Life as a Landlord

[TheLiberalLeft]

Don't be silly, Davo. You're only allowed 30% coverage of the site, so that's 24m2 of land, or 17 levels. The 17th would be smaller than the other 16, so that's something I suppose.

[skid]

regarding wasp nest--you can get powder from garden center -wait till nightime and put it on the entrance[i wore overalls gloves and a hat with old mosquito net over it and tucked into overalls collar---They were gone the next day.

[eagle]

Re wasp's nest- had tenant ring me they had a very small wasp's nest on the outside boundary wall. Advised them to wait until evening (when all wasps have returned to nest) and spray well with fly spray. (Works well on very small nests). Oh no, said tenant. We don't use fly spray. Just buy a can from the supermarket was my suggestion. Oh no, said tenant. We don't believe in using fly spray. You buy some fly spray and come up here and spray it for us.

[drelly]

Re wasp's nest- had tenant ring me they had a very small wasp's nest on the outside boundary wall. Advised them to wait until evening (when all wasps have returned to nest) and spray well with fly spray. (Works well on very small nests). Oh no, said tenant. We don't use fly spray. Just buy a can from the supermarket was my suggestion. Oh no, said tenant. We don't believe in using fly spray. You buy some fly spray and come up here and spray it for us.

I find the best way to deal with wasp nests is with the sole of my boot. Knock it off... stamp on it and run like hell.

[eri]

for the yellow and black wasps that live in a hole in the ground

once you've worked out where the fist sized entry hole is

i've heard waiting for dark and then inverting a 750ml beer bottle filled will diesel

into the hole will both block it and fumigate the nest

[Perry]

Where does one file the environmental impact
report before doing that? The Council offices?

[flyernzl]

Called in at one of the rentals yesterday.

No-one at home but us chickens.

That's right, at least four hens in residence.
Not waifs and strays, as the woodshed has been converted to a chickenhouse.

Now I've got nothing against chooks, we had a few when I was a kid.
The property is a full section running down to a stream, so I guess its actually paradise for the birds. Being down a right-of-way means that there is no issue with annoying the neighbours.
The tenants have been there for about three years, and are good, but this is a recent development and I'm not quite sure how to take it. Although we are talking suburbia here, I understand that Auckland City allows the keeping of up to six hens without a permit.

The rental agreement does say 'No pets' but are chooks pets? Or would they be classified as a food source, like tomatoes or runner beans? How much damage to the property can they do?

So that's a new conundrum to keep me awake in the wee smalls.

[Perry]

LOL!

I like it! Helps keep the grass mown, too.
Less rubbish as the turdie birdies eat the
food scraps. No eggs to buy so more $$
available to pay rent.

Only real drawback is digging up the lawn,
if they're not kept in check.

Perry-the-henherd

[Keys]

i've heard waiting for dark and then inverting a 750ml beer bottle filled will diesel

Ever seen a duck try to waddle and fly with a belly full of alcohol soaked bread?

[drelly]

Let them have the chooks... it's a sign they want to stay long term.

[Toasty]

I love these stories. Its so good to know that its not just me. I had a good Christmas this year as my tenants in my 6 flat building decided not to have the annual christmas apartment fire.

In Christmas 2010 I had the middle flat catch fire due to an overloaded 4 point plug with christmas lights left on around the clock. End result was the flat above was smoke damaged, the middle flat was gutted resulting in the loss of one cat, the apartment below was destroyed by water from the over enthusiastic fire fighters.

One year on the tenant in the bottom flat incinerated his place by (allegedly) falling asleep while smoking in bed. (No smoking policy). Result was the bottom flat was gutted and the one above destroyed by smoke damage. One of the fire fighters was a friend of mine who when he realised that the place was mine made sure that he demolished the front door with an axe. Door was unlocked. Then rang to tell me about it.

Not all bad as I now have three beautifully renovated flats on insurance(premium increased by a third). If I could just arrange to "renovate" the other side...

[Perry]

Toasty, eh? Hhhmmmm.
Not a pyromaniac, after
hours, by chance?

Who's your insurer?

[Toasty]

Toasty, eh? Hhhmmmm.
Not a pyromaniac, after
hours, by chance?

Who's your insurer?

Vero. Not very happy with me after $150,000 worth of repairs and lost rent claims. Not a pyromaniac but certainly happy with the results...as long as no one gets hurt. I was kinda hoping that the structural integrity of the building was compromised so that I could build a shiny new one but no such luck.

