The MRP thing was the brainchild of Warren Freer in 1974. So if you can recall that, along with carless days, you may not be as old as you thought.
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Life as a Landlord
Collapse
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
-
Another splendid post, thank you.
I do wonder what the reasoning is from those who want to add layers and layers of compliance on landlords. The stated rationale is usually to protect the vulnerable, with the subtext that the tenant is always the less powerful in the relationship. There is truth in that, though any landlord with a trashed property or hard-to-recover rent arrears might not agree.
Surely the underlying reason cannot be to make more and more people reliant on the state for cheap housing, subsidised by the long suffering taxpayer. Fot that would be socialism would it not?
There is, anecdotally, a shortage of rentals in some locations and also anecdotally word that some landlords are selling up. There is another census next year and that will give some insight into whether numbers of rentals are increasing or declining during the course of this century. But I don't suppose that data will be researched nearly as much as insulation rates, mouldy windowsills and sick children living in overcrowded conditions. Even though it may actually be more pertinent.Last edited by artemis; 01-09-2017, 10:41 PM.
Comment
-
-
We can start by sending Peters post to Brian Rudman of the NZ Herald who is constantly advocating for the softly softly approach on all tenancy matters . I think it was Peters published "letter to the editor" in reply to Rudmans advocacy for ""lifetime"" tenancy agreements a few weeks ago. In the letter ,Peter pointed out that the ""long term tenancy"" system that Rudman advocates for is already operational in Germany but is balanced by the fact that Tenants signing up to these agreements have to pay for rates, maintenance , carpet and wallpaper when worn out. The letter was a good reality check for Rudman but still hasn't stopped him from blathering on about the ""poor tenant"".
Comment
-
Originally posted by flyernzl View PostI also sent my letter on 'Long Term Tenancies' directly to Rudman.
No response or acknowledgement.
Another Herald lefty - aren't they all - and regular columnist, John Roughan recently suggested that the government remove landlords tax deductions for mortgage interest accrued on rentals!
Comment
-
Originally posted by Perry View PostJust like all such hack journos, eh?
Never let the facts get in the way of a tall tale story.
I thought all these people (Rudman, Roughan etc) were just writing opinion pieces - like us but get theirs in the paper and are paid.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Perry View PostJust like all such hack journos, eh?
Never let the facts get in the way of a tall tale story.
Originally posted by Wayne View PostAre they journos or opinionists?
I thought all these people (Rudman, Roughan etc) were just writing opinion pieces - like us but get theirs in the paper and are paid.
Or maybe it falls into the category of opinion masquerading as fact?
Or even fake news?
Comment
-
Originally posted by Perry View PostYou're probably right. The Gramsci "march through the institutions" thing.
Or maybe it falls into the category of opinion masquerading as fact?
Or even fake news?
Comment
-
Originally posted by Wayne View PostJust an opinion - they get paid, you don't. I apply the same weight to both (and all other opinions (do your own research is the modis operandi)
Comment
-
Originally posted by mrsaneperson View PostWhy are all their opinions almost always the same? Leftist , softly softly socialist drivel .I'm sure the powers that be at the Herald and media in general are instructed to employ only such people with the left leaning margin .Perfect propaganda tool for the socialist narrative that continually talks about ""collective responsibility"" for anything and everything as opposed to ""individual responsibility"".
Newpapers tend to have a bias left or right (depending on the paper).
Newspapers aren't such a perfect tool anymore with social media taking over.
At least the newspaper columists do some thinking rather than the self opinionated, un-thought drivel I see from most social media.
The old adage applies - believe half of what you see and none of what you hear (or read). (Or something like that but I'm sure you get the point.)
Comment
-
I always thought the Herald to be celebrity focused and keen on sensationalist news. So when Key was the PM it was all over him, now Jacinda has the star power.Free online Property Investment Course from iFindProperty, a residential investment property agency.
Comment
-
Life is full of choices and decisions, and we all make hundreds of such choices every day. From the time we wake up in the morning to the time we nod off at night we are constantly deciding if and when we will do (or not do) some action or activity. While a choice is the right, power, or opportunity to choose, the subsequent decision is the act of or need of making up one’s mind.
