Tenancy Agreements

[Keys]

Huge post guys, sorry. For those who think running a rental does not require effort then have a read on the new tenancy agreement requirements:


We are now required to include in new tenancy agreements all the following:

• [*=left]Full name and contact address of the Landlord
  [*=left]The Landlords contact mobile telephone number (if any)
  [*=left]The Landlords contact email address (if any)
  [*=left]The full name and contact address (where that is different from the address of the premises to which the agreement relates) of the tenant
  [*=left]The tenants contact mobile telephone number (if any)
  [*=left]The tenants contact email address (if any)
  [*=left]The address of the premises
  [*=left]The date of the tenancy agreement
  [*=left]The date of commencement of the tenancy (where that is different from the date of the tenancy agreement)
  [*=left]The Landlords address for service
  [*=left]The tenants address for service
  [*=left]Whether the tenant is under the age of 18
  [*=left]The amount of any bond
  [*=left]The rent payable
  [*=left]The frequency of rent payments
  [*=left]The place or bank account number where the rent is to be paid
  [*=left]A list of any chattels provided by the landlord
  [*=left]If the tenancy is a fixed term tenancy, the date on which the tenancy will terminate
  [*=left]The required heating capacity of the main living room of the premises
  [*=left]The type of qualifying heater that heats the main living room
  [*=left]The heaters capacity for the main living room
• If the living room has an exemption then
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the main living room is exempt
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption.
  
  
  [*=left]For each ceiling of a domestic living space in the premises that is insulated
• The dates when the insulation was installed and when it was last inspected (if known)
  
  • [*=left]The insulations “R” value when it was installed OR
    [*=left]The thickness of the insulation material when it was last inspected
  
  
  [*=left]For each suspended floor of a domestic living space in the premises that is insulated
  [*=left]The dates when the insulation was installed and when it was last inspected (if known)
  [*=left]The insulations “R” value when it was installed
  [*=left]For each suspended floor of a domestic living space in the premises that is not insulated the reason why
• If a ceiling or floor does not comply
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the ceiling or floor is exempt from the requirement to have insulation
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption.
  
  
  [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that each habitable space has one or more qualifying windows or doors
  [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement on the extractor fans diameter or exhaust capacity for both the kitchen and bathroom
• If a habitable space does not comply
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the space is exempt from the requirement to have an openable window or external door
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption.
  
  
• If a kitchen or bathroom does not comply
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the room is exempt from the requirement to have an extractor fan
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption.
  
  
• For each open fireplace in the premises
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that it is closed off or the chimney is blocked OR
    [*=left]At the tenants request, the fireplace is available for use
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the premises are free from unintentional and unreasonable gaps between, and holes in, building elements that allow draughts into or out of the premises
  
  

• The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the tenancy building has an efficient drainage system
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement that the tenancy building does not have any enclosed subfloor spaces OR
    [*=left]Each enclosed subfloor space of the tenancy building has a ground moisture barrier
  
  
• However, if an enclosed subfloor space does not comply and the landlord relies on an exemption then
  
  • [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a statement to the effect that the subfloor space is exempt from the requirement to have a ground moisture barrier
    [*=left]The tenancy agreement must include a description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption

General Exemptions
Any general exemption of the Heathy Homes Standards relied upon by the landlord must, in all circumstances, have a statement in the tenancy agreement that the landlord is relying upon a certain exemption and must always include a brief description of the circumstances giving rise to the exemption.
To explain a little from here on.
Any notations from the line in italics above to here are because of the new legislation. As you will see, there is a great amount of information, which is specific to a property, which now needs to be collected and recorded into the tenancy agreement.
The data collection and entry for each property is huge. The potential work to be done on each property to comply will vary immensely, from zero to considerable. Regardless of the amount of work to be done, reporting on the work still needs to be done. Records need to be kept for 7 years and, although a lot of these requirements do not need doing immediately it would be wise to begin from now onwards. In addition, in any new or renewed tenancy from 1 July 2019, a landlord will have to make a statement that they comply or intend to comply with the healthy homes standards when required. A landlord must make this declaration, even if the landlord does not have to comply until the healthy homes’ compliance date.

[Learning]

Thank you Keys. Nice to have it all set out like this. 😁

[PC]

Bureaucracy - There you go, housing crisis sorted!

[Kaye]

Thanks Keys appreciate you taking the time to lay this out for us.

[Perry]

Huge post guys, sorry.

