August 22, 2026 • 40 mins
Renters make up a large portion of the property market, and there's a difficult dance to paying to live in someone else's house.
Who's responsibility is it to maintain the lawns? How do you spot a good property to rent? And when does an issue become the landlords problem instead of the tenants?
Managing Director at Aspire Property Management Mike Atkinson joins Tim Beveridge to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be but by the way, just looking ahead after
five will be with Miriam mcaleb for the Parents Squad,
talking about how our device is our use of devices
affects our kids as well. But we might also have
a chat with Miriam about the sex talk when you
should give it as a parent and you know, how
much do you leave up to Hopefully they find a
lot about that stuff before you can have to get
(00:30):
into the nitty gritty. But right now, as I say,
it's the It's one roof radio show, and we're going
to talk about a couple of things. It's but the
general subject is around rentals because rental, and especially profit
private rentals a massive part of the property market. But
there are a couple of sides of the discussion I
want to get into. Firstly, is what actually makes a
(00:51):
good rental property if you're an investor, is it just
the numbers? But how do you you know? What are
the things you need to look for outside of like
the this is what it costs me, this is what
I have to borrow, this is what the yield is,
and this is what I'm making on the return. So
we're going to dig into that with our guests or
introduce in just a tick. But the other side of
the equation as well, as you know, what are the
(01:13):
things you know, if there's an issue with the house,
what are the things that you should complain about, because
you know there are little things that's like, do we
really worry about that it's just a little hole on
the wall or actually that's probably quite a big one
now I think of it. But also do you try
and do things like mowing the lawns and haggle? I mean,
I think most tenants do mow the lawns. Actually it's
(01:34):
probably part of the rental agreement. But are there jobs
that you know, you might expect the tenant the landlord
to do and you might say, look, you know, give
me a give me a little discount and the rent
and I'll look after all X Y and Z I
eight one hundred eighty T and eighty. Anyway to discuss
that and all the other topics of anything else you've
got to talk about with regards to rentals. He is
managing director at Aspire Property Management and almost a regular
(01:59):
on the show. And I think Mike Atkinson gid a Mike,
how are you going good?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Thank you thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah. Actually, because we were having a bit of a
chat before the show about I in my mind had
this idea that you you know, that there'd be a
lot of tenancies where the landlord wouldn't trust the tenant
to necessarily keep up the garden it depends on it,
and would bring their own gardener. And then the tenant
might say, we'll give me twenty bucks off a week
or fifty bucks off a week, and I'll do all
(02:24):
the gardening. But what is this common practice?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, gardens and lawns are actually separate. Also lawns. You
can get the tenants to do the lawns and the gardens.
You can get the tenants to do the weeding of
the gardens. But you are supposed to maintain the gardens
if you're the landlord's considered skilled work. Really, yes, so is.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It generally in most rental agreements if there's a lawn.
In fact, to be honest, I would expect that if
it was a lawn, I'd be expected to know it.
But who has to provide the lawnmark? How does that
all work?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So it's an interesting one when the way that we
do it is we only include the lawns in the
rent if the lawn is going to put tenants off
from renting the proper. So if it's a really large
backyard and you can see tenants coming to the viewing
and saying I don't think I want to do that
every Saturday, we will include it in the rent. Then.
But the interesting one about who does the lawns is
(03:16):
that these new townhouses, you have a seven square meter
piece of lawn at the back. You have no shed
and sometimes no way to even access the lawn without
going through the house. So who mows and how do
you even mow those lawns?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
What's the answer? That sounded like a rhetorical question, but
I need you to have the answers to this.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, those some of them are just down to really
poor design, And the answer is probably replacing the grass
with astro turf at some stage.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Which I guess for a small little patch. It does
make sense that you have astroichio for reams, doesn't it,
although it does feel I mean, I like Actually the
reason I assumed by the way that everyone that the
landlords to do it is because one of the jobs
they still do for my mum when we were in
Roua was I think my mum had there were some flats,
my parents had some flats and I got five bucks
(04:02):
to mow a massive area of lawn. But it was
also because it was one of those two occupancy sort
of houses where it was all one big sort of
shared lawn and things like that. And that's where you
might I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, that is where the landlord would get the lawns
mode because you can't actually they're not exclusive use for
one property. So when you have common areas, you would
get someone to mow the lawns, and then the landlord
has to pick up the tab for that and try
to recover it through the rent.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Okay, what is that ever? A haggling ground for a
tenant says, look, I love my own lawns. It's my
it's good for mental health. I'll mow it every couple
of weeks and keep it up. Give me a discount
of the rent. Would that be worth something?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
They? It would definitely be worth something if you are
saving the landlord some actual you know, if they are
able to not mow that and save a cost, well,
then yeah, they could pass that on to you. But
it does make things a little bit more challenging. Then
you now have to manage if the tenant is actually
doing the lawns, are they doing them the right amount.
So often it is easier in those situations to just
get the lawns done and then you don't have to
(05:03):
worry about it.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Actually, the thing that is I didn't realize. I'd never
thought about it because I always imagine that there's some
sort of garden. I mean, as soon as you've got
a bush growing somewhere, that's a garden, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It is, And it is also one of those things
where some tenants are actually doing them. And because some
tenants actually want to do the garden, they want to
have it look nice. Your landlord might do it once
a year to just sort of stop it from getting
completely out of control. But if you live there, some
tenants will do the gardens, even though it is a
landlord responsibility.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Okay, what would you do if you're a tenant with
a few I mean, back in the good old days
of renting, would you want.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was a tenant and I definitely didn't do the gardens.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Unfortunately, I can't really remember. I don't think I think
I've always been a flatmate of someone who's owned the
property for most of my renting sort a time, so
it was not my problem. Really. Yeah, what about what
about a garden? You were mentioning beforehand? There was something
on you'd read on social media about people had moved
(06:06):
into a house and there were some nice bushes and
trees or something given them privacy, privacy, and then the
landlord decided that the easiest way to give up keep
was to chop it all down. That's a story there.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, so I read that this morning and it was
getting quite a lot of comments. And basically, just your
bunch of trees in between two properties is a fence there.
Landlord decided Obviously the property manager had told them that
the trees needed to be trimmed, and they thought, well,
I won't have to keep paying to trim the trees
if I just take them all out. And so they're
all gone. Oh and now the property just doesn't have
the same look and feel they're in. This particular tenant
(06:40):
is in month three of a twelve month fixed term
and they were seeking advice on how they could proceed
with the landlord.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, that fundamentally sort of changes the nature of the property.
I guess if you move into a place, how big
were the tree do we know?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
On them?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
They were decent sized. It went from not being able
to see that there was a house next door.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, well I suddenly like, they're looking in my backyard.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, it was. It was a very big change.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So what actually, what would the I know you're not
a lawyer, but you'll have an idea about these things.
I would imagine that if a tenant has rented a place,
because they go and they see it's got some lovely
big trees. This is what the house is. They chop
the trees down. It's like, well, what I've rented is
no longer. You know, the backyard is part of the tenancy.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, it's a material change to the tenancy and it
will be impacting the tenant's ability to peace, quiet, and
enjoyment of the property. So it is potentially a breach
of the RTA by the landlord. In that example, the
tenant should reach out to the landlord and ask why
they did that. So if it was because tree roots
are growing into the foundations of the neighbor's property, where
(07:40):
the landlord might have a bit more of a leg
to stand.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
On, although it's still a fundamental change to the nature
of the tendency regardless of the reasons.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, so they would still have to compensate the tenant
because yeah, it is materially changed. There's much less privacy
and the property just doesn't look as good now. It
wouldn't rent for as much on the open market, so
the tenant shouldn't carry that cost.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Wow, how would you go about negotiating something like that?
I mean, I mean you represent landlords, but you your
business isn't looking after tenants because you know, the happier
the tenant, the less trouble you have doing your job,
I guess, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, well you have a duty to care of
duty of care to the tenant while we work for
the landlord. So in that case, we would basically just
reach out to both parties and see if there was
an amount that could be adjusted that would get everybody happy.
If that fails, the tenant can take the landlord to
the Tenancy Tribune need to get a ruling from adjudicator.
It's a neutral party.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Let's say what let's what's an average sort of rent?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Will say in Auckland about seven hundred dollars a week.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, seven hundred bucks a week. You've had all your
trees chopped down. You love the backyard. No, you can't
go out and sunbathe without feeling someone's looking at you.
What's that?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
What are you?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
What are you asking off the rent? Do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Well, that is a good question for people. What is
the privacy in your back garden?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Worth eight hundred eighty ten eighty gosh, yeah, we got
that guests framing the questions and I'm more than happy
for him to do. So what do you reckon? Actually?
I mean how important is it to you if you
are a tenant because obviously with all these you know,
lots of new townhouse and things like that, where the
garden is not really a big deal. You've got a
tiny little patch where you might be able to hand
hang some clothes out if you're lucky. But if you
(09:16):
are in a property that's got something of a garden,
how how much does the whole vibe of the of
the outside matter as much as the fact that you've
got a nice new I don't know, a nice new
shower with good ventilation and a comfy bedroom. How do
you balance the value on that stuff. Oh eight one
hundred and eighty ten eighty text nine nine two. Taking
your calls and let's get into it, shall we? Kram? Hello?
