“Landlords seek tenancy legislation which is balanced and commonsense law”, said Martin Evans, President of the NZ Property Investors’ Federation, today. “Currently the RTA is skewed and has an anti-landlord bias so we welcome the long awaited Bill.”
He said members welcome the suggestion that debt collections costs can be added to awards as this may help reduce the extremely high incidence of rent arrears. It is also considered a good move to introduce exemplary damages for tenants sub-letting, over-populating the premises or becoming a problem neighbour, as this will lead to longer tenancies and better communities.
“It is pleasing to see that no mention has been made of allowing advocates in Tenancy Tribunal Hearings,” said Mr Evans. “This could have led to a lack of justice for rental property providers, potentially leading to a significant reduction in the supply of rental property.”
Residential tenancy issues are critical for all property investors, especially, for example, in areas such as the responsibility of tenants for utility charges.
“Our members are looking forward to new legislation reaffirming the 2003 District Court decision ruling that tenants are liable for all relevant water charges’, said Mr Evans.
As the industry body representing 7,330 members, the NZ Property Investors’ Federation will be opposing vigorously the draft legislation limiting tenant damages to four weeks. This does not send the right message to tenants and merely passes responsibility of looking after the property from the tenant to the landlord.
The Federation also maintains that the amount represented by this time period is insufficient to replace items such as carpets and curtains. On the other hand, they will be supporting the inclusion of relevant corporate body rules into tenancy agreements.
“This is a golden opportunity for all landlords to make their views known” said Mr Evans. “ NZPIF will be helping to distribute the draft legislation to all its members and encourages all residential property investor landlords to study the draft legislation and tell the Government about areas that they believe need more work to get right.”.
