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Property: Renters and landlords rights

The Wānaka App

31 March 2018, 8:00 PM

Property: Renters and landlords rights

Make sure to know what is and isn’t covered under the Residential Tenancies Act to ensure smooth sailing for the duration of your lease.

Whether you’re renting a house or writing a lease for your first tenants in a rental property, the better your understanding of the law, the simpler renting will be for all parties.

We talked to Ben King, senior solicitor at Aspiring Law, about the ins and outs of renting for both tenants and landlords, and about some of the common misconceptions that can get either or both parties in hot water.





Ben said any renter, or person renting out a room or house, must have a lease agreement in place. It’s not a ‘should’, it’s a ‘must’; in fact it’s illegal not to have one. Whether it’s a rental property or just a friend living in a granny flat attached to a home, "it is an actual legal requirement to have an agreement in writing,” Ben said.

From the renters end, the commonly-held view that renters must have carpets professionally cleaned upon leaving the property is actually untrue, because the legal requirement for ending a tenancy is that you must leave it in a ‘reasonably’ clean state. "A clause requiring you to professionally clean the property can’t be enforced,” Ben said. "The tenancy agreement has to be in writing but that doesn’t mean the landlord can ask for anything they want.”

If you’re renting and the landlord is dragging their feet about remedying a necessary repair or fix, don’t withhold rent. "Withholding rent can put the tenant in breach of their lease,” he said.

Instead, a tenant can issue ‘a 14-day notice to fix’ to the landlord and the landlord has to have the repair done within that time (provided the landlord is responsible for the repair). "The tenant must continue to pay rent, but may be able to negotiate a rent reduction if the repair is a major one.”

If you’re concerned about an unexpected rent increase, Ben said, be assured "the landlord must serve a notice on the tenant of a rent increase and the increase can't take effect until 60 days from the date of that notice. The rent can't be increased again for 180 days from the date of the last rent increase. Generally, there won’t be provisions for a rental increase in a fixed-term lease either.”

If you feel that a rental increase is unfair, the Tenancy Tribunal may be the best option - if the rent is well above market average. "There is no set limit for the amount of an increase,” Ben said, "however, the tenant can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal if they think the rent is substantially above market. The Tribunal can then make an order to reduce the rent to market.”

Expecting that a landlord will allow you to sublet if your plans change is a no-no, Ben said. "Landlords have no legal obligation to let you sublet a room or house,” so never expect to be able to up and leave. Subletting without permission can also put a renter in breach of their lease.

There are a couple of key things of which landlords should be aware, he said. Firstly, "If a landlord is renting a premises for residential purposes and it doesn’t have the appropriate building consents or there are major problems with the building or anything like that, it’s actually deemed an illegal property.” Renting without the proper permissions can come back to bite landlords, as tenants can try to demand a full refund of all rent paid. "If a person knows work has been done without consent it’s likely they’d get caught,” Ben said.

Landlords should also be aware of, and preparing for, the changes and improvements required by government soon to come into effect. "Many of these changes are still coming into effect but there are whole raft of changes. Properties have to be up to a certain standard.” Stay up to date with changes that need to be made and ensure your rental property will meet the requirements.