Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions to be answered about case in the community, major companies flagrantly breaching wastewater consents, and Tenancy Tribunal decisions harming abuse survivors. As of this morning, we’re still waiting on some crucial information about the situation in Northland, after a person travelled through the region before … Read more
As South Auckland’s property market heats up, those in poorly managed rentals often face a hard choice – complain and face the consequences, or stay quiet and keep their home. Neo is a half ragdoll, half moggy eight-month-old kitten. For Bronwyn Cann and Aaron Smith, the excitement surrounding Neo’s arrival was palpable – and finding … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Robertson announces shape of Covid-19 economic response, National grabs matches for regulations bonfire, and land use change laid bare. Cabinet has approved a package of measures designed to take some of the economic pain out of the global Covid-19 outbreak. Around the world right now, markets are … Read more
Don Rowe speaks to the founder of a new chatbot connecting tenants with the rental information they need. In a world where Facebook is culpable in genocides, sham elections and the corrosion of trust in the media, it’s nice to know it can be used for good, too. Rentbot is a new chatbot from Citizen … Read more
If your property manager tries to charge you a ridiculous ‘cleaning’ charge when you leave your place, there’s something you can do, writes Sam Grover – and he should know, because he did it. The other week, I saw a story about a property manager named Whittle Knight and Boatwood Estate Agents who took a … Read more
What is your landlord entitled to ask you? According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, a lot less than you think, reports Dan Satherley for Newshub. Next time you’re looking at a rental and the property manager asks to see a bank statement, feel free to decline. It’s one of several questions that are … Read more
The show Renters is a morality play about the sufferings inflicted on landlords by their terrible tenants. Hayden Donnell talks to one of the show’s stars ahead of its seventh season, and tries to convince her to support pro-tenant rental reform. It’s impossible to dislike Pru Morrell. The star of TVNZ’s reality series Renters is … Read more
Some who have successfully taken action against landlords at the Tenancy Tribunal are finding that getting them to pay the compensation demanded is another matter entirely, writes Esme Hall Victoria’s current flat is “pretty crap” – three of her flatmates sell drugs out of the house and have parties all the time. But it’s a … 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: British politics loses the plot completely, Gareth Morgan winds up The Opportunities Party, and defence minister Ron Mark gets some new planes. The wheels have completely fallen off British politics, over what the government wants out of Brexit negotiations. Yesterday, Brexit secretary David Davis resigned, just a … Read more
It’s an unfurling scandal which saw tenants evicted and millions spent on cleaning homes. Now it appears a tenant was kicked out after seeking help for his addictions, writes Russell Brown. In June 2015, Jesse B became one of the hundreds of Housing New Zealand tenants to have an order made against them at the Tenancy Tribunal … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Madeleine Chapman spends a long, soul-sucking day at an Auckland tenancy tribunal. It’s 10:30am at the tenancy tribunal in Auckland District Court and everyone would rather be somewhere else. The first case of the day features two property managers in sleek attire who wait outside the courtroom and talk about friends and … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Last month The Spinoff reported landlords in Wellington were actively encouraging bidding wars in an attempt to hike rents. Here NZ-born, Melbourne-based tenancy lawyer Joseph Nunweek outlines a simple legislative change that would make the concept obsolete. Since I last wrote for The Spinoff about newly-unveiled changes to tenancy law in Victoria … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Like all media companies, we spend our days looking at Reddit for things to repost. The difference is that we ask. And so, with the permission of Chelsea S aka /u/PavementFuck, we present Renting 101 – everything you need to know about being a tenant in New Zealand. Since it’s renting season, … 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
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
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