Life as a Landlord

[Perry]

Some days . . . .

[Toasty]

Welcome to your bank, Kiwibank! We will treat you different than the Aussie banks....terribly!

[Baldy]

Like a lot of Kiwis I’m rather glad that 2011 is over and pleased that I have survived the visictudes it bought.

Hi Flyernzl,

Thanks a lot for sharing your story! It is both inspiring and educational!

Are you willing to write a brief "back story" about how you first got started? I am very curious and cheeky enough to ask :-)

Cheers,
Baldy

[eri]

i think he has

if you search his posts

[flyernzl]

When you were little your Granny probably told you tales of the days when the laundry was located on the back porch and the toilet was a spooky long-drop way down the garden, infested with katipo spiders and strange things with many legs that went pitter patter in the midnight hours.
On reflection, those long-dead house builders probably had the right idea. Keep the water as far away from the house as possible and so minimise the damage caused by leaky taps, pipes and appliances.

As a Pisces, I am supposed to have a natural affinity for water. Recently, unfortunately, water seems to have had a natural affinity not just for me but also for my rentals.

The tenants in my most recent purchase went on holiday back to their sunny South Pacific homeland for four weeks. On their return – shock horror – they opened up the laundry door and found a collapsing mess inside. Something within the laundry tub had sprung a leak and as a result the particleboard subfloor had not lasted the distance. Not only has the subfloor subsided and the vinyl folded up, but the water damage has spread under the walls into the adjacent hallway and living room. I went out there, mopped up the water from inside the laundry tub and tightened the tap fittings hidden up inside the tub facia.

This is an area that is notoriously hard to access. Fortunately, I have recently acquired just the tool to do the job, an adjustable-jaw spanner on the end of a metal shaft that you can shove up into the deepest torch-lit recess and grip the offending nut. This implement reminds me of one of those fearsome gynaecological forceps that used to appear in those Doctor in the House movies back in the 60s, but it certainly seems to be just the tool for the task.

That action now seems to have cured the leak, but we still have the damage. I have lodged a claim with Vero insurance, and their assessor has paid a visit. How did the leak occur? they ask, and has your plumber fixed it? Well I can guess how it occurred, and presumably I have fixed it without involving a member of the plumbing profession. Whether they will accept my fix or do I need to get a plumber to visit and certify the outcome is, at this stage, unknown.

Meanwhile, at the next house, I carried out a scheduled inspection. A few minor niggles and a little bit of work for both us and the tenant. Potentially a major is a high moisture level in the subfloor around the bathroom/toilet/laundry/hot water cylinder area. Not fatal yet, but certainly has distinct possibilities in that direction. Also, again, problems with the laundry tub. The faucet has come loose and flaps around in the breeze. A visit to the local suppliers has given me instructions and the necessary parts to fasten it back down again but I feel thats not the cause of the leak. It is somewhere else, so next week Jan and I will be grovelling down among the pipes and the dead rats to track that one down.

Over at the block of flats, there has been a problem with the shower curtain in the smallest unit. As there is only enough room in the bathroom to swing the smallest of cats, this shower has a roller door. Think of a roller blind on a window turned through 90 degrees across the entry to the shower. Obviously, the moving end of the curtain needs tracks to run on and plastic sliders to run in the tracks. The sliders were completely missing and the tracks damaged. Enquires to various bathroom suppliers resulted in little more than blank looks when I attempted to describe the installation. To a man, they had never heard of one like that. I began to fear the worst. After all, the product life-cycle of such things these days can be measured in months rather than decades. Possible I was looking at replacement rather than repair.

However, Google is your friend. A search there turned up an Auckland manufacturer of what seemed to be an identical product. They even had installation instructions available to download. Yes, this seems to be the one. Clutching a batch of photographs of my ailing shower curtain, I visited their factory. Yes it was one of theirs, yes they had the parts in stock, and yes they would sell them to me. Eureka, we now have a shower curtain that actually works. So if you ever need good service and great backup, call Newline Bathroomware in Glenfield. Good people.

If you are a member of APIA you will be aware that 2013 APIA Board Elections will take place on Tuesday 11th June. Nominations closed at the end of May, and I have put my name forward as a candidate. If you have been following this series of posts for the last year or so, you will know that there are a number of issues facing residential landlords that I feel quite strongly about. In my view, although the APIA is generally doing quite a good job, some of these issues require a lot more emphasis and effort than currently seems to be applied. Issues like the Watercare debacle, proposed warrants of fitness for rental properties and the subsidized home insulation shambles will not be resolved of their own accord. Someone from within a recognized organization needs to devote the time and effort to eventually achieve a reasonably satisfactory solution that suits property people, tenants and suppliers.