[eri]

while the gov. can force productive nz's

to subsidize the failings of the "hangers on"

it can not force international re-insurers to do so

this is why socialism always goes down in a screaming heap

of death by taxation

[flyernzl]

February has passed in a blur. Even with the help of an extra day of a leap year, there never seems to be quite enough time to get everything done.

At the newly acquired Manurewa house I needed replacement vinyl in the service areas but I also looked seriously at the kitchen floor. Although still sound, it was worn and had one dig out of it where some careless clot had moved the stove, so I decided to replace the vinyl in there as well. A trip to Hills Flooring unearthed a patterned commercial-grade vinyl that seemed to fit the bill even if the cost made me wince. They could not install until the 25^th, so that set the timescale for the project.

Back at the house, Jan got stuck into the repainting of walls and ceilings while I sorted out the curtains. The existing curtains in the living area just needed a wash and repairs to the unraveled hems. Bedrooms were OK, but as usual the nets were past their use-by date. The Curtain Warehouse does these at a good price, but the new ones for the main bedroom then hung down below the drapes. I moved those drapes to the third bedroom and replaced the main bedroom drapes with a used but good pair that I had left over when I updated another property. The net curtain over the kitchen bench always gets grubby and looks horrible so I replaced that with a kitset roller blind from Spotlight.

The interior doors are those imitation woodgrain jobs from the 1970s. These, as usual, had been damaged by teenagers taping posters to them and then ripping the tape off. This leaves white patches in the woodgrain finish. I find these patches can be repaired by rubbing a wood stain on to the damage and then immediately wiping over with a clean rag. Small patches virtually disappear and even the large damaged patches are darker and much less obvious.

Outside work mostly involved cutting down a large privet, concreting back to the vertical a sagging fence post, cleaning the debris out of the guttering and generally tidying up and removing any rubbish from the grounds. My contractor mows the lawn at the house I already own next door, so he’ll do this lawn as well.

The electrician repaired the main switch to the stove and shook his head over the kitchen expelair. However, Jan and I dismantled that, cleaned out the gunk, and on reassembly it goes as good as new though admittedly a wee bit noisy.

The vinyl installation day eventually arrived, and the floors now look great. However Hills blotted their copybook with flooring compound marks on the toilet seat and two of the four doorstops ripped right out of the walls. Could do better. Rather than have to repair and repaint these walls, I have tried fastening the doorstops back on to the walls with double-sided tape, and meths got the marks off the plastic seat.

Completed, the inside of the house presents really well. The outside blue trim paint is a bit faded and the front fence could do with some stain, but those are jobs we can do a bit later when time permits. I sourced a new tenant, a solo mum with three kids. On WINZ of course, that’s good as I can get the rent paid directly to me by a redirection order. She moved in yesterday. Time wise the project took a couple of weeks longer than originally envisaged, but that is hardly abnormal.

Looking at the financials, purchase price was $197500 plus $980 for settlement costs. The renovation work cost $1040 for the flooring, $3740 for Jan, about $240 for the blinds and nets and say $100 for bits and pieces. Have yet to see the electrician’s bill, but expect it to be about $150. All up, $203,800.00. The new tenant is paying $380 a week, and I had no difficulty in getting tenant interest at that level.

In my house next door, the bathroom has a plastic bath. A previous tenant dropped something heavy into this bath and knocked a hole in it. Unfortunately, the bath is built in on three sides and restricted in width, so any replacement needs to be of the same dimensions. As an original 1970s bath, it is 700mm wide. Modern baths are all 770mm wide or more so do not fit. People have got wider. At the time we patched the hole, but as well as looking and feeling a bit rough the patch had started to leak. Silicone provided a temporary fix, but the search was on for a skinny bath.

Eventually TradeMe came to the rescue, and a second-hand bath of the correct width cost me $30 collected from Howick.

This was the next job after the new house, so it was straight out of one front door and into another. In theory it was simply a case of lifting out the old bath and dropping in with the replacement, but of course Murphy came to the party. The seratone wall linings around the bath lapped over the edges and had to be removed, the timber supports had to be shifted, and the hot and cold tap locations on the new bath were different from the old one so the plumber had to be called in. My role was to admire Jan’s varied skills and to go and buy bug spray when the ants nest under the bath came to light.

We eventually got it done, and the tenant is happy and no longer in danger of skin abrasions on tender parts of her anatomy.

Over at Avondale, I contacted the tenant and advised an “Insurance Inspection” at the house with the chickens. Strangely, arriving at the appointed time, there were no chickens visible. Eaten or exported? I didn’t ask and they didn’t tell.

The house is in surprisingly good condition considering they have been in it since 2009. We will do a bit of paintwork but yes they can stay, chickens or not.