|
Landlords say Govt plans will make it harder to get rid of bad tenants
Landlords have hit back a new tenancy law reforms, saying the latest rules will make it harder to evict anti-social tenants. Landlords will no longer be able to get rid of tenants without reason, under law changes announced 17th November by Associate Housing Minister Kris Faafoi. They say the law change will make it much harder for landlords to get rid of unsavoury renters, which will also affect neighbours of bad tenants who will have to put up with them for longer. But the Green Party says it shifts a power imbalance from the landlord to tenants At present, landlords can give a tenant 90 days' notice without having to provide a reason and 42 days' notice in some circumstances, such as landlords or their family wanting to move in, or if the property has been sold. Tenants have to give only 21 days' notice. Read more at Tenancy Services here. (Source: NZ Herald)
Taranaki real estate agent 'pocketed' rent, bond money from properties he managed
A Taranaki real estate agent has been found guilty of stealing bonds and rent payments from properties he was hired to manage. Chris Wright, formerly of Century21 in New Plymouth, admitted to one of his victims that he had pocketed bonds and rent. The Real Estate Authority Disciplinary Tribunal said Wright was guilty of disgraceful conduct. Wright surrendered his licence before the full extent of his offending had been revealed. The tribunal found that in multiple instances Wright failed to lodge bonds with Tenancy Services. Wright also had tenants pay rent into his personal account. When challenged about missing rent money, Wright admitted to one landlord that he had "pocketed it", the tribunal found. (Source: Stuff)
Landlord furious after tenant pays $50 of $25k worth of damage
A Te Aroha landlord is calling the tenancy tribunal "unfair towards landlords" after his "worst tenant" was ordered to pay only $50.44 on top of the bond after creating $25,000 worth of damage. Peter Spitters, 72, applied for compensation, refund of the bond and reimbursement of the filing fee following the end of the tenancy after a tenant smashed holes in the wall, ruined the carpet and broke several doors and windows. He claimed compensation of $1,092.50 to replace all the internal doors, $497.65 to replace all the skirting boards and $3,450 to plaster all of the walls. However, the tenant was only ordered to pay $50.44 for damages and the Bond Centre was order to pay the $820 bond to Spitters. While the damages to property would cost Spitters $25,000 to fix, he said he only claimed for $5,040.15 for the main damages. He said he is shocked by how little the tenant has been ordered to pay and is planning to oppose the order. "Knowing that the tenants often don't pay the awarded damages anyway, I kept my claim to a very minimal," Spitter said. (Source: Stuff)
Rental law changes – the good, the bad and the ugly
In case you missed the news last week, there’s another round of changes coming to the Residential Tenancies Act. But are they really necessary? The Act has been around since 1986 but has been substantially tinkered with, amended and changed in the years since, with the last round of tinkering taking place in 2016, by the then National Government. So why the changes? Are there major issues in the rental sector which need to be fixed? If the headlines are to be believed, every landlord is a heartless fat cat who doesn’t care about his or her tenant, and every tenant is a party animal who trashes property and terrorise neighbours. In reality, these stereotypes are very much the exception and the vast majority of tenants and landlords are just decent people getting on with their lives. Most landlords do their best to provide a safe, warm and healthy home in which the tenant enjoys a high degree of privacy and is able to treat the home, as much as is possible, as if it were their own – and most tenants pay their rent, on time, and treat the property with care and respect. (Source: OneRoof)
14 Day Notice Lodgements
When you issue a 14 Day Notice to a tenant in breach of their tenancy agreement, lodge it on the illion Tenancy website under the Lodge > Tenant 14 Day Notice. You can select the 'Address Alert' option to notify you if your tenant is looking to move on without giving you notice - this is a great early warning system. If they are subsequently tenant checked by another property manager, illion Tenancy will warn you by email that they are looking to move. The 'Address Alert' also sends you the prospective address if you are needing to contact them. eg. serve them a notice of a Court hearing for rent arrears. As with all lodgments, when you lodge a 14 Day Notice your account receives a credit.
|