No apology necessary. Throw in those gawd awful formulas and it becomes an extremely daunting imposition.

Bureaucracy - there you go, housing crisis sorted!

Just a huge spoon of bureaucracy helps the housing crisis go down . . . .

(To the strains of the Sound of Music)

[Davo36]

Just a huge spoon of bureaucracy helps the housing crisis go down . . . .

(To the strains of the Sound of Music)

It's Mary Poppins Perry.

It's a movie about a magical person who fixes everything. Just like our mate Phil. Sent to us from a place we can't comprehend, he is magically fixes all our housing woes.

[Perry]

If there was a trickle of PIs selling up, Dhil's tortuous machinations will do nothing to slow it.

I wonder if the TT Kangaroo Kourts will be closing for two weeks for Adjudicators to have a crash course on how to understand all this crap?

[Learning]

I wonder if the TT Kangaroo Kourts will be closing for two-week for Adjudicators to have crash course on how understand all this crap?

And then they can show us LLs and PMs so we can explain it to our tenants.

A kind of Chinese whispers. The guy who comes up with it explains it to the guys who approve it, who explain it to the guy who writes it up, who explains it to the trainers, who explain it assessors, who explain it to the adjudicators, who explain it to the LLs, who explain it to their tenants. The tenants now have no idea what a freckle is going on but are still happy because the media told them they should be. And as no one explained anything to the media, they just came to their own conclusions, which bares almost no resemblance of the original "plan" what could possibly go wrong.

[klauster]

And then they can show us LLs and PMs so we can explain it to our tenants.

A kind of Chinese whispers. The guy who comes up with it explains it to the guys who approve it, who explain it to the guy who writes it up, who explains it to the trainers, who explain it assessors, who explain it to the adjudicators, who explain it to the LLs, who explain it to their tenants. The tenants now have no idea what a freckle is going on but are still happy because the media told them they should be. And as no one explained anything to the media, they just came to their own conclusions, which bares almost no resemblance of the original "plan" what could possibly go wrong.

Now is time for making sure that tenants comply with the regulations trained by the tenancy services and by issuing a “Tenant” registration card or something like that.

The Government had a good run on landlords so far by law changes to the RTA (Tenancies Amendment Act), taxation (Bright-line Test), Conveyancing/Information Reporting Bill and further more with the healthy home standards for rental homes.

Labour’s campaigns were labeled in the name of “fairness", what is renter’s fair share to make these changes working?

[Perry]

Maybe not such a silly idea?

Hell! Even the semi-somnambulant NZPIF might make use of it. As in income stream, if nothing else.

No NZPIF tenant licence? Don't bother applying.

How soon can we get this started?

[klauster]

Even the semi-somnambulant NZPIF might make use of it. As in income stream, if nothing else.
No NZPIF tenant licence? Don't bother applying.
How soon can we get this started?

Yes Perry, a voluntary registration with an agency for a fee or NZPIF would help many landlords to find the “preferred tenant”, but I think that should be a compulsory service by the tenancy services. They have tenant’s details on the bond register form and the new address of service on the bond release form.

Why not provide something good for the rental housing industry?
Let us introduce a "NZPIF tenant licence" !!!!!

That would also obsolete blackmailing databases.

[Perry]

The NZPIF has been somewhat involved in such a thing.

Did Peter not comment a while ago that the idea had been hijacked by TS in some way? Or was it just the credit for it? I don't remember.

No matter, looks like a golden opportunity,

[artemis]

The NZPIF has been somewhat involved in such a thing.

Did Peter not comment a while ago that the idea had been hijacked by TS in some way? Or was it just the credit for it? I don't remember.

No matter, looks like a golden opportunity,

Perry, would you trust a government organisation to run this and effectively give their imprimatur to a tenant? Tears before bedtime all round.

[Perry]

Hell, No!

The NZPIF has been somewhat involved in such a thing.

Did Peter not comment a while ago that the idea had been hijacked by TS in some way? Or was it just the credit for it? I don't remember.

No matter, looks like a golden opportunity.

Perry, would you trust a government organisation to run this and effectively give their imprimatur to a tenant? Tears before bedtime all round.

Hell, No!

That's why I suggested it as an NZPIF initiative.

There would be almost no trust in such a scheme if it was in the hands of bureaucrats.

[Kaye]

Does anyone know when Fixed Term Tenancies are going? I had a call from an ex tenant and he's been told he needs to sign another Fixed Term this time for a year.