Within our own particular society we are fortunate that many of us make rational beneficial choices much of the time. We choose to make good use of the educational and career-enhancing opportunities that come our way, we choose to live in a clean and healthy environment, we choose to mostly associate with good and decent people, and we choose to treat our bodies with some respect. Thus our country is seen as a desirable place to live and our society is thankfully free from the vicious civil wars and rampant epidemics that rage in other, less well organized, places.
So you and I as property people are life-competent. We have the education and skills to get and retain employment. We turn up there on time, sober and undamaged, each and every working day. We can resolve disputes both at home and at work in a non-violent manner, and we are largely law-abiding citizens. We have at least some skills in handling our finances so that we can plan goals for our future and also, when life’s inevitable hiccups occur, we have access to the resources we need to get us through the bad patch. Our parliamentary laws are supposedly made on the basis that citizens will obey the rules that are written with the intent of benefiting of us all, and when we do transgress we accept our punishment and resolve not to make the same mistake twice.
However, not all of our countrymen are so blessed. We seem to have a sizeable minority who persistently make bad choices and sabotage their own and others’ lives. With minimal education and lacking marketable skills, these people end up in low-paid - often part time - employment. They tend to spend their leisure time in self-damaging activities such as drunken parties or consuming illicit drugs, and these can end up in physical fights. Come Monday morning they then endanger their employment by turning up at work late, hungover, and sporting two black eyes as a souvenir of their weekend’s activities. Having spent their available money on things of minimal value they have then no reserves available when the car breaks down or a dentist is needed. Living from week to week, any financial hiccup sets them back to zero. When the law comes calling they just stand there, mute, and stare it down. These people are life-incompetent, always on the financial edge and living on the fringes of society.
By virtue of being landlords, we have self-selected from the life-competent group. Apart from the minimal number who have attained rental property ownership by the sheer luck of winning Lotto, most landlords have worked, planned and struggled to attain that status. No-one wakes up one morning to find that they have acquired one or more rental properties overnight with absolutely no effort on their part. So, although no-one have ever gone through life without making at least some wrong choices, we have probably got it more right than wrong.
If you have been in the landlording game for a number of years you will have experienced tenants who show every sign of being life-incompetent. They do not know how to run a house, a job, a relationship, or their own lives. Even pulling back the curtains in the house and opening the windows to let the sunlight in seems to be beyond them.
Most of us, after facing the sickening realisation that we have made a bad choice, mutter to ourselves “Well that was not so good. I’ll not do that again”. However, these people seem to make the same mistakes again and again, seemingly never learning from their own experience and never moving ahead in life. Why this should be so has kept a number of psychologists and sociologists in work for a very long time.
Reasons advanced seem to vary from immaturity, a deprived childhood, low IQ, an innate desire for immediate gratification at the expense of long-term prosperity, or the stubborn belief that life should owe them more. From my own experience, you can point out to them that the problems they are experiencing stem largely from their own incompetent behaviour, but at best you get a smile, a nod, and a repeat of the same bungling actions leading inevitably to the same lamentable results.
I have tried to steer any such tenants of mine into the path of righteousness and good behavior, and my efforts have invariably been wasted. Within weeks if not days they are again behind in the rent, distributing filth and rubbish throughout the property and annoying the neighbours. So where to from there?
My amateur social work efforts ended some time ago. When I introduce new tenants into a property I carefully and explicitly lay down exactly what is required of them, explaining their rights and responsibilities. There can be no misunderstandings. They then get one chance during their tenancy, one chance to right any wrongs. From then on in, it is hair trigger stuff. If they want to live like pigs, drop behind in the rent, or treat the property – or me – with contempt, then I want them out. There is no second chance. I have abdicated from any role as a social worker or a shoulder to cry on. The laws around residential property tenancy have now become sufficiently draconian that I cannot run the risk of ‘accidental’ damage which I have to pay for, or rent arrears that take many years to pay off at a minimal amount per week if at all.
Politicians seem to think that paying rent should also entitle the tenant to the services of a part-time social worker, immunity from the consequences of their actions, and a subsidy on their power bills. No thanks, that’s not the business I am in.
Comment
Comment