Harcourts Timaru has been fined $55,000 after a faulty gas fitting leaked 35 kilograms of gas into a rental property managed by the company.
Harcourts had hired a Crew Cut franchisee, Larry Warner, to remove a gas heater from the house, but he left the gas supply uncapped until it was noticed by a tenant.
As well as the fine, Harcourts Timaru was ordered to pay reparations of $12,500 in the Timaru District Court yesterday.
Mr Warner has been sentenced to 200 hours community work and ordered to pay reparations of $2,000.
Worksafe, which investigated the incident, said a woman died in a similar incident in Ruakaka in 2013 and Harcourts should have known better.
