March 14, 2026 • 41 mins
Who hasn't at some stage in their life been a landlord or tenant?
For many people, it's the first time they have to think about contracts and legal obligations - but are there red flags which should have you as a landlord rejectying a particuolar tenant - and like wise as a tenant that have you looking for somewhere else to live.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
ME Saturday Summer.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Some bos them on Selver's food and ham.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now don't they help himself? And welcome pack Sorry the
Weekend Collective. I'm Tim Beverage and this is the One
Roof Radio Show for this hour. By the way, looking
ahead the Parents Squad. We've also got John Cown with us,
talking about those moments when your kids do something that's
not just naughty, but it's really beyond the pale. How
do you keep with it? But right now, as I say,
(00:48):
the One Roof Radio Show will want your calls eight
hundred eighty ten eighty text nine two nine two. What
we're going to talk about as well? I mean, who
hasn't at some stage in their life been a landlord
or a tenant. Oh, it wouldn't be many people who've
missed that pleasure, would there be? For many people it's
the first time when they actually have to think about contracts,
your legal obligations. And of course when it comes to
(01:11):
the good guys or villains, depending on which political party
you're arguing for, look to be honest good guys and villains.
It always depends on the luck of the drawer, and
you get them on both sides. But are there red
flags which should have you as a landlord rejecting a
particular tenant, And likewise, as a tenant, are there red
flags which mean that actually, you know you love the property,
(01:33):
but you really should find somewhere else to live. And look,
these questions might not seem to matter until well, you know,
suddenly it does. So we also got to look at
the beginnings and end endings of a tendancy. Who mows
the lawns? Tied? Is the gardens? What are reasonable chargers?
How do you handle that at the end of a tendancy?
Do you need to document every scratch and imperfection in
(01:56):
the property when you become a tenant so they don't go, oh,
there were a bit of a scratch here. You have
to pay for this, the relining of the walls or something. Anyway,
we want to know what you think on eight hundred
eighty ten eighty text nine two nine two. What issue
did you or should you have seen coming? What red
flags did you miss? And when is a property so
(02:16):
good that, ah, look who cares of the landlorders? It's fantastic.
I love the I love the aspect and the view.
So anyway we want to talk what your cause? O
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and joining us to
discuss this. He is managing director at Aspire Property Management.
His name's Mike Atkinson and here he is Mike.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Hello, Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Good thank you. You know, are there things that people
really need to you know, the challenges things you need
to think about when you're taking on a property, because
you know, especially first time renters and all that sort
of thing, you just sort of think, oh, look at this,
it's nice the rents, right, but the landlord might I
don't know, do you need to look into the landlord.
You're in the property management company, so your businesses is
(02:58):
smoothing all these potential cracks over, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well yeah, I mean it's our job to make sure
that a tenant feels comfortable renting from us. You know,
we have a score of four point nine out of
five on Google and we weren't really hard to maintain
that so that someone knows that if they rent a
property from us, they're going to be treated with a
certain level of care.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, actually you've just mentioned the first thing I hadn't
even thought of the Google rating, would you. Actually, I
don't know what to think of Google ratings, because you
only need someone who becomes disgruntled to give you a
crappy rating, and it can affect well, you know, if
you've got hundreds of ratings, you're probably fairly safe.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah. I mean, we have had one star Google reviews
and it's really discouraging. We always try to reach out
to people to make it right because we care. But
if I was a tenant looking to rent a property,
I would look at the company's Google reviews and if
there's a number of them that are negative from tenants,
that's definitely something to be mindful.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Of because say, let's say, I don't know how many
ratings have you.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Guys got over six hundred?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay, because I seem to remember that when it comes
to Google ratings, you can say view from lowest. So
you go, let's see all the one star ratings, and
if that's your first port of call, I mean, everyone
gets a one star rating. If you would listened to
the people who hate my guts, you know, you would
might never turn on the radio.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's right. But I mean you can sort of see
a pattern with some companies google reviews. It's the same
when you're looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. You know,
some people will say, oh, it's too expensive when they've
gone to a very expensive restaurant. So you have to
use a bit of judgment and working out if you
think the reviews are valid or not.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How about judging tenants then, because you guys are in
the business of looking after your land of the landlord's
interests as well. I mean yes, I mean technically you're
acting for the landlord, but you're really actually just tell
us what is the relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, so the landlord is the is the client. They're
the ones that pay our fees and they sign the
contract with us. They're the ones that can fire us.
