Annual Reward For Good Tenants

[Perry]

Could you / would you do this?

Hypothesis. Weekly rent = $400.

You offer your tenant a $1k week-before-Xmas cash bonus for the year, each year, if the rent is paid on time, every time and all inspections in the year are satisfactory.

That would be around a weekly 'prompt payment' discount of around 4.8 or 4.9 per cent.

Section 32 (2) of the RTA 'outlaws' any such [weekly] discount, but should be overcome by not including an informally offered incentive within the TA.

Any provision in a tenancy agreement to the effect that, if the tenant does not breach any term of the agreement or any of the provisions of this Act or of any other enactment, the rent shall or may be reduced or the tenant shall or may be granted or paid a rebate, refund, or other benefit, shall be construed as entitling the tenant to that reduction, rebate, refund, or other benefit in any event.

One might have to be wary of the conflict in the RTA between:

13 Tenancy agreement must be in writing and signed
13C Tenancy agreements not unenforceable on grounds not in writing

That contradiction is typical of the pro-tenant, anti-LL RTA. I.e. MUST be in writing, but enforceable if NOT in writing.

What say y'all?

[McDuck]

Yup.

That's an old invoicing trick.

Add 10% on to the invoice, and say that you offer a 10% discount for early payment.

So yes, it might work.
Depending on the type of person.

10% add on.
10% rebate each month if the last property inspection passed the " no junk on the lawn and no grease all over the kitchen inspection.
Carrot and stick. best way to move that donkey.

But If the person simply hasn't ever been taught regular house care skills, you have a nearly impossible change to make.
Best just keep that 10% in a repair kitty, and expect to use it at the eviction point.

Possibly some sort of training at an early age, as a part of a primary school class, would be a good way to get the behavior in there early.
Really need it embedded before seven years old.

Imaging a poor kid coming home form school, being taught respect for property and space, into a house where the parents are slobs.
That's going to be difficult for the poor kid.

[mrsaneperson]

Yup.

That's an old invoicing trick.

Add 10% on to the invoice, and say that you offer a 10% discount for early payment.
.

Our "kind" cuddly communist government has now legislated against these discounts like the ones Mercury Energy had offered for years.

[Perry]

Reminds me of that old comment: if you look for the worst in everything, you will surely find it.

The NZ electricity market is rigged. Everyone knows that, including the gummint because of the huge amount of stealth taxes it rakes in to pay for ex PM perks, gold-plated superannuation and spouses' taxpayer-subsidised air travel, etc. Things that would be subject to FBT in the real world.

For the moment, the residential rental market remains more-or-less governed by supply and demand.