Some interesting TT decisions.

[Lighthouse]

States on the search page "on behalf of the tenant" so I assume the money will go to all the tenants.

Both managers and landlords. Some is complaint driven but other cases seem more like an audit scenario.
I did see an add on Trademe last year for an investigator for the Porirua area.

Who pays the fine is a question of agency and solvency. In this case because the property manager is at fault rather than the landlord they are the named party. If they were insolvent then it is possible the landlord could be chased for the amount but this would depend on the wording of the tenancy agreement and management agreement and how the adjudicator interpreted all the legal issues.

[Don't believe the Hype]

I read today about a LL in Auckland fined huge money for about 87 bond lodgement breaches... I fully support the action of the MBIE cracking down on slumlords who fail to do the right thing and treat their tenants with respect. These are the guys that should be chased out of the industry... not the balance of landlords who do the right thing, provide good accommodation and charge accordingly.

There is one thing to say that rents are too high - that is a personal POV - the market decides what things rent for. It is another for landlords to abuse their position by deliberately as was the case in the article


We spend huge amounts on maintenance and improvement of our properties and we are happy to do so... we change market rent for new tenancies and for longer term tenants they will almost always be below market rent.

One particular case this week we got a 14 day notice to fix some issues.

i) Blocked gully - on inspection we found the gully was blocked due to fat and food going down the sink - this is the second time this has happened and we've paid to clear. We've put in writing last time that they would be liable if this issue happened again so we will chase them for the costs ( not sure how successful we'll be)

ii) Mould on walls in one bedroom - not sure why now after 5 years in this tenancy there is now mould on the walls in one bedroom - we've asked out PM to put locks on the windows so the tenants can ventilate the room properly and to put a better extraction fan in the bathroom and install a range hood in the kitchen (it didn't have one for some reason).

On point 2 we've made a number of changes that were not necessarily required but will make the return of mould less likely.

The additional cost to us in the range of hundreds of dollars so over the longer term is almost irrelevant.

To note the tenant rent is about 20% below market

[Keys]

To note the tenant rent is about 20% below market

Why? (mamc)