So we definitely act for the landlord, but we have
a duty of care to the tenants as well. And
also the best tendancy for the landlord is one where
the tenant is happy and they look after the property,
so you can really manage the property in a way
that's a win for both parties. And you know, one
(05:03):
of our values is to be warm. You know, even
if you have to give someone bad news or they're
not paying the rent, you don't have to be you know,
evil about it. You can definitely still be one of
the good guys. Well, some of the things that you
read in the newspaper, some of the companies, you know,
they don't they don't tread carefully on any of the
things that they do, and they're just a bit harsh
with people, and it doesn't it's not a win for
(05:23):
the customers at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Is there a bit of a heavy handedness that exists
out there?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh? Definitely?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Why is that? Is it just an experienced landlords and
property managers or what?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I think? It just sort of it's comes from a
long time ago where when I first got into the industry,
it was really about talking to your landlords and the
tenants were just people that sort of got on the
way of your day to day business. And well and yes, well,
but that was sort of the way that people thought
about it. And it's modernized a lot now and you know,
(05:54):
we you know, we really go out of our way
to try to make the tenants lives better because it
does have a better result for the landlord. They're going
to stay longer and they're going to look after the
property better.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay, so okay from your point of view when you
are looking for on behalf of your landlord clients, because
not everyone's got a long history of renting. There are
people who have first time in the marketplace, and you know,
there's got to be a place for first time renters.
How do you discern the red flags and the green flags?
(06:25):
What are the things that sort of rule someone in
or out? Are there obvious sort of things that I
can see just the way you open your mouth to
speak almost instantly that there are a few things that
come instantly to mind.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Go there are I mean, it all just starts, even
at the very first viewing. You know, turn up at
the time that the viewing starts. A smile goes a
long way, like if you're warm when you are dealing
with people.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Always see, I don't know if you can trust smiles.
No know how many people can smile sweetly and when
the going gets tough they turn into a bloody honey
bit at honey badger. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, I mean you still do all the other checks
as well, So things like credit checks are a big one.
And if you are a tenant looking to rent, you
can actually go to sorted dot or dot NZ and
get a copy of your credit score. And I would
recommend that to anyone because the credit score. If you
seem like a great person but your credit score is
very low, it's hard to get the landlord to see
the value.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Do you take okay? Can you get someone's credit score?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
They have to give us permission to get their credits.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
It's okay. What if they give you a printed copy
of the credit score, because you, I mean, anyone can
photoshop a credit score, can't they?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yes, so we wouldn't accept a printed copy of one.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
What if they smiled sweetly at you and said hi,
and even they are stacked up, would you be like,
I'm gonna get still get this or you'd be like, okay,
I think we can take this at face value. And
then you find out they're three times bankrupted.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And you know, a lot of landlords have lots of
rent insurance and a condition of that insurance is that
the property manager has taken all the correct steps. So
if we were to just take someone at face value
and not do the it's like trust and verify.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well that's let's see, there will be I mean, there
are people who do their own renting letting.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, so that's good advice for them that you need
to find you need to get the stuff from the
source yourself. Yes, absolutely, m so smile actually funny, a
smile costs nothing. It's on I don't know whoever said
that first time, But it does cost nothing, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, it does. And even just your communication style and
being interested in the property is another good sign of
people that are looking to see where they're going to
have to take care of it, and just overall treating
the application process seriously, getting your documents in on time.
We rent to a lot of first time renters and
we've got data on some of them and they're fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
How you've got data on some of them? Oh, you
mean we're from the tenancy.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, we've got data on people that we've rented to before.
Often its people that are going to university and stuff
like that. So they've come from their parents' house and
they've moved into a rental. And we've had a lot
of really successful tendancies with young people renting for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So what are the immediate read I mean, let me
just cancel that question. What about from the tenants point view? See,
most there'd be tenants who wouldn't want to appear that
they're going to be a hassle, and yet they might
need to ask certain questions about the property, and there
would come a question with some landlords you're just coming
(09:18):
here as you're coming here as a property management person.