Speaker 5 (09:39):
A Hi, Yes, So we're talking about gardens today, is it?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well if you want, yeah, is that what you want
to talk about?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Just anything property related as fine?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Uh, yeah, well you called up. I was wondering what
you wanted to offer for the conversation.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
So with gardens, I mean, obviously we you know, mostly
when the tenancy's the you know, tenant maintains the gardens,
you know, so we put it in. But also it
depends what sort of deal it is. You know. Sometimes
I find good gardeners will come around and maintain the property,
you know, they've been doing mowing the lawns for the
(10:18):
last ten years or something. But then I just include
the tenancy so that the tenants don't have to worry
about it, because sometimes tenants don't, you know, maintain it,
and then it gets all out of control and then
you know, you have to kind of argue and it's
not worth it. So if I get a good gardener,
then I just keep them as a regular who like
(10:39):
a couple of weeks. They might just go around and
just charge me like thirty or forty dollars or something,
and I just include that in the tendency, you know,
So I find that a lot easier to deal with.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, it actually does make sense. Now you sort of
say like that, Yeah, thanks gram any thoughts on that much.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, you do get the benefit if you do do
the lawns and the gardens regularly. That it's another person
going to the property and then we go in there
more regularly than your property manager, so they can report
back if they anything untoward. That feels a little EDNA does.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But it's dodgy, that feels like you're sending you know,
I've got a man or a woman on the inside
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And that's why some tenants prefer to have mo their
own lawns, because they don't want to have someone who
represents the landlord coming around every three weeks to mow
the lawns. I'll get their own person to do it,
or they'll do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
What are the rules around what's observable? Oh, this is
a tricky one, but it's fun to sort of fun freaky.
What are the rules around if you have someone going
around to do the gardens around them taking a look
in the window.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
There are rules against that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh okay, so you can't just sort of going who's
in there?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, absolutely cut your hands against them. Okay, but I mean, okay,
so here's a trick question. Then you go around and
the maybe they're sliding doors to the lounge or something,
and you can easily see in. Are you even allowed
to look in just by fact that it is visible?
And go well, I was around the lawns and I
(12:03):
saw that there are a couple of holes in the
wall and the place was a mess. What's Oh, it's
a tricky one.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It is in the way that, if you are savvy
about it, you would just sort of have a word
quietly to the property manager. You might want to have
a look at your next inspection that I might have
seen something, so you don't sort.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of make it an official Oh okay, so you just
feed that back and just.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Feed that back and then deal with it appropriately.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
How soon can you do the next property inspection sort
of thing.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You're allowed to do an inspection once every month, and
most people do them every three months, so you could
depending on what they see. You do have to be
very careful with it because you can't go prying around.
It would be more if your guys doing the lawns
and he notices something really major, like maybe the tenants
haven't been there for the last three times he's mode
lawns and it looks like they've moved out and abandoned
(12:48):
the property. Things like that is what you'd be looking
for me.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Okay, got on, I've got a bunch of questions about that.
We'll dig into, tell you what. But let's go to
some more calls, shall we o eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty If you've got any questions, of course for
that Mike atk and someone's going to call you Dave
for some reason. I have no idea why I did that.
That's course I know I David. So there we go.
Let's take some more calls. If you've got any questions
for Mike, then give us a call on eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty, as well as well as your
(13:12):
reckons around. You know, how important is it that your
landlord just does the bearest minimum on the garden because
you quite like it the way it is. Dave, Hello, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (13:21):
I get a yeah, interesting story I had when I
was a young fellow. I had my first rengeal property.
I had a certain rock and roller move and called
mister Luck. You can picture the rest of the name.
And I was like, you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Give away any secrets, are you here?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
No?
Speaker 7 (13:38):
No, no, I was a bit worried. I rocked up
one day to mow the lawns. I thought it was
a good idea to mow the lawns every two weeks,
as I can keep an eye on the property. Anyway,
turn turned up, turned up there and the gentleman was
laying on the deck with not a lot of clothes on.
And I was a bit shall I pack up and
go home to the north Shore or shall I carry on?
When I mowed the lawn didn't disturb in one little bit,
(13:59):
packed up the car.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
And drove off.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Did he know you were?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
That was he?
Speaker 7 (14:04):
I think, was having a little little nudy sleep in
the sunshine.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well that's all good, I think, But it was a.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
Great way to keep an eye on the property. You
make sure there wasn't, you know, too much stuff going
on while I was still being in the gardener.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
That's actually that I mean. That does pose a curious
question around if you pop around to mow the lawns
and the tenant just happens to be doing a new
bit of sun bathing. It's a very niche sort of observation.
I think. Actually, I don't know what to make of
that call, because anyway, what do you reckon? Any comments
on that?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Dave me?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, that's why I called you, Dave, because yeah, Mike, sorry,
that's okay. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I would advise my staff that if they ever and
counted something like that would just be to turn around
and leave the property immediately. In this day and age,
I'm sure years ago people would have a chuckle about
that sort of thing, but now people are a lot
more sensitive about those topics.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, and I think even though we're you know, I think,
you guess we'll be talking about maybe if we do
have a call about someone who might be known just
by a surname and we can all guess who it is,
maybe we keep let's not it's not share that information. Yeah,
even though, but a bit of nude sunbathing. It's not
the most outrageous thing in the world, is it. It is?
Tell you what, I've completely lost my way there, and
(15:15):
so we're going to come back and just Detective we
want to know from you. We're going to explore the
idea of what makes a good rental property as well.
But also when it comes to the upkeeper of the property,
what would you do if the landlord came around and
suddenly decided that all that upkeep of the gardens which
he is respon, he or she is responsible for, they
just go, We'll just chop the gardens out. Would it
bother you? I mean, how important is that part of
(15:35):
the property when it comes to your own tendancy and
enjoyment of it. It's twenty two and a half past
four news talks that'd be this is one with Feridi Show.
My guest is Mike Atkinson. He's managing director to Aspire
Property Management. We've got a bunch of texts around managing
properties and well I'll just get into the text, but
I actually do have one other question which is tied
in with you know, the details of doing the gardening
(15:56):
and the lawns. But it's it's the things that can
go wrong with a property or might be a little
bit of a fault and when people should complain, I
don't mean complain, raise it to the attention of the
landlord or the property manager. But I mean, are there
things might that can be ignored that aren't consequential, because
(16:16):
something that might not seem like a big problem to
the tenant might actually build into a bigger problem for everyone.
What do you reckon?
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I mean I think it never hurts to document anything
that you see, even if it's just an email to
the property manager to say, hey, JUSTFYI, I noticed a
bit of water overflowing out of the back gutter. You
don't have to complain about things. You can just raise
them with the landlord. And some things, you know, they
can be deferred or left, and other things need to
be acted on right away.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
What about it like something, for instance, a door that
doesn't that closes, but when there's a bit of a
breeze at rattles, I mean that would drive me nuts
and I would probably think of fixing it myself, whether
just a little bit of rubber there or something to
But I mean, there's that something that somebody go, excuse me,
you need to come and fix the stores rattling.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That would be something that you might look to see
if we could bundle into another job so that we
could get the handyman out there to do several of
those items, and that's not something that you can require
to fix, not necessarily. It depends. I mean, that would
be in a gray area of do you really have
to do it or not? And then you would put
take into consideration things like how much maintenance has there
been before, has this tenant been you know, really great
(17:23):
to deal with, and could we tack it onto another
job to sort of spread the cost out over make
it a little bit more affordable for everyone. Ratley floorboard,
Ratley floorboard. I mean that could be that could turn
into a broken floorboard which then turned into a health
and safety issue.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So you'd fix that one. Yeah, yeah, you would want
to fix that. Also, if it's rattling, it's you know, yeah,
that's just we're just you know, busking on this.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
But the big ones is anything to do with water.
So water leaks need to be reported to the landlord.
Anything that you see about water, it's it makes up
about thirty eight percent of our maintenance spenders plumbing related invoices.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Okay, we want your calls eight hundred and eighty ten eighty,
but let's go actually, let's look at this text here
can I here's somebody said I asked for a copery
of a copy of the property inspection report. Property manager Tobby. No,
this was only for the property owner. Is that correct?
And is that strange, Mike.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
So you can request it under the Official Information Act
or the private there's a privacy law that you can
use to request it, and then the company has to
hand over anything that mentions your name, including the property reports.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What about the property inspection report. If you are looking
at renting a property and say, can you show me
your last properly inspection.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Report, you wouldn't have to hand them over in that situation.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Because that I mean, if you but if the tenant
was like, look, I love the property, I'm having trouble
renting it, but I need to see what the latest
problems have been. Yeah, you might do that. Would you
do that or is that a privacy thing for the
previous tenant? You can't.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, So that's where it gets tricky, is you can't
because if the inspection report will have photos of the
other person's believing and things like that, So it does
get quite tricky making sure that you're protecting all of
the right people. So that's why often it's just a
no to handing things over.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Okay, that's actually quite a good one because you can
say we'd love to, but we can't. Yeah, it's a great,
great way to say no when it's actually true. And
one last one before we get our next caller, having
installed a new heat pump for our tenant who pays
for the maintenance of it.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
The landlord pays for the maintenance, and they'd be highly
recommend getting it serviced every year, especially the outside unit,
not just the inside one.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, you're just remind them we need to get ours done.
