responded: ‘Well, if you’re not happy with it, it’s your problem'.” 

Kotze later discovered the home has been a rehab centre where a 2022 police raid led to the arrest of a former Head Hunters gang member and the seizure of drugs, cash and a pistol. 

She also read a 2019 Herald article about how Zhou sent a text message to a tenant saying: ‘B**** you will go to hell’. 

She told the Herald she is speaking out because she didn’t think anyone should be living in the house that has a $1700 weekly rental asking price. 

Kotze had considered renting the Postman Rd property to move into with her partner, who lives farther north. 

“On Trade Me the photos look beautiful,” Kotze said. 

“It looks truly like somewhere we could call home for the next five years.” 

People often use advert photos to decide whether to spend their effort, fuel and time off work to view a rental, she said. 

She had felt frustrated to arrive and see the property’s state, she said. 

The photos in the rental advertisement are at least five years old. Photo / Supplied 

However, Zhou denied the property had a bad smell, saying none of the 10 other people viewing the home had claimed it smelled. 

“No one there tell me there’s bad smells,” Zhou told the Herald. “She needs to prove there is a bad smell,” she said. 

Some of those who had been viewing the home at the same time as Kotze later texted to say they were keen to rent the property, Zhou told the Herald – although it still remains advertised as available at the time of writing. 

The rental had “solid bones” and would be further cleaned once the current tenants moved out, she said. 

Zhou acknowledged the advert photos were five years old, but said it was normal to use such photos. 

She also supported her departing tenants Nga Kete Wananga Solutions, who ran the former tikanga Māori drug rehab centre from the house, she said. 

“When people come – even come out from prison – you need to treat them fairly to give them an opportunity, give them a chance.” 

The Dairy Flat rental in photos taken by Merle Kotze and as advertised. Photo / Supplied 

In 2022, however, former Head Hunters gang member Darren Creelman was arrested in an early morning police raid on the property and later sentenced to jail. 

Police found a pistol, ammunition, 400g of meth and 1kg of meth ingredient pseudoephedrine that day. 

Property manager Zhou said she felt it would’ve been discriminatory not to have rented her property to the centre, saying people need to be given a chance to change. 

She also said a past Herald article about her had done her “hard” and she felt the recent Dairy Flat property complaint was unfairly targeting her on that basis. 

“We are here to run the business ... We do things reasonable,” she told the Herald. 

A photo of the home's flooring taken during Merle Kotze's viewing. Photo / Supplied