But there'd be people who would be like, how would
they ask questions about a property without looking that they're
going to be the high maintenance tenant.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Well, so I have been a tenant myself as well
many times, and I don't think there's anything wrong with
asking questions about the property. And if the other party
isn't that happy to answer them, then maybe they're not
the right landlord for you.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, should you ever, I mean, is it ever a
doable thing to say, Look, I love the house. The
landlord looks like he might be a bit of fee
but we what I love here? I mean, because you know,
people do fall in love with properties. It's the same
thing with buying a house, you know, you get emotionally
attached to it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yes, And I mean that's what the Tenancy Tribunal and
the RTA is as a protection against things like that.
So it's a pretty strong piece of legislation and the
tenant is protected. So if you did happen to move
into a rental property and the landlord turned out to
be a nightmare, you can ring oh eight hundred tenancy
and the government will give you free advice on how
to minimize the impact of this rogue landlord.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Okay, we'd love to hear from you on this. How
do you I mean, it's also the question about how
important the relationship is between tenant and landlord. And as
I say that, it sounds like a stupid question because
you think, oh, of course it's vital. But I mean,
what are the basics of just a good relationship between
a landlord and a tenant.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
It just comes down, I think, to communication and expectations.
So if things are discussed before the tendency agreement is
signed and the item isn't in the tenancy agreement, and
then it becomes sort of like a he said, she
said about whether or not the shed would be involved
in the tenancy or not, or things like that. So
just really good communication, making sure everything is documented, being
(11:05):
open and transparent about as much as you can, and
looking people that are looking to work together. It's going
to be better in the long term because it is
a business relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, is it harder for people who are, you first
time on their own to rent a property? Because I
imagine on paper, if a couple comes to a property
and they've got you know, baby in tow, and they
look like a nice young couple, they've ticked a bunch
of boxes already, and there's something I guess that makes
you think, oh, well this, you know, there's a there's
(11:35):
a relationship here, here's a family. They're obviously going to
want to find a place that they're probably not going
to be much trouble as opposed to someone comes in
on their own, they've never rented before, single person. Are
they up against it?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
They can be. It depends on the landlord. But there's
a few other factors as well, like they might have
really great credit, really great employment, really great ability to
pay the rent. So there's lots of different sort of
factors that go into the decision making on which person
gets the property.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So how do you decide between a bunch of good tenants?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It is actually quite challenging because if you have a
property where you've got like five people that really want
the property, it's also the people that don't get it
are going to be upset, so you have to make
sure that you do. Sometimes it's just which of the
a one tenant's got their application in first, because there's
otherwise you open yourself up to discrimination and all sorts
of things like that. It can it can be a
(12:26):
challenge when you have multiple applicants that are all really good.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Does that mean it becomes a bidding war or is it?
Is it often a case where I mean, how common
is it that the landlord's like, this is the rent
I expect I'm not expecting. Do they want you to
bring more money out of a competitive rental market or not.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's illegal to ask the tenant to increase the rental.
There's no rental bidding is prohibited under Oh yeah, and that's.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Quite Is that quite new, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It is quite new?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes, So what happens if somebody.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
A tenant can off offer but yeah, a tenant can
offer it, but a landlord can't solicit it.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Hmmm. That's an interesting one because I wonder sometimes does
that make it more difficult? You sort of think, well,
we've got four or five viable candidates, this one's offered
us more money, which feels like shark infested waters in
a way, would you ever sort of think I don't
think I wouldn't want to go there? Would it almost
rule them out? Because you're like, look, we just want
(13:20):
to find the best tenant.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I don't think it would rule them out. But if
you're getting an extra ten dollars a week in rent,
you certainly wouldn't want to let that jeopardize selecting the
best tenant over ten dollars a week, because a good
tenant paying ten dollars a week less is going to
be a lot better value long term than someone paying
an extra.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Who makes the final decision on renting a property, then obviously,
if it's a landlord and a tenant individual landlords, they're
making the call on it with you, do you how
does it work? Do you sort of offer advice and say, look,
we quite like candidate B. You know you might like candidate.