It's a couple of years old, but it's got We're
not a tendancy, we're just the owners. That's funny, isn't it. Owners? Yeah,
the people they should We should probably manage our own
houses as if we're renting them, shouldn't we.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, you can get the tenants to clean the filters
on the inside unit, but it's the outside unit that
actually carries the real risk of being damaged.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Basically, right, let's take some more calls. So, hello, our
cor after afternoon. How are you.
Speaker 8 (20:02):
I'm absolutely lated. I you're up with the game anyway,
but look, I'm feeling a later because I haven't wrong
been in from I'm digging a good size pets of
my busy garden, bearing scripts and everything like they're getting
(20:23):
ready for the next round.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And you're renting, aren't you. Are you renting of course,
so you've got a big vegetable garden.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
I like to manage my own. Well, I call up
my house. I've been here so long, but I caught
up my little house, and it's not that long ago.
I got hold of a very reputable tree company, so
I say the name.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Is it a bad story for them?
Speaker 8 (20:53):
It's a good one.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Okay, Yes, you can say their name. We just don't
want people who can't defend themselves. So where you go
if it's a happy story.
Speaker 8 (20:59):
Yeah, it was DS Trees. I think they're out of
tech and any excellent company to deal with. And in
my own pocket, I paid four hundred dollars to get
some trees trimmed, and I made the lawn for years myself.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And you've got your own I mean, how much of
your because you do, and we know each other from
the other hours of talkback. You've got a big vegetable gun.
You feed yourself your own vegetables all year round, don't you.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
Well, well, I share it with a lot of people
like fruit and you know, all different kinds of fruits,
like the orange tree was absolutely loaded. I've got Washington oranges.
But I just compaxt.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Sorry, carry on, what were you saying? Sorry? Excellentally pushed
the wrong mite button there?
Speaker 8 (21:52):
Where you go cut me off at will robur and
full drift here. But look, I compact things and make
every bit of ground I can useful, you know for food, right,
and I haven't bought vegetables decades.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Can I jump in and ask did you do you
have to ask permission? I'll ask you first, did you
have to ask permission to create a vegetable garden out of.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
It? Because back in the day, Back in the day,
all the houses had state advances, planted fruit trees, everyone
had vegetable gardens, and you know they put shrubs in
as well. Some of them are socking, but you know
(22:43):
they were really really good to the tenants in those days.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And I'm sure plenty of landlords still are, aren't they.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
Oh yeah, I've got good friends, but the land roads
that aren I'm against the speculator's lot, the landlords or
vegetas that did you have?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Did you have something you want to throw to mica
as a question or just your general obsess around gardens.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
Well, I think it's I actually have people that have
got plenty of money that are living with a concrete
path around their places, and they actually come and get
vegetables off me, and that.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You actually thanks for your call. And actually there's an
interesting question there though, and I can't believe I didn't
think it was before the show. But if somebody moves
in to a nice place with a nice lawn and
digs up half of it to plant broccoli and spuds,
an asparagus bed or something, I I'm not sure what
I'd think of that, depending if I wanted that tenant
(23:44):
that property for a long time. What's the rules about
vegetable gardens?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
So that would be considered a minor alteration which the
tenant is allowed to make. But they have to submit
their plans and writing to the landlord and the landlord
must respond within a certain amount of time. So one
of the caveats would be that you, if the landlord
wants to, has to reinstate it to how it was
when you leave. So with a veggie garden, the best
(24:08):
way to do it would be to approach it with
your landlord and possibly get them to agree that if
you did it in only a quarter of the lawn,
it would be able to be left there at the end,
because for most rental properties that would be a feature.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
In fact, that's why you'd so if the landlord can
require you return it to its original condition, that would
make sense that what you want to do is get
they consent and say, look, we're going to do this,
maybe raids vegetable garden, you know, which is the thing
these days. And if they say yes, then great, yeah,
let's everyone agree.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, and then they could say you so you can
leave it there when you move out, so that you
don't have to go and pay a fortune to fill
it all and replant grass seed, which would be quite
expensive actually.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, okay, eight hundred eighty ten eight. Let's take some
more calls. Mike, Hello, good, here you go, good things.
What's up?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
What's the true?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
You need to turn your radio on down in the
background there might because it's you'll hear it eight seconds
later and it'll put you off.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Oh sorry about that. In no worries. I'll flick it
down now. Yep, yep, she's right down now. Yeah, yeah,
it got so I just had a question. It might
be a little bit product specific with regard to insulation.
(25:26):
But we moved into a place about five years ago
and the the person who bought the property bought it
under the assumption that it was fully insulated, and we
found out sort of six months into the into the
least that it wasn't. That had been renovated, but it
(25:46):
was a brick home and they hadn't put any insulation
or building rap or anything like that into it. So
we brought it up with the with the owner. They
estified it with insult Max, but it made problem worse.
(26:06):
It's causing commensation and black and molders and IK.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
So they've rectified the insulation, but they've created a problem.
How I'll throw that to Mike and see yeah another
mic of course.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Yeah, did they give you a healthy home certificate when
you moved in?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
I believe so, yeah, because that.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Would be the first place to start is to go
and have a look at the healthy Home certificate because
the insulation's standards are clearly outlined within the Healthy Homes
and there's minimum and a maximum that they need to
sorry a minimum standard they need to have for that.
So looking at that could be a good place to start,
because if they haven't done one of those, then you're
in a really good position to get it resolved because
(26:47):
they're immediately in the wrong, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Right, Yes see, because the purchaser of the property prior
to us moving in, was under the assumption that it
was fully insulated. We found out later that it wasn't.
So the person who bought the proper kind of got
taken for a bit of a ride and I noticed
(27:12):
black mold on the inside of the jib and brought
it up with FEM and then they realized obviously that
hadn't been renovated properly. They've rectified the issue to a
I guess what is considered a you know, a suitable
standard or whatever with the intul macs. That's what I'm saying.
(27:34):
It's sort of a little bit of product specific because
the insult has proved to be an.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Effective Okay, So yeah, okay, So I guess that's the thing.
They seem to have done the job, and the question
is it doesn't seem to have It seems to create
a problem. I mean, where do they go from here?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Mike, Well, the it's nice that you're sort of giving
the current owner a bit of a pass because they
got taken for a ride as well. But from a
legal point of view, it's their responsibility to make sure
everything is done correctly, so that healthy home certificate and
the tendency agreement about what was promised as a good
place to start. And then if there is still mold
coming through the property, well then it means it's it's
(28:10):
like a building issue and that is again for the
landlord to resolve. So if you approach the landlord, have
a discussion with them about what they are planning on doing,
and if you're not happy with any of what they're doing,
you can apply to the tenancy Tribunal to get their
assistance basically, and there's also eight hundred Tenancy that you
could ring and they give free tenancy advice and they
(28:31):
would probably be able to help a lot in a
situation like this.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, good stuff. Hey, thanks hopefully that helps you. Mike,
thanks very much for your call. Eight hundred eighty ten
eighty is the number. Twenty two minutes to five new
Stalk sid B new Stalk said b where with Mike
Atkinson from Aspire Property Management. By the way, if people
want to check you out if they check you out,
if they want to check out your company. Sounded a
(28:56):
little bit dodgy, didn't it. Where do they go? What's
your website produce to They mike, No.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Sorry, Aspire they can do both at Aspire property dot
cod n Z.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Excellent. Right, let's take it. Let's have a look at
a few texts show we can. I please ask what
happens at the end of a lease and the tenants
haven't made the lawn. How often do landlords win the
cost of having to mow lawns? Obviously when you put
it on the tenants legitimately, I guess this is the
first question.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yeah, if it's the tenants responsibility and they move out
and the lawns are overgrown, provided you've got some good
photographs from the start of the tenancy showing it all
nice and mode when they moved in, it's gonna there'll
be a slam dunk at the tenancy drop.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
What if the lawns were immaculate, you know, they're just
like the quintessential you know, not a no pass spellum,
no weeds, no, and everything's just beautiful and the grass
is still okay, but it's just you know, it's been
let go a little bit, let grow too long, you know,
because that can ruin a lawn. And you let it
grow too long, then you cut it. It's like, look
it's short, but it's munted.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah. We have had cases where an owner might move
out and they have an absolutely perfect lawn and then
over twelve months, twenty four months, clover and things like that,
daisies get in there, and so it does go for
great lawn.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
I know.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Well, some people really bothers them. So that is sometimes
his class to sort of wear and tear, because you
can't expect your tenant to be putting in like literally
hours into the lawn. But if they do let it
completely go, they can be liable for reinstatement.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I actually did know someone and they had an immaculate lawn,
and I remember watching as the husband would go out
in the afternoon. He just wander around and it was
almost like he had a pair of tweezers and be like,
no snip, Yeah, it's quite something to behold. And it
was a magnificent lawn. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
My uncle left our wedding a day earlier than he
needed to because he wanted to get home to his lawn.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Wow. He loves his lawn. That's actually I mean, look,
it's a thing. Some people love the lawns. I mean,
and it's quite an English thing, isn't The Englishman loves
his beautifully cultivated lawn? I think he is. Oh, actually,
we'll go to another another call, shall we another? Mic?