Obviously I consider myself to be qualified to be that someone. Twenty two years in the landlording trenches has given me most of the answers to the problems in this business, though some tenants still have the capacity to surprise. So I ask those of you who are APIA members to consider the calibre of those people who are standing and exercise your vote at the Board Elections. Should you vote for Peter Lewis you will get my thanks and I am sure you will get value for your decision.

[Perry]

Water torture?
Tenant torture?
APIA torture?

Masochist!

(Best of luck with all three, BTW)

[Raftcomm]

Flyernzl, thanks very much for sharing your experience in this thread. It not only gave me a reality check on growing my portfolio but also appreciate those who self manage their own rental properties a lot more. The thought process you went through as well as your experience with other landlords really drove it home that you cant go into PI without first learning the game....which is really where i am at right now. I read all your post in this thread and agree with most of the points you raised....except the one on CGT. Much as it doesn't really impact someone like yourself (for now) who only intends to buy & hold, don't you think eventually that having CGT will come back and bite into your bottom line, especially when nearing retirement when you need to sell off a few properties to gain more cashflow?

I'm contemplating signing up for APIA but unsure if i will be signed up in time for the board election. If i did, you would already have my vote. All the best in the coming election nonetheless and keep sharing your experience!

[flyernzl]

Firstly, I'd like to thank all of those who voted at the APIA elections.
As I was one of the successful candidates, I guess that means that many of you think I could do a good job on the Board.
I shall do my best to keep that faith.

Secondly, there will be no 'Life as a Landord' update on the 1st of July.
"Why not!" I hear you cry.
Because it is midwinter and I about to go away for a holiday in a sunnier climate.
Why? Because I deserve it.

So all of you can occupy and amuse yourselves throwing paper darts at each other and scrawling vulgar words on the blackboard until I return.

[DazRaz]

Congrats Peter. I guess you will need your July break...

[ajc28]

Very interesting read from a tenant's perspective, looking forward to future updates.

[mrsaneperson]

If i had a PM , they would still be dancing around having to call me in the end to fix up something as i doubt if many have practical skills at all & will be hopeless at ascertaining the situation correctly in order to keep the costs down. To illustrate:
Last Sunday i got a call from my tenant at 11.30pm, i was just about to hit the sack,then the phone rang "Hey we have almost no water pressure from any taps in our house". Thinking this very strange I went to check it out gathering all my tools . Fortunately i know the layout of the house well & know where the watermains come into the house & to the basement. I could also hear gushiing water. I turned off the mains then went into the basement storage area where the water mains comes into the house. There is a good light source & i was able to see quickly that a pipe connected to a garden hose from the mains water feed had come away from the mains water feed. On closer inspection an RXP Junction connector [15mm] aka RX fitting, had cracked & the pipe leading to the garden hose had freed itself from the junction resulting in full mains pressure water gushing into the basement.I temporarily rectified the situation by disconnecting the T connection & eliminating the cracked connecter . If the tenant hadnt called me & unwittingly slept through the night this would have been catastrophic as the whole basement would have flooded when they awoke the next morning.
This is actually the 2nd RXP connector [RX fitting] that has failed on me recenly .The first failing a few years back was not really an issue as it was in an outside area.Again the connector had cracked. These connectors are extremely common & sold right throughout NZ from Bunnings etc .They may be ticking time bombs waiting to fail anytime , disastrous if they are located inside a basement & not located quickly .

[Perry]

Are there other names for RXP connectors?
I don't recognise that name, at all.

[mrsaneperson]

Also known as RX fittings ,they are made in NZ.Heres their webpage to show you a picture of what it looks like .Locate the photo half way down past the first 3 photos & locate the photo titled "RXT Tee" & it is that one:

http://www.rxplastics.co.nz/rx-compression-pepipe

They are supposedly rated at 1200Kpa or 173psi . Typical mains water pressure is 600 to 1100Kpa so they should be fine.

[Perry]

Right - gotcha! I use them, but only outside.
Maybe their pressure performance figures are
a tad optimistic? Given the recent thread on
(?? dux) piping and insurance, maybe all the
hype over plastic piping is coming home to
roost? But not at their place!

[Wayne]

water hammer damage prehaps?
But you are right - the PM will just get the emergenbcy plumber and it'll cost you hundreds.