Do they ever want to meet them? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah? So, the way that our structure with our clients
is that we present them with the applications and we
give our advice based on what we would do if
it was our property, and then the owner of the
property makes the final decision, and then they decide yes,
so they decide who goes in basically.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
What's on what generally on paper because they don't meet
the people necessarily do they know it's literally on paper?
So what wins the day?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Normally our advice wins the day. So that's good. We
would get Yeah, yeah, we would get sense, doesn't it
it does? Well, that's what they pay us for. And
you know, we've got eleven hundred properties, so we do
thousands of tendancies and yeah, we've had some that have
gone bad and we've learned from those so we are
able to pass that knowledge on to the customers that
we can make informed decisions on those.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Ones that have gone bad because we you know, one
of the themes today is you know, spotting a good
or a bad tenant or landlord. When you look back
at those and you know, obviously you've got a fantastic
credit rating, you know, with what you do, and everyone
makes mistakes, but what were the were there any things
that you thought, oh, well, actually, you know what, that's
quite you know, you would have liked to have known
(15:03):
that lesson before or what were the obvious lesons that
came out?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
There are some where you will have a property that
is just not attracting quality applicants, so you always have
to take a bit more of a risk on those tenants.
But you can have a tendency where we had one
recently where the tenant had been there for five years,
absolutely no issues, and then something happened in their personal life.
I don't know what it was, and then everything changed.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Or tragedy actually can yeah, yeah, so things like that
step stick? Can you no? Yeah, we'd love your cause
on this. I mean, how if you are a tenant
or a landlord, how do you what are the flags
that you would recognize would single someone out as in
a no go zone or in fact a go zone,
(15:49):
a green how would you decide on who gets the
green light and the red light? We'd love your cause.
Eight hundred and eighty and eighty And how important is it?
And if you're dealing with an individual landlord versus how
relaxed would you feel you go? You know, I prefer
dealing with a property management company and it makes me
much more lex because they're doing the business all the time.
Or do you think no, no property management companies. I'm
(16:12):
just going to become a number. I want to get
rent something from an individual landlord. We want your cause
on this selecting a ten into a landlord. What are
your rules? I eight hundred eighty ten eighty. It is
twenty two and a half past four. News Talk said,
B yes, we're with my cat Onton Beverage. By the way,
I for you just in case you've joined for the
first time. And my guest is Mike Atkinson. He's managing
director at a spy property management. What are the red
(16:32):
flags or yellow yellow flags? I can't believe I said that.
What are the red flags and the green flags for
finding a tenant and or a landlord? Because it may
well be the case that you know, you meet the
landlord and you think love the house, don't like him
or her, or you might have a beef against a
particular property management company. I'll never go through them. I'll
(16:53):
go through this agency. What are the flags that rule
it in or out? For you? I eight hundred eighty
ten eighty and Sally Gooda.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Hello, well this is a purple flag. I I was
reading a property to two headdresses, fully furnished, and when
they were leaving, I went out to talk to them
and one was all elated. She just sold my English
(17:21):
oak dining room suite. She was selling the furniture.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
She was elated. What did she think that it was
hers to sell?
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Well, she got the money for it, and I said, well,
that's my money, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
How much she get for it?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Oh, I forget now. It was a week while ago,
but it was an English oak dining room. Sweet. Yeah,
And what.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
She was she said to you that she was elated, like,
I'm delighted I've just sold you dining sweet.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
She looked elated to me and said to me, oh,
look I've just sold this. And she told me how
much you got that? I can't remember now, but I thought,
how often would that happen?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
How long were they tenants for?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Oh, best part of a year.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Okay, well that's that's actually not very long, Mike. That
is a strange one. I'm not I'm not sure how
Sally would avoid that sort of behavior it self. But
what's the story there a second, let me just turn
your microphone on.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yes, that would be hard to predict that upfront. In
that instance of a tenant is selling the landlord's furniture,
that would go through the tenancy tribunal and you could
get the cost of the item's back but it can
also be a criminal matter as well, so that could
be filed with the police as well. If it was
proven in the civil court that they had no right
(18:53):
to sell the steel, the furniture effectible.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Oh well, you know, I put a stop to it
there and then so.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It didn't the sale didn't go ahead.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes, but I took the money for it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Okay, not not quite a stop. So did you miss
the English oak table?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I did, really yes, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
That is a strange one. Do you think that would
there be any way a tenant would get confused and
think that. Oh no, I mean there's no way. I
mean that's a bit of a It's a strange path
to go down, isn't it. But yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's why I would have to go through the tribunal,
I think first, because they'd have to establish that they
didn't have the right under the tenancy to be gifted
the furniture or anything like that, because you can sometimes
gift the tenant items.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that is a weird one, isn't it. Actually, Well,
there's something that I don't know where she said their addresses,
what they had to do in anything? But would they
But what can you do in terms of checking out
people's criminal records.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
We use a system called Renty and they do like
a full background check for us. It's a platform that
most property men are either use Renty or another one
called TPS, and that does like a full background check
on people. So we do all of that stuff before
they move in.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
What would individual landlords do if they have to. Is
that a platform they could access or would they have
to do it in a more manual way.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
They could would have to do it a more manual way.