Good a get a good thing? God they keep Mike, Mike,
(31:06):
let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
What do you want?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Okay, Look, I've got a query. I would like some
advice on. I moved into a property and the property
has black mold on the inside of the property. Now
I'm totally impaired, so I did not see that. So
what recourse do I have?
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, so you can. Have you tried speaking to the landlord?
Have they said anything about it? What's their view on?
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Well? No, it's through a property manager.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Okay, So what's the property manager saying about it?
Speaker 6 (31:41):
Bloody nothing?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yep, So you could just immediate. So would you want
to just terminate the tendency and get out of there.
It's probably not the best it's probably not the best
place to live if there is black mold.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Well, yeah, it's a bit of fine, just financial buzz
because it cost me six grand moving here. Yes, So
what you could do, okay, So I'm totally impaired. I
am mobility impaired as a stroke survivor.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I can okay. So yeah, because yeah, the idea of
just upsticks is not an easy one for many people.
And as you've said, so Mike Atkinson, what do you.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Think, Well, the landlord, if they move you into a
property that isn't fit for purpose, they can be made
to pay for all your costs for moving, packing up,
and getting out of there, so you would want to
document it. The best thing to do would also be
to see if there's someone that can help you verify
that it is black mold, lab testing things like that,
and then file immediately the tendency tribunal and try to
(32:40):
collect everything that you need because you can't move people
into properties with black mold and then ignore them.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Okay, well, you know, I mean property managers here are
like you know, well, well you do.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Have a tendency Tribune which is on your side, Mike.
Have you got somebody who can also support you with us?
Speaker 6 (32:56):
I have a community support worker, but I've been here
since April twenty third, and I've been trying to battle
with the property manager and she said she would do something,
but nothing's been done. So I think she's running the
line down to you know, are you've been in their
X number of months?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
It's well, you need to get on document it's a
bit and look, I know it's really stressful to deal
with the stuff. Mike. I'm sorry you men to deal
with that, but you really must document it. I think
would be your advice. Mirke Atkinson.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, absolutely, And look, you can go to my website
if you like and fill out a contact form on there.
I'll get your email address and I will email you
and you can send me some more information about it
and we'll help you get this sorted out for you.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Okay, Mike, so brilliant.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
Okay, so what what's your.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Website Aspire property dot co dot in z.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, drop my note, just say property and just put
on in the subject heading that you're talking on new
stalks B Michael, remember and he'll help you out with that.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Okay, excellent, Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Good on your mic. It's very kind of your um. Right,
let's have a look at a few more texts. Gosh,
that's it is something, isn't it, Because you know, even
just moving, even if all your expenses are paid it's
I mean, the big stresses in life, you know, death
tax and moving house or something is I can't remember
which we're moving houses, but it's it's a big one,
(34:22):
isn't it, regardless of the cost, just the whole shebang.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, So that's why sometimes people will say I
will give you a week off the rent if you
have to move, and it's like, let's nowhere near enough.
Like moving is probably worth about five grand.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So if if it is something where the crappy condition
of the property means that the tenant has to move,
you can get in order where all his costs can
get paid. That's right, that's good to know. Well, okay, right,
I tell you what we let's have a look at
a couple of texts. I rented a place that had
(34:55):
a large number of number of large trees at the back,
one beautiful one that attracted two eyan woodpigeons that it's
destroyed a whole eco system. Obviously the landlord got rid
of it. Bresat. You couldn't do anything about it. I mean,
I guess it's the landlord's property. Isn't something to do
with it what they want, But.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
For the reason because they rented it to someone else.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So okay, so a number of large trees at the back,
beautiful one that actually they've knocked down a bunch of
large trees. It might be you don't like it because
the two are gone. But you've got a complaint then,
haven't you?
Speaker 3 (35:24):
You do for sure, especially if it's impacted your privacy
or the enjoyment of the property, because that's actually stated
in the RTA.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Gosh, I didn't think you'd have much recourse there, but
of course, as you mentioned, the trees go, that is
a substantial alteration to the property. So Richard, well you count.
The problem is once the trees are gone, the trees
are gone. So you've just got to work out whether
you're going to leave or not, don't.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You Or you could get some money, Oh how would
that happen? Well, you might be able to get a
rent discount if you. I was living in a property
where the next door neighbors built an office out the
back and then all of a sudden they could just
look straight over into the backyard. And obviously my landlord
didn't give me a rent reduction because it was none
of their business, but it definitely made the property. The
(36:07):
vibe in the backyard was not the same.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Can you say I'm going to plant some more trees
because you knocked them out or what happens there if
you want to replace the trees. I mean it takes
a long time for them to grow, but you might
decide I'm going to start you know.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, I mean that would just be something that you
would do in consultation with the landlord. And if it
was went to the tenancy tribunal, they could write up
a work order against the landlord telling them to reinstate
the trees by at least planting new ones.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
God, I tell you, I always think the moral of
the story is just landlords and tenants and property manner
just talk to each other. Don't do anything major without
a discussion. Yeah, a lot of pain avoid today.
Speaker 9 (36:40):
Yes, right, we're going to come back with the one
roof property of the week, which is a doozy and
if you want to google it now you can so
you can you can share your well, you can just
listen to the comments we make on it.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
It is fifty two in a mower Street in Birkenhead,
North Shore City and it is a spectacular our colonial
villa that's going to be not going under the hammer.
I was going to use that as a cliche. But
it's up for sale and there's an open home tomorrow
you can and so you can go in and be
as nosey as you like tomorrow morning. But we'll get
onto that. And just to tick with the one roof
property of the week, it is ten to five.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
The one roof property of the week on the Weekend Collective.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yes, the one roof property of the week. I've actually
know this house because it was once home to he's
a good friend of mine and an international acclaimed opera
singer New Zealand operastar Simon O'Neil who's a good friend
of mine, and it was one time to him. And
it is in a magnificent home fifty two Hinemoa Street.
I'm trying to find a way of describing it, but
(37:43):
it's one of those grand old sort of colonial villas
that you see from time to time around Auckland City,
which it just screams, you know, Auckland of a particular era,
which is the sort of property that people seek out.
It's got original Cowie flows with handmade hung Cody staircase.
(38:03):
The bit that blows me away. It's actually, and then
I'm not joking. It's got a ballroom. It's got its
own magnificent original ballroom. At the moment, I think there's
a couple of grand pianos around there, just to accentuate
their potential for a bit of a concert. One grand
piano sounds posh too, sounds like, well, it's a jewet,
isn't it. It's got a swimming pool with a poolhouse
(38:24):
design inspired by I think es d lord Is poolhouse.
It really is quite a remarkable property and the views
around across the harbor and huge section fifteen hundred square meters.
But here's the thing. If you want to go and
have a look at it, you can not only go
into the one roof site or to Southby's. It's fifty
two in my street. There's an open home tomorrow at
(38:45):
eleven o'clock. So if you're interested in checking it out, look,
you probably need to win a Loto after it's been
on for a few weeks. It's probably starting interest starting
around five million dollars. But Mike Atkinson, it's probably not
a rental.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Ten on your mic?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
No, I think the I don't think it would be
atol if it was, it would be in the thousands
per week. Though. It's an absolutely beautiful property.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Interesting that because the pool is when you see the home.
I saw the property before it had a pool, and
then the pool got put in and I was like,
oh my god, it's just got everything, isn't it. But
the ballroom that one. What do you think of the ballroom?
I know what to make of it.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
It's an amazing flex If you can say that you
have a ballroom.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It'd be interesting to see that. The I would imagine
there'd be a lot of interest from people who are
Aucklanders who are familiar with this type of residence as well,
you know, as opposed to people who might just you know,
people have recently arrived. But it really is. It's got
a lovely vibe to it with its view across the harbor.
And I don't know. The grand colonial mansion I guess isn't.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, it was. There's a few of them around and
that one is a really great example of them.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, so you can go and check the open home out.
