The MP who rumbled property managers talking about the so-called ‘KFC test’ for tenants writes about why they need to be stopped. It is clear that most landlords and property managers are doing it right – they are providing an essential service for New Zealanders and are doing a good job, in a respectful and … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: ‘KFC test’ for tenants slammed, another census debacle reported, and divisions in the nurses union despite pay agreement. The issue of what information landlords can demand from tenants has erupted, after a property manager revealed some landlords are asking tenants for bank statements to see what … Read more
Being a tenant in New Zealand is often a difficult and disempowering experience. Hayden Donnell looks into what’s broken in our rental housing market. The bad news is many of you will probably never own a home. Average property prices are 10 times the median household income of $92,843 in Auckland, while in New Zealand … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Lobby group wants to fundamentally reshape tenancy laws, nurses go on strike, and business leaders pledge action on climate change. Tenant rights group Renters United have put out a 36 point plan that they say will dramatically improve the lot of renters in New Zealand, reports Newshub. They … Read more
David Faulkner was once such a meth-contamination believer he became a Methsolutions Certified Sampler. But then he saw the hysteria, and the industry that profited from it, for what they are In August of 2014 two-year-old Emma Lita-Bourne died after suffering a brain haemorrhage. The story made the news the following winter after a coroner … Read more
We will also test Housing NZ properties for traces of students, pets and bad vibes, reveals our proud CEO (Boiler Suits Division) Alex Braae The report into the pointlessness of testing houses for meth contamination has come at a very bad time for The Spinoff. All those stories about how if one hit was taken … Read more
The minister in charge of Housing New Zealand has given the agency a dressing down after it took an Auckland pensioner to the Tenancy Tribunal twice over a small table that sits on her front porch. Zac Fleming writes for RNZ. Vivienne Wright’s square, black faux-marble table, which her cat uses to get inside and … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Property managers. Two words to make the blood run cold, whether you are a tenant or a landlord. Rebecca Stevenson weighs up the data and anecdotal evidence, and her ruling is final: property managers suck. Hear me out. I’ve been on both sides; yes, I have been a landlord (pretty much by … Read more
As students flock back to Wellington in the lead-up to the academic year, landlords are cashing in with innovations which encourage bidding wars amongst applicants. The nightmare that is renting in this country continues to bring new horrors, with reports from Wellington that landlords are explicitly operating tender processes on their rentals in a bid … Read more
The property investors’ lobby group says a change in government would hurt tenants, but they certainly don’t speak for all of us, counters Alicia Young There are two major problems with yesterday’s New Zealand Herald story, “73.6% of landlords plan rent rises if Labour wins.” The first is the suggestion that the survey is representative … Read more
In this Rent Week reissue, Tim Lambourne shares his triumphant tale of how binge-watching the legal drama Suits helped him win his underdog tenancy dispute. A few years ago I lived in a four bedroom flat on Summer Street in Ponsonby, Auckland. If you’re unfamiliar with the suburb, Summer Street is about three quarters of the … Read more
First published as part of The Spinoff’s Rent Week series earlier this year, we’re resharing this op-ed from an anonymous landlord to mark the release of Unsettled, our documentary about the New Zealand housing crisis. I’m one of the “amateur landlords” Duncan Greive mentioned yesterday, the ones who former Reserve Bank governor Arthur Grimes says … Read more