Warrant of Fitness for rentals (including details)

[Wayne]

As for the WOF - stickers on the windows?
What do they say? - "This is a window"
Or maybe
Open me sometime and let some fresh air in - go on, try it"

[Davo36]

One industrial place I owned had some guys living in it when I bought it. It was a commercial lease for "Classic Car Restoration" but they were just a bunch of black t shirt wearing animals.

Prior to lease ending, I noticed:

1) Huge gas bottle connected up to a stove burner just under a serving hatch in a kitchen area. I was sure they were going to burn the place down.
2) They had created several extra doorways, "for ventilation".
3) Dog living inside, dog faeces and pee everywhere.
4) It was a rabbit warren with bedrooms created here and there, with blankets etc. separating them off.

When the lease ended:

1) 1m * .5m *.5m bin of rotten seafood left behind. In high summer. Even after it was cleaned it stank for weeks.
2) They took bits of the factory with them. They were big scary dudes, nothing I could do... they were still there a week later taking all their crap and anything else nailed down or not.
3) Piles and piles of rubbish, filled 3x 9 cubic metre bins.
4) Huge pile of ash outside where they had been having bonfires (within a 2m high block wall area). Big hole in the ground, usual crap like a shopping cart, loads of empty beer bottles, hundreds of boxes half burned and so on.

I was so glad when they left. The next place they moved into burned down, no lies. There were other people there, so can't be sure it was them, but reckon it was a fairly high probability.

I found over the years when working as an agent, the people who lived in factories were the messiest, crappiest, most horrible people you could ever meet.

[strongB]

How long do you think it will be before WOF's for rentals mean it's cheaper to demolish & rebuild, than to bring up to WOF standard?
For our 3 bed home at $85k, for some areas where land is expensive, it can't be far off, especially bearing in mind the increased rent a new build gets. Colorsteel walls, R3.9. V strong. No WOF problems & higher returns, and greater capital increase.

[flyernzl]

Anyone have a handle on the cost of the Council carrying out the WOF check? . . . and presumably the recheck if work is required.

I did hear a figure of $250-300 mentioned, which probably means a real-word cost of $500.

[PC]

So if the rental fails the wof - does the tenant get evicted immediately or do they get 90 days to ship out?
This is going to be such fun - rents going up again!

[strongB]

Or a new build with no WOF required for 6 years?

[Davo36]

Or a new build with no WOF required for 6 years?

Is that the official line? 6 years?

[Wayne]

Is that the official line? 6 years?

There is no official line - this is all just ideas at the moment.

[strongB]

The trial at the moment is probably going to be 5 councils - Auckland, Tauranga, Dunedin, Wellington & Christchurch, and only for state homes at the moment. But if that works, then the private sector won't be far behind.

[Glizzle]

What if you have historic buildings? Will these be exempt like old cars with no seat belts?

[strongB]

I expect so - anything over 250 years old will be exempt ;-)

[Meehole]

I contacted HNZ once offering them a property for the rental pool. They turned me down as our place had a burglar alarm, dishwasher & waste disposal none of which I wanted to remove.
I personally think that the WOF is a good idea, I wouldn't rent a house out that I wouldn't live in myself.

[Perry]

They turned me down as our place had a burglar alarm, dishwasher
& waste disposal none of which I wanted to remove.

Well, what does that tell us?

I personally think that the WOF is a good idea, I wouldn't rent
a house out that I wouldn't live in myself.

There are houses I've been in that would pass a WoF
but I sure as heck would not want to live in them.

I.e. there's a difference between style and substance.

[PC]

More bureaucracy.
More fees/taxes.

All good for stifling the supply of rentals.

[Meehole]

HNZ want the houses to be as basic as possible as they know that any extras are likely to be damaged. Unfortunately as we became landlords by default this was the "family home" we rented out. We have had good tenants live there that respect the extras, they are not from HNZ.