I think the price estimate or I think the negotiations
start around five mil something like that. So by melotto
ticket you never know anyway, Hey, Mike, thanks so much
for being on.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
The show again today, no worries, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
And what's that website again for Aspire Property.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Aspire Property dot co dot nzi excellent.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Hey, we'll see you again soon and thanks for thanks
for all your texts and calls on that the number
will be eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. As the
show continues with the Parents Squad, This is News Talk ZB.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Just for more from the weekend collective, listen live to
News Talk ZEDB weekends from three pm or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be but by the way, just looking ahead after
five will be with Miriam mcaleb for the Parents Squad,
talking about how our device is our use of devices
affects our kids as well. But we might also have
a chat with Miriam about the sex talk when you
should give it as a parent and you know, how
much do you leave up to Hopefully they find a
lot about that stuff before you can have to get
(00:30):
into the nitty gritty. But right now, as I say,
it's the It's one roof radio show, and we're going
to talk about a couple of things. It's but the
general subject is around rentals because rental, and especially profit
private rentals a massive part of the property market. But
there are a couple of sides of the discussion I
want to get into. Firstly, is what actually makes a
(00:51):
good rental property if you're an investor, is it just
the numbers? But how do you you know? What are
the things you need to look for outside of like
the this is what it costs me, this is what
I have to borrow, this is what the yield is,
and this is what I'm making on the return. So
we're going to dig into that with our guests or
introduce in just a tick. But the other side of
the equation as well, as you know, what are the
(01:13):
things you know, if there's an issue with the house,
what are the things that you should complain about, because
you know there are little things that's like, do we
really worry about that it's just a little hole on
the wall or actually that's probably quite a big one
now I think of it. But also do you try
and do things like mowing the lawns and haggle? I mean,
I think most tenants do mow the lawns. Actually it's
(01:34):
probably part of the rental agreement. But are there jobs
that you know, you might expect the tenant the landlord
to do and you might say, look, you know, give
me a give me a little discount and the rent
and I'll look after all X Y and Z I
eight one hundred eighty T and eighty. Anyway to discuss
that and all the other topics of anything else you've
got to talk about with regards to rentals. He is
managing director at Aspire Property Management and almost a regular
(01:59):
on the show. And I think Mike Atkinson gid a Mike,
how are you going good?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Thank you thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah. Actually, because we were having a bit of a
chat before the show about I in my mind had
this idea that you you know, that there'd be a
lot of tenancies where the landlord wouldn't trust the tenant
to necessarily keep up the garden it depends on it,
and would bring their own gardener. And then the tenant
might say, we'll give me twenty bucks off a week
or fifty bucks off a week, and I'll do all
(02:24):
the gardening. But what is this common practice?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, gardens and lawns are actually separate. Also lawns. You
can get the tenants to do the lawns and the gardens.
You can get the tenants to do the weeding of
the gardens. But you are supposed to maintain the gardens
if you're the landlord's considered skilled work. Really, yes, so is.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It generally in most rental agreements if there's a lawn.
In fact, to be honest, I would expect that if
it was a lawn, I'd be expected to know it.
But who has to provide the lawnmark? How does that
all work?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So it's an interesting one when the way that we
do it is we only include the lawns in the
rent if the lawn is going to put tenants off
from renting the proper. So if it's a really large
backyard and you can see tenants coming to the viewing
and saying I don't think I want to do that
every Saturday, we will include it in the rent. Then.
But the interesting one about who does the lawns is
(03:16):
that these new townhouses, you have a seven square meter
piece of lawn at the back. You have no shed
and sometimes no way to even access the lawn without
going through the house. So who mows and how do
you even mow those lawns?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
What's the answer? That sounded like a rhetorical question, but
I need you to have the answers to this.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, those some of them are just down to really
poor design, And the answer is probably replacing the grass
with astro turf at some stage.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Which I guess for a small little patch. It does
make sense that you have astroichio for reams, doesn't it,
although it does feel I mean, I like Actually the
reason I assumed by the way that everyone that the
landlords to do it is because one of the jobs
they still do for my mum when we were in
Roua was I think my mum had there were some flats,
my parents had some flats and I got five bucks
(04:02):
to mow a massive area of lawn. But it was
also because it was one of those two occupancy sort
of houses where it was all one big sort of
shared lawn and things like that. And that's where you
might I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, that is where the landlord would get the lawns
mode because you can't actually they're not exclusive use for
one property. So when you have common areas, you would
get someone to mow the lawns, and then the landlord
has to pick up the tab for that and try
to recover it through the rent.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Okay, what is that ever? A haggling ground for a
tenant says, look, I love my own lawns. It's my
it's good for mental health. I'll mow it every couple
of weeks and keep it up. Give me a discount
of the rent. Would that be worth something?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
They? It would definitely be worth something if you are
saving the landlord some actual you know, if they are
able to not mow that and save a cost, well,
then yeah, they could pass that on to you. But
it does make things a little bit more challenging. Then
you now have to manage if the tenant is actually
doing the lawns, are they doing them the right amount.
So often it is easier in those situations to just
get the lawns done and then you don't have to
(05:03):
worry about it.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Actually, the thing that is I didn't realize. I'd never
thought about it because I always imagine that there's some
sort of garden. I mean, as soon as you've got
a bush growing somewhere, that's a garden, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It is, And it is also one of those things
where some tenants are actually doing them. And because some
tenants actually want to do the garden, they want to
have it look nice. Your landlord might do it once
a year to just sort of stop it from getting
completely out of control. But if you live there, some
tenants will do the gardens, even though it is a
landlord responsibility.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Okay, what would you do if you're a tenant with
a few I mean, back in the good old days
of renting, would you want.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was a tenant and I definitely didn't do the gardens.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Unfortunately, I can't really remember. I don't think I think
I've always been a flatmate of someone who's owned the
property for most of my renting sort a time, so
it was not my problem. Really. Yeah, what about what
about a garden? You were mentioning beforehand? There was something
on you'd read on social media about people had moved
(06:06):
into a house and there were some nice bushes and
trees or something given them privacy, privacy, and then the
landlord decided that the easiest way to give up keep
was to chop it all down. That's a story there.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, so I read that this morning and it was
getting quite a lot of comments. And basically, just your
bunch of trees in between two properties is a fence there.
Landlord decided Obviously the property manager had told them that
the trees needed to be trimmed, and they thought, well,
I won't have to keep paying to trim the trees
if I just take them all out. And so they're
all gone. Oh and now the property just doesn't have
the same look and feel they're in. This particular tenant
(06:40):
is in month three of a twelve month fixed term
and they were seeking advice on how they could proceed
with the landlord.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, that fundamentally sort of changes the nature of the property.
I guess if you move into a place, how big
were the tree do we know?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
On them?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
They were decent sized. It went from not being able
to see that there was a house next door.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, well I suddenly like, they're looking in my backyard.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, it was. It was a very big change.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So what actually, what would the I know you're not
a lawyer, but you'll have an idea about these things.
I would imagine that if a tenant has rented a place,
because they go and they see it's got some lovely
big trees. This is what the house is. They chop
the trees down. It's like, well, what I've rented is
no longer. You know, the backyard is part of the tenancy.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, it's a material change to the tenancy and it
will be impacting the tenant's ability to peace, quiet, and
enjoyment of the property. So it is potentially a breach
of the RTA by the landlord. In that example, the
tenant should reach out to the landlord and ask why
they did that. So if it was because tree roots
are growing into the foundations of the neighbor's property, where
(07:40):
the landlord might have a bit more of a leg
to stand.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
On, although it's still a fundamental change to the nature
of the tendency regardless of the reasons.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, so they would still have to compensate the tenant
because yeah, it is materially changed. There's much less privacy
and the property just doesn't look as good now. It
wouldn't rent for as much on the open market, so
the tenant shouldn't carry that cost.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Wow, how would you go about negotiating something like that?
I mean, I mean you represent landlords, but you your
business isn't looking after tenants because you know, the happier
the tenant, the less trouble you have doing your job,
I guess, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, well you have a duty to care of
duty of care to the tenant while we work for
the landlord. So in that case, we would basically just
reach out to both parties and see if there was
an amount that could be adjusted that would get everybody happy.
If that fails, the tenant can take the landlord to
the Tenancy Tribune need to get a ruling from adjudicator.
It's a neutral party.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Let's say what let's what's an average sort of rent?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Will say in Auckland about seven hundred dollars a week.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, seven hundred bucks a week. You've had all your
trees chopped down. You love the backyard. No, you can't
go out and sunbathe without feeling someone's looking at you.
What's that?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
What are you?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
What are you asking off the rent? Do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Well, that is a good question for people. What is
the privacy in your back garden?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Worth eight hundred eighty ten eighty gosh, yeah, we got
that guests framing the questions and I'm more than happy
for him to do. So what do you reckon? Actually?
I mean how important is it to you if you
are a tenant because obviously with all these you know,
lots of new townhouse and things like that, where the
garden is not really a big deal. You've got a
tiny little patch where you might be able to hand
hang some clothes out if you're lucky. But if you
(09:16):
are in a property that's got something of a garden,
how how much does the whole vibe of the of
the outside matter as much as the fact that you've
got a nice new I don't know, a nice new
shower with good ventilation and a comfy bedroom. How do
you balance the value on that stuff. Oh eight one
hundred and eighty ten eighty text nine nine two. Taking
your calls and let's get into it, shall we? Kram? Hello?
