Have a question about renting? The CAB, the independent service which helps the public understand their rights and obligations, is here to help. We asked them for some tips for anyone who rents (or lets) property, and this is what they told us. Tenancy agreements A tenancy must be covered by a written tenancy agreement. … Read more
On Monday we asked for your renting stories, good and bad, and the response so far has been overwhelming. This is the third and final installment – for now (read part one here and part two here). Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk rented before he was famous: I lived in the basement of an apartment building. … Read more
Jess McAllen takes a tour through the Tenancy Tribunal’s decisions to find bleak scenes of landlords and letting agents running amok. It’s a tale as old as time: treating yourself to a succulent chicken rotisserie from New World on Sunday night and putting the other half in the fridge for Monday sandwiches. But what happens … Read more
Rent Week continues with Alex Casey on the woes of owning a pet as a renter, and ways you can convince landlords that furry flatmates are fine. Here is a concise list of things I have managed to do inside my home as a human adult woman: 1) Tripped down the stairs holding a giant … Read more
Today we’re celebrating Rent Week with some cold hard facts and figures. Test your knowledge of the New Zealand rental market below. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here. This post is part of Rent Week, a series about why the experience of renting a home in NZ is so terrible, and whether anything can … Read more
In celebration of Rent Week, Calum Henderson watches the hilariously bleak docu-series Renters and finds Kiwi comedy gold. On the face of it, the TVNZ 2’s Renters show seems to exist solely to reinforce every negative stereotype about tenants in the Evil Landlord Handbook. It cynically takes all the worst and most extreme examples of bad … Read more
As many of the stories shared in Rent Week show, New Zealand private rental housing is too often cold, insecure and expensive. We can do a lot to fix these problems. Rental housing expert Dr Elinor Chisholm suggests nine things the government should be doing right now. 1. Make renting more secure We need to … Read more
Behind the affluent image of luxurious resorts and million dollar homes there is another, far darker side to life in Queenstown. Peter Newport investigates the shocking state of the town’s rental market and what it means for those caught up in it. Queenstown is now no place to live. Every ad for every rental property … Read more
There are many victims of the spiralling property market, but the worst by far are those children whose health is wrecked for life by substandard, overcrowded accommodation. In this Rent Week reissue, Dr George Laking explains why the housing crisis should come with a health warning. Warning: contains photos of doctors and gory things. We … Read more
Finding a safe, secure rental is hard for anyone of limited means in 2017. But the ugly truth is that it is often that much harder for Pasifika and Māori. Emmaline Matagi tells the stories of three such whānau, whose names have been changed to protect them against further discrimination. The Auckland housing crisis has so many … Read more
Think your rental situation is tough? Try living with a chronic medical condition in a dark, mould-infested dump – and with a child to care for. One anonymous renter tells her story. Renting a shit hole when you’re 15 is an adventure – especially when you’re paying shit hole prices of 60 bucks a week. … Read more
On Monday we asked for your renting stories, good and bad, and the response so far has been overwhelming. This is the second installment (read part one here), with more to come throughout Rent Week. I‘ve been back renting in Wellington for the past year. It’s a three bedroom downstairs flat, in a big old … Read more
It’s Rent Week here on The Spinoff, so why are we writing about house buyers? Because the booming housing market is a key driver behind the current surge in renting – and because stories like these demonstrate the enormous challenges faced by those attempting to make the leap from renter to home owner. We talk … Read more
For Rent Week, rapper/poet/writer/drummer Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) looks back in wonder at five shitty flats from his misspent youth. I’m of an age where, if I had my shit together in the ’90s, I could now conceivably own a home. Sometimes on the bus, I drift away in a neoliberal fantasy, where, instead wasting my youth reading … Read more
People say that children help make a house a home, but what about when your house is rented and you could be turfed out at a moment’s notice? Jo Holsted writes about how her parenting is affected by being a long-term renter. “KALE EAT WAMATO” shrieks my son, as he wrenches yet another budding tomato … Read more
Yesterday we asked for your stories, good and bad, about the experience of renting a home in New Zealand, and the response was huge. This is first installment, with more to come throughout Rent Week. I lived in a very cute little row of houses, tucked behind the car yards on Great North Road, Grey … 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
What does the dream of owning a home mean in 2017? Is it still achievable for those not already on the property ladder – or even a worthwhile goal? And what are you willing (or able) to sacrifice in order to reach it? The Spinoff wants to hear your stories. If you hadn’t heard, things … 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
Higher hurdles to home-owning have led to more and longer home rentals. Currently the medium and long-term rights are with the landlord, writes property market expert and Massey emeritus professor Bob Hargreaves. New Zealand families typically aspire to own their own homes. But the path to home ownership has become increasingly difficult in recent years, … Read more
To kick off Rent Week, The Spinoff writers and friends share some of the worst renting conditions they’ve had to live with. Please feel free to share your own on our Facebook page, or send to info@thespinoff.co.nz to be added to this anthology of atrocious landlords and homes across in New Zealand. Don Rowe: Just … Read more
Renting in New Zealand is now the way most of us live. Unfortunately, in many ways, it sucks. Spinoff editor Duncan Greive explains why we’re dedicating a week to the issue. A couple of weeks ago Arthur Grimes, the former chair of the Reserve Bank, was interviewed on Nine to Noon by Kathryn Ryan. The … Read more