Wellington recently introduced a voluntary Rental Warrant of Fitness. Mayor Justin Lester explains the scheme, and why the rest of New Zealand should follow the city’s lead. Like much of New Zealand, Wellington has a good opportunity to improve the quality of our housing stock. For a city that sees the occasional gentle breeze, we … Read more
Those who got a foot on Auckland’s property ladder in the nick of time have reaped the benefits since 2008. But has anything improved for the growing number of long-term renters? Kate Newton reports, as part of RNZ’s series Is this the Brighter Future?, which examines the government’s record since 2008. Gareth Shute remembers the … Read more
Each winter, cold houses in New Zealand cause the death of almost 1600 people, and hundreds of thousands more have their health and wellbeing severely curtailed. It’s a national emergency, but the government agency tasked with addressing it has had its budget slashed to the bone. Cold comfort for freezing New Zealanders, writes Peter Newport. … Read more
The living costs loan is designed to keep students housed and fed, but in our biggest cities it rarely even covers rent. That’s where a new lobby group for legislative reform to improve students’ welfare comes in, says Jack Close, the group’s founder. Living costs are a student loan administered by StudyLink to cover “day … Read more
Last week Otago University tenancy researcher Dr Elinor Chisholm suggested nine things the government should be doing to improve conditions for tenants in New Zealand. We asked the Property Investors Federation to respond, and this is what they told us. While improving people’s living conditions is a great goal, sometimes what looks like an obvious … Read more
Spinoff editor Duncan Greive looks back at rent week, a pop-up campaign which laid bare the numerous and vicious problems with renting in New Zealand. We first mooted a Spinoff ‘rent week’ in late 2016. It was based on the idea that the stories of home ownership were being told constantly, but the challenges and … Read more
As more and more young and vulnerable people are locked out of the market, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has declared war on bad landlords, releasing their tenancy compliance team into the wild. Don Rowe talks to their leader. Some time during Rent Week, it might have been around the time a doctor … Read more
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub’s ‘Generation Rent’ helped quantify the massive changes to the way New Zealanders owned and rented in 2015. Here he looks at what can be don to fix the problems that created. The statistics are clear: fewer Kiwis are living in their own home – more Kiwis are renting. The home ownership rate … Read more
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
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
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
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
As summer drops away with the leaves a family in West Auckland prepares to endure another winter in substandard government housing, in a place that feels far from a home. Don Rowe visits and hears their story. “We drove past where our old house was the other day and they’ve built a new one. My … 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
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
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
A prominent Auckland property investor has told the NZ Herald that “being a landlord is like being at war”. Hayden Donnell tests his theory. Every day Peter Lewis wakes up, drives an unconscionable distance and begins scouring people’s houses for meth, dog droppings, and other “contraband”. The Auckland Property Investors Association vice-president made that surprise … Read more