Speaker 5 (09:39):
A Hi, Yes, So we're talking about gardens today, is it?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well if you want, yeah, is that what you want
to talk about?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Just anything property related as fine?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Uh, yeah, well you called up. I was wondering what
you wanted to offer for the conversation.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
So with gardens, I mean, obviously we you know, mostly
when the tenancy's the you know, tenant maintains the gardens,
you know, so we put it in. But also it
depends what sort of deal it is. You know. Sometimes
I find good gardeners will come around and maintain the property,
you know, they've been doing mowing the lawns for the
(10:18):
last ten years or something. But then I just include
the tenancy so that the tenants don't have to worry
about it, because sometimes tenants don't, you know, maintain it,
and then it gets all out of control and then
you know, you have to kind of argue and it's
not worth it. So if I get a good gardener,
then I just keep them as a regular who like
(10:39):
a couple of weeks. They might just go around and
just charge me like thirty or forty dollars or something,
and I just include that in the tendency, you know,
So I find that a lot easier to deal with.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, it actually does make sense. Now you sort of
say like that, Yeah, thanks gram any thoughts on that much.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, you do get the benefit if you do do
the lawns and the gardens regularly. That it's another person
going to the property and then we go in there
more regularly than your property manager, so they can report
back if they anything untoward. That feels a little EDNA does.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But it's dodgy, that feels like you're sending you know,
I've got a man or a woman on the inside
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And that's why some tenants prefer to have mo their
own lawns, because they don't want to have someone who
represents the landlord coming around every three weeks to mow
the lawns. I'll get their own person to do it,
or they'll do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
What are the rules around what's observable? Oh, this is
a tricky one, but it's fun to sort of fun freaky.
What are the rules around if you have someone going
around to do the gardens around them taking a look
in the window.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
There are rules against that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Oh okay, so you can't just sort of going who's
in there?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, absolutely cut your hands against them. Okay, but I mean, okay,
so here's a trick question. Then you go around and
the maybe they're sliding doors to the lounge or something,
and you can easily see in. Are you even allowed
to look in just by fact that it is visible?
And go well, I was around the lawns and I
(12:03):
saw that there are a couple of holes in the
wall and the place was a mess. What's Oh, it's
a tricky one.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It is in the way that, if you are savvy
about it, you would just sort of have a word
quietly to the property manager. You might want to have
a look at your next inspection that I might have
seen something, so you don't sort.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of make it an official Oh okay, so you just
feed that back and just.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Feed that back and then deal with it appropriately.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
How soon can you do the next property inspection sort
of thing.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You're allowed to do an inspection once every month, and
most people do them every three months, so you could
depending on what they see. You do have to be
very careful with it because you can't go prying around.
It would be more if your guys doing the lawns
and he notices something really major, like maybe the tenants
haven't been there for the last three times he's mode
lawns and it looks like they've moved out and abandoned
(12:48):
the property. Things like that is what you'd be looking
for me.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Okay, got on, I've got a bunch of questions about that.
We'll dig into, tell you what. But let's go to
some more calls, shall we o eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty If you've got any questions, of course for
that Mike atk and someone's going to call you Dave
for some reason. I have no idea why I did that.
That's course I know I David. So there we go.
Let's take some more calls. If you've got any questions
for Mike, then give us a call on eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty, as well as well as your
(13:12):
reckons around. You know, how important is it that your
landlord just does the bearest minimum on the garden because
you quite like it the way it is. Dave, Hello, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (13:21):
I get a yeah, interesting story I had when I
was a young fellow. I had my first rengeal property.
I had a certain rock and roller move and called
mister Luck. You can picture the rest of the name.
And I was like, you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Give away any secrets, are you here?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
No?
Speaker 7 (13:38):
No, no, I was a bit worried. I rocked up
one day to mow the lawns. I thought it was
a good idea to mow the lawns every two weeks,
as I can keep an eye on the property. Anyway,
turn turned up, turned up there and the gentleman was
laying on the deck with not a lot of clothes on.
And I was a bit shall I pack up and
go home to the north Shore or shall I carry on?
When I mowed the lawn didn't disturb in one little bit,
(13:59):
packed up the car.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
And drove off.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Did he know you were?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
That was he?
Speaker 7 (14:04):
I think, was having a little little nudy sleep in
the sunshine.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well that's all good, I think, But it was a.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
Great way to keep an eye on the property. You
make sure there wasn't, you know, too much stuff going
on while I was still being in the gardener.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
That's actually that I mean. That does pose a curious
question around if you pop around to mow the lawns
and the tenant just happens to be doing a new
bit of sun bathing. It's a very niche sort of observation.
I think. Actually, I don't know what to make of
that call, because anyway, what do you reckon? Any comments
on that?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Dave me?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, that's why I called you, Dave, because yeah, Mike, sorry,
that's okay. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I would advise my staff that if they ever and
counted something like that would just be to turn around
and leave the property immediately. In this day and age,
I'm sure years ago people would have a chuckle about
that sort of thing, but now people are a lot
more sensitive about those topics.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, and I think even though we're you know, I think,
you guess we'll be talking about maybe if we do
have a call about someone who might be known just
by a surname and we can all guess who it is,
maybe we keep let's not it's not share that information. Yeah,
even though, but a bit of nude sunbathing. It's not
the most outrageous thing in the world, is it. It is?
Tell you what, I've completely lost my way there, and
(15:15):
so we're going to come back and just Detective we
want to know from you. We're going to explore the
idea of what makes a good rental property as well.
But also when it comes to the upkeeper of the property,
what would you do if the landlord came around and
suddenly decided that all that upkeep of the gardens which
he is respon, he or she is responsible for, they
just go, We'll just chop the gardens out. Would it
bother you? I mean, how important is that part of
(15:35):
the property when it comes to your own tendancy and
enjoyment of it. It's twenty two and a half past
four news talks that'd be this is one with Feridi Show.
My guest is Mike Atkinson. He's managing director to Aspire
Property Management. We've got a bunch of texts around managing
properties and well I'll just get into the text, but
I actually do have one other question which is tied
in with you know, the details of doing the gardening
(15:56):
and the lawns. But it's it's the things that can
go wrong with a property or might be a little
bit of a fault and when people should complain, I
don't mean complain, raise it to the attention of the
landlord or the property manager. But I mean, are there
things might that can be ignored that aren't consequential, because
(16:16):
something that might not seem like a big problem to
the tenant might actually build into a bigger problem for everyone.
What do you reckon?
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I mean I think it never hurts to document anything
that you see, even if it's just an email to
the property manager to say, hey, JUSTFYI, I noticed a
bit of water overflowing out of the back gutter. You
don't have to complain about things. You can just raise
them with the landlord. And some things, you know, they
can be deferred or left, and other things need to
be acted on right away.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
What about it like something, for instance, a door that
doesn't that closes, but when there's a bit of a
breeze at rattles, I mean that would drive me nuts
and I would probably think of fixing it myself, whether
just a little bit of rubber there or something to
But I mean, there's that something that somebody go, excuse me,
you need to come and fix the stores rattling.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That would be something that you might look to see
if we could bundle into another job so that we
could get the handyman out there to do several of
those items, and that's not something that you can require
to fix, not necessarily. It depends. I mean, that would
be in a gray area of do you really have
to do it or not? And then you would put
take into consideration things like how much maintenance has there
been before, has this tenant been you know, really great
(17:23):
to deal with, and could we tack it onto another
job to sort of spread the cost out over make
it a little bit more affordable for everyone. Ratley floorboard,
Ratley floorboard. I mean that could be that could turn
into a broken floorboard which then turned into a health
and safety issue.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So you'd fix that one. Yeah, yeah, you would want
to fix that. Also, if it's rattling, it's you know, yeah,
that's just we're just you know, busking on this.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
But the big ones is anything to do with water.
So water leaks need to be reported to the landlord.
Anything that you see about water, it's it makes up
about thirty eight percent of our maintenance spenders plumbing related invoices.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Okay, we want your calls eight hundred and eighty ten eighty,
but let's go actually, let's look at this text here
can I here's somebody said I asked for a copery
of a copy of the property inspection report. Property manager Tobby. No,
this was only for the property owner. Is that correct?
And is that strange, Mike.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
So you can request it under the Official Information Act
or the private there's a privacy law that you can
use to request it, and then the company has to
hand over anything that mentions your name, including the property reports.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What about the property inspection report. If you are looking
at renting a property and say, can you show me
your last properly inspection.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Report, you wouldn't have to hand them over in that situation.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Because that I mean, if you but if the tenant
was like, look, I love the property, I'm having trouble
renting it, but I need to see what the latest
problems have been. Yeah, you might do that. Would you
do that or is that a privacy thing for the
previous tenant? You can't.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, So that's where it gets tricky, is you can't
because if the inspection report will have photos of the
other person's believing and things like that, So it does
get quite tricky making sure that you're protecting all of
the right people. So that's why often it's just a
no to handing things over.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Okay, that's actually quite a good one because you can
say we'd love to, but we can't. Yeah, it's a great,
great way to say no when it's actually true. And
one last one before we get our next caller, having
installed a new heat pump for our tenant who pays
for the maintenance of it.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
The landlord pays for the maintenance, and they'd be highly
recommend getting it serviced every year, especially the outside unit,
not just the inside one.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, you're just remind them we need to get ours done.
It's a couple of years old, but it's got We're
not a tendancy, we're just the owners. That's funny, isn't it. Owners? Yeah,
the people they should We should probably manage our own
houses as if we're renting them, shouldn't we.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, you can get the tenants to clean the filters
on the inside unit, but it's the outside unit that
actually carries the real risk of being damaged.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Basically, right, let's take some more calls. So, hello, our
cor after afternoon. How are you.
Speaker 8 (20:02):
I'm absolutely lated. I you're up with the game anyway,
but look, I'm feeling a later because I haven't wrong
been in from I'm digging a good size pets of
my busy garden, bearing scripts and everything like they're getting
(20:23):
ready for the next round.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And you're renting, aren't you. Are you renting of course,
so you've got a big vegetable garden.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
I like to manage my own. Well, I call up
my house. I've been here so long, but I caught
up my little house, and it's not that long ago.
I got hold of a very reputable tree company, so
I say the name.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Is it a bad story for them?
Speaker 8 (20:53):
It's a good one.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Okay, Yes, you can say their name. We just don't
want people who can't defend themselves. So where you go
if it's a happy story.
Speaker 8 (20:59):
Yeah, it was DS Trees. I think they're out of
tech and any excellent company to deal with. And in
my own pocket, I paid four hundred dollars to get
some trees trimmed, and I made the lawn for years myself.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And you've got your own I mean, how much of
your because you do, and we know each other from
the other hours of talkback. You've got a big vegetable gun.
You feed yourself your own vegetables all year round, don't you.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
Well, well, I share it with a lot of people
like fruit and you know, all different kinds of fruits,
like the orange tree was absolutely loaded. I've got Washington oranges.
But I just compaxt.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Sorry, carry on, what were you saying? Sorry? Excellentally pushed
the wrong mite button there?
Speaker 8 (21:52):
Where you go cut me off at will robur and
full drift here. But look, I compact things and make
every bit of ground I can useful, you know for food, right,
and I haven't bought vegetables decades.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Can I jump in and ask did you do you
have to ask permission? I'll ask you first, did you
have to ask permission to create a vegetable garden out of.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
It? Because back in the day, Back in the day,
all the houses had state advances, planted fruit trees, everyone
had vegetable gardens, and you know they put shrubs in
as well. Some of them are socking, but you know
(22:43):
they were really really good to the tenants in those days.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And I'm sure plenty of landlords still are, aren't they.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
Oh yeah, I've got good friends, but the land roads
that aren I'm against the speculator's lot, the landlords or
vegetas that did you have?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Did you have something you want to throw to mica
as a question or just your general obsess around gardens.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
Well, I think it's I actually have people that have
got plenty of money that are living with a concrete
path around their places, and they actually come and get
vegetables off me, and that.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You actually thanks for your call. And actually there's an
interesting question there though, and I can't believe I didn't
think it was before the show. But if somebody moves
in to a nice place with a nice lawn and
digs up half of it to plant broccoli and spuds,
an asparagus bed or something, I I'm not sure what
I'd think of that, depending if I wanted that tenant
(23:44):
that property for a long time. What's the rules about
vegetable gardens?
Speaker 3 (23:48):
So that would be considered a minor alteration which the
tenant is allowed to make. But they have to submit
their plans and writing to the landlord and the landlord
must respond within a certain amount of time. So one
of the caveats would be that you, if the landlord
wants to, has to reinstate it to how it was
when you leave. So with a veggie garden, the best
(24:08):
way to do it would be to approach it with
your landlord and possibly get them to agree that if
you did it in only a quarter of the lawn,
it would be able to be left there at the end,
because for most rental properties that would be a feature.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
In fact, that's why you'd so if the landlord can
require you return it to its original condition, that would
make sense that what you want to do is get
they consent and say, look, we're going to do this,
maybe raids vegetable garden, you know, which is the thing
these days. And if they say yes, then great, yeah,
let's everyone agree.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, and then they could say you so you can
leave it there when you move out, so that you
don't have to go and pay a fortune to fill
it all and replant grass seed, which would be quite
expensive actually.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, okay, eight hundred eighty ten eight. Let's take some
more calls. Mike, Hello, good, here you go, good things.
What's up?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
What's the true?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
You need to turn your radio on down in the
background there might because it's you'll hear it eight seconds
later and it'll put you off.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Oh sorry about that. In no worries. I'll flick it
down now. Yep, yep, she's right down now. Yeah, yeah,
it got so I just had a question. It might
be a little bit product specific with regard to insulation.
(25:26):
But we moved into a place about five years ago
and the the person who bought the property bought it
under the assumption that it was fully insulated, and we
found out sort of six months into the into the
least that it wasn't. That had been renovated, but it
(25:46):
was a brick home and they hadn't put any insulation
or building rap or anything like that into it. So
we brought it up with the with the owner. They
estified it with insult Max, but it made problem worse.
(26:06):
It's causing commensation and black and molders and IK.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
So they've rectified the insulation, but they've created a problem.
How I'll throw that to Mike and see yeah another
mic of course.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Yeah, did they give you a healthy home certificate when
you moved in?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
I believe so, yeah, because that.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Would be the first place to start is to go
and have a look at the healthy Home certificate because
the insulation's standards are clearly outlined within the Healthy Homes
and there's minimum and a maximum that they need to
sorry a minimum standard they need to have for that.
So looking at that could be a good place to start,
because if they haven't done one of those, then you're
in a really good position to get it resolved because
(26:47):
they're immediately in the wrong, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Right, Yes see, because the purchaser of the property prior
to us moving in, was under the assumption that it
was fully insulated. We found out later that it wasn't.
So the person who bought the proper kind of got
taken for a bit of a ride and I noticed
(27:12):
black mold on the inside of the jib and brought
it up with FEM and then they realized obviously that
hadn't been renovated properly. They've rectified the issue to a
I guess what is considered a you know, a suitable
standard or whatever with the intul macs. That's what I'm saying.
(27:34):
It's sort of a little bit of product specific because
the insult has proved to be an.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Effective Okay, So yeah, okay, So I guess that's the thing.
They seem to have done the job, and the question
is it doesn't seem to have It seems to create
a problem. I mean, where do they go from here?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Mike, Well, the it's nice that you're sort of giving
the current owner a bit of a pass because they
got taken for a ride as well. But from a
legal point of view, it's their responsibility to make sure
everything is done correctly, so that healthy home certificate and
the tendency agreement about what was promised as a good
place to start. And then if there is still mold
coming through the property, well then it means it's it's
(28:10):
like a building issue and that is again for the
landlord to resolve. So if you approach the landlord, have
a discussion with them about what they are planning on doing,
and if you're not happy with any of what they're doing,
you can apply to the tenancy Tribunal to get their
assistance basically, and there's also eight hundred Tenancy that you
could ring and they give free tenancy advice and they
(28:31):
would probably be able to help a lot in a
situation like this.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, good stuff. Hey, thanks hopefully that helps you. Mike,
thanks very much for your call. Eight hundred eighty ten
eighty is the number. Twenty two minutes to five new
Stalk sid B new Stalk said b where with Mike
Atkinson from Aspire Property Management. By the way, if people
want to check you out if they check you out,
if they want to check out your company. Sounded a
(28:56):
little bit dodgy, didn't it. Where do they go? What's
your website produce to They mike, No.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Sorry, Aspire they can do both at Aspire property dot
cod n Z.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Excellent. Right, let's take it. Let's have a look at
a few texts show we can. I please ask what
happens at the end of a lease and the tenants
haven't made the lawn. How often do landlords win the
cost of having to mow lawns? Obviously when you put
it on the tenants legitimately, I guess this is the
first question.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yeah, if it's the tenants responsibility and they move out
and the lawns are overgrown, provided you've got some good
photographs from the start of the tenancy showing it all
nice and mode when they moved in, it's gonna there'll
be a slam dunk at the tenancy drop.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
What if the lawns were immaculate, you know, they're just
like the quintessential you know, not a no pass spellum,
no weeds, no, and everything's just beautiful and the grass
is still okay, but it's just you know, it's been
let go a little bit, let grow too long, you know,
because that can ruin a lawn. And you let it
grow too long, then you cut it. It's like, look
it's short, but it's munted.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah. We have had cases where an owner might move
out and they have an absolutely perfect lawn and then
over twelve months, twenty four months, clover and things like that,
daisies get in there, and so it does go for
great lawn.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
I know.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Well, some people really bothers them. So that is sometimes
his class to sort of wear and tear, because you
can't expect your tenant to be putting in like literally
hours into the lawn. But if they do let it
completely go, they can be liable for reinstatement.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I actually did know someone and they had an immaculate lawn,
and I remember watching as the husband would go out
in the afternoon. He just wander around and it was
almost like he had a pair of tweezers and be like,
no snip, Yeah, it's quite something to behold. And it
was a magnificent lawn. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
My uncle left our wedding a day earlier than he
needed to because he wanted to get home to his lawn.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Wow. He loves his lawn. That's actually I mean, look,
it's a thing. Some people love the lawns. I mean,
and it's quite an English thing, isn't The Englishman loves
his beautifully cultivated lawn? I think he is. Oh, actually,
we'll go to another another call, shall we another? Mic?
Good a get a good thing? God they keep Mike, Mike,
(31:06):
let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
What do you want?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Okay, Look, I've got a query. I would like some
advice on. I moved into a property and the property
has black mold on the inside of the property. Now
I'm totally impaired, so I did not see that. So
what recourse do I have?
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Yeah, so you can. Have you tried speaking to the landlord?
Have they said anything about it? What's their view on?
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Well? No, it's through a property manager.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Okay, So what's the property manager saying about it?
Speaker 6 (31:41):
Bloody nothing?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yep, So you could just immediate. So would you want
to just terminate the tendency and get out of there.
It's probably not the best it's probably not the best
place to live if there is black mold.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
Well, yeah, it's a bit of fine, just financial buzz
because it cost me six grand moving here. Yes, So
what you could do, okay, So I'm totally impaired. I
am mobility impaired as a stroke survivor.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I can okay. So yeah, because yeah, the idea of
just upsticks is not an easy one for many people.
And as you've said, so Mike Atkinson, what do you.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Think, Well, the landlord, if they move you into a
property that isn't fit for purpose, they can be made
to pay for all your costs for moving, packing up,
and getting out of there, so you would want to
document it. The best thing to do would also be
to see if there's someone that can help you verify
that it is black mold, lab testing things like that,
and then file immediately the tendency tribunal and try to
(32:40):
collect everything that you need because you can't move people
into properties with black mold and then ignore them.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Okay, well, you know, I mean property managers here are
like you know, well, well you do.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Have a tendency Tribune which is on your side, Mike.
Have you got somebody who can also support you with us?
Speaker 6 (32:56):
I have a community support worker, but I've been here
since April twenty third, and I've been trying to battle
with the property manager and she said she would do something,
but nothing's been done. So I think she's running the
line down to you know, are you've been in their
X number of months?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
It's well, you need to get on document it's a
bit and look, I know it's really stressful to deal
with the stuff. Mike. I'm sorry you men to deal
with that, but you really must document it. I think
would be your advice. Mirke Atkinson.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yeah, absolutely, And look, you can go to my website
if you like and fill out a contact form on there.
I'll get your email address and I will email you
and you can send me some more information about it
and we'll help you get this sorted out for you.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Okay, Mike, so brilliant.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
Okay, so what what's your.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Website Aspire property dot co dot in z.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, drop my note, just say property and just put
on in the subject heading that you're talking on new
stalks B Michael, remember and he'll help you out with that.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
Okay, excellent, Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Good on your mic. It's very kind of your um. Right,
let's have a look at a few more texts. Gosh,
that's it is something, isn't it, Because you know, even
just moving, even if all your expenses are paid it's
I mean, the big stresses in life, you know, death
tax and moving house or something is I can't remember
which we're moving houses, but it's it's a big one,
(34:22):
isn't it, regardless of the cost, just the whole shebang.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, So that's why sometimes people will say I
will give you a week off the rent if you
have to move, and it's like, let's nowhere near enough.
Like moving is probably worth about five grand.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So if if it is something where the crappy condition
of the property means that the tenant has to move,
you can get in order where all his costs can
get paid. That's right, that's good to know. Well, okay, right,
I tell you what we let's have a look at
a couple of texts. I rented a place that had
(34:55):
a large number of number of large trees at the back,
one beautiful one that attracted two eyan woodpigeons that it's
destroyed a whole eco system. Obviously the landlord got rid
of it. Bresat. You couldn't do anything about it. I mean,
I guess it's the landlord's property. Isn't something to do
with it what they want, But.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
For the reason because they rented it to someone else.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
So okay, so a number of large trees at the back,
beautiful one that actually they've knocked down a bunch of
large trees. It might be you don't like it because
the two are gone. But you've got a complaint then,
haven't you?
Speaker 3 (35:24):
You do for sure, especially if it's impacted your privacy
or the enjoyment of the property, because that's actually stated
in the RTA.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Gosh, I didn't think you'd have much recourse there, but
of course, as you mentioned, the trees go, that is
a substantial alteration to the property. So Richard, well you count.
The problem is once the trees are gone, the trees
are gone. So you've just got to work out whether
you're going to leave or not, don't.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
You Or you could get some money, Oh how would
that happen? Well, you might be able to get a
rent discount if you. I was living in a property
where the next door neighbors built an office out the
back and then all of a sudden they could just
look straight over into the backyard. And obviously my landlord
didn't give me a rent reduction because it was none
of their business, but it definitely made the property. The
(36:07):
vibe in the backyard was not the same.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Can you say I'm going to plant some more trees
because you knocked them out or what happens there if
you want to replace the trees. I mean it takes
a long time for them to grow, but you might
decide I'm going to start you know.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, I mean that would just be something that you
would do in consultation with the landlord. And if it
was went to the tenancy tribunal, they could write up
a work order against the landlord telling them to reinstate
the trees by at least planting new ones.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
God, I tell you, I always think the moral of
the story is just landlords and tenants and property manner
just talk to each other. Don't do anything major without
a discussion. Yeah, a lot of pain avoid today.
Speaker 9 (36:40):
Yes, right, we're going to come back with the one
roof property of the week, which is a doozy and
if you want to google it now you can so
you can you can share your well, you can just
listen to the comments we make on it.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
It is fifty two in a mower Street in Birkenhead,
North Shore City and it is a spectacular our colonial
villa that's going to be not going under the hammer.
I was going to use that as a cliche. But
it's up for sale and there's an open home tomorrow
you can and so you can go in and be
as nosey as you like tomorrow morning. But we'll get
onto that. And just to tick with the one roof
property of the week, it is ten to five.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
The one roof property of the week on the Weekend Collective.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yes, the one roof property of the week. I've actually
know this house because it was once home to he's
a good friend of mine and an international acclaimed opera
singer New Zealand operastar Simon O'Neil who's a good friend
of mine, and it was one time to him. And
it is in a magnificent home fifty two Hinemoa Street.
I'm trying to find a way of describing it, but
(37:43):
it's one of those grand old sort of colonial villas
that you see from time to time around Auckland City,
which it just screams, you know, Auckland of a particular era,
which is the sort of property that people seek out.
It's got original Cowie flows with handmade hung Cody staircase.
(38:03):
The bit that blows me away. It's actually, and then
I'm not joking. It's got a ballroom. It's got its
own magnificent original ballroom. At the moment, I think there's
a couple of grand pianos around there, just to accentuate
their potential for a bit of a concert. One grand
piano sounds posh too, sounds like, well, it's a jewet,
isn't it. It's got a swimming pool with a poolhouse
(38:24):
design inspired by I think es d lord Is poolhouse.
It really is quite a remarkable property and the views
around across the harbor and huge section fifteen hundred square meters.
But here's the thing. If you want to go and
have a look at it, you can not only go
into the one roof site or to Southby's. It's fifty
two in my street. There's an open home tomorrow at
(38:45):
eleven o'clock. So if you're interested in checking it out, look,
you probably need to win a Loto after it's been
on for a few weeks. It's probably starting interest starting
around five million dollars. But Mike Atkinson, it's probably not
a rental.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Ten on your mic?
Speaker 3 (39:03):
No, I think the I don't think it would be
atol if it was, it would be in the thousands
per week. Though. It's an absolutely beautiful property.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Interesting that because the pool is when you see the home.
I saw the property before it had a pool, and
then the pool got put in and I was like,
oh my god, it's just got everything, isn't it. But
the ballroom that one. What do you think of the ballroom?
I know what to make of it.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
It's an amazing flex If you can say that you
have a ballroom.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
It'd be interesting to see that. The I would imagine
there'd be a lot of interest from people who are
Aucklanders who are familiar with this type of residence as well,
you know, as opposed to people who might just you know,
people have recently arrived. But it really is. It's got
a lovely vibe to it with its view across the harbor.
And I don't know. The grand colonial mansion I guess isn't.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, it was. There's a few of them around and
that one is a really great example of them.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, so you can go and check the open home out.
I think the price estimate or I think the negotiations
start around five mil something like that. So by melotto
ticket you never know anyway, Hey, Mike, thanks so much
for being on.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
The show again today, no worries, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
And what's that website again for Aspire Property.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Aspire Property dot co dot nzi excellent.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Hey, we'll see you again soon and thanks for thanks
for all your texts and calls on that the number
will be eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. As the
show continues with the Parents Squad, This is News Talk ZB.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Just for more from the weekend collective, listen live to
News Talk ZEDB weekends from three pm or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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