So I think you can still go to the police
and request a criminal background check, but they take about
six weeks to.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Come so okay, So that's one of the vulnerabilities of
individual landlords is if someone actually has a criminal record,
you're not going to find out in time.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That's right. Yeah, so there's a yeah, that's one of
the benefits that we have as access to sort of
like better databases and systems.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Unless you've had a friend who's in the police and
you'd say, just have a quick dig into this and
risky job. Yes, Actually that is a bit that does
sound like a bit of a fishock. So there's no
way of landlords getting around that unless they go I
guess could they pay a property management company a fee
get them to do that?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, they could, And that's why some people will often
use a property management company to find them tenants and
do what they call a casual let where we would
find the tenants and they would manage the property.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
To be honest, I don't know why anyone wouldn't do that,
but I mean, what sort of fees do if you
just had to find the tenant but not management the company.
If I came to you and said, look, Mike, find
me a tenant, I'll manage it a lot of the
heaps of time on my hands, and I'm brilliant. You'd say,
how would that work? Would be a couple of weeks
rent or something? Or a week's rent?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, it's one week's rent plus GST plus the trade
me fee as well. That's what we charge. I think
some parts of New Zealand they charge two weeks rent
plus GST because the rents are a bit lower.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Has trade Me changed from that point of view?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
With their with you know how they're trying to get
they're not charging fees. Oh no, you're a business, so
you're not.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I'm going to assure you.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I've got one. A text here said I've got one
red flag cats pets that could be a red flag.
But the law has changed on that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes it has so, but it doesn't stop at from
choosing a person that doesn't have a cat. So if
you've got two great applicants and one has a cat
and one doesn't, often the person without the cat will
be chosen.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Can you ask if they've got a cat?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, you can, or a dog.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You can, So you can discriminate on pets. But what's
the fish shock there's a cat, isn't there?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
There is? And that is that as soon as they
move in, they can put in a formal request to
get a pet, and the landlord can't unreasonably withhold consent.
So if you know it's a property that's not got
a body corporate, you're pretty much in the clear to
get that cat over the line. Once you've done.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sorry say that, if you've got a property that doesn't
have a body corporate. What if someone's got Oh hell,
this sadoozy, isn't it. What if what if it's just
obvious they've lied? What what if that's a reason to
somebody had a cat or a dog? We're not going
to have a crack at cats. By the way, I
just mentioned you know the Texter had a cat. So
(23:00):
what if something you've are you allowed to You're allowed
to ask if they've got pets.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You are, So they would have filled out the application
saying that it was true that they don't know what
if it was a lie, the owners would be on
the landlord to prove that. So maybe you could get
a reference from the previous landlord asking if they had
a cat or not. But yeah, the landlord would have
to be able to prove it, and then you would
have to take them to the tenancy tribunal to say
(23:24):
that the application wasn't correct and it has that probably
has not been tested at the tribunal yet, so we
wouldn't be able to say what the outcome would be.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That does make a bit of an ass of the lord,
doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It does. It's definitely a work around there is to
basically apply and then get your new pet right after
you move in, even though it turns off and it's
a seven year old cat.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
That well, I mean I might have a couple of
aggressive attack dogs and I don't have a pet, and
then I go, oh, look I'd like to get a
couple of dogs in and they happen to be well,
you don't know the aggressive until they've eaten the postman,
you know.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, exactly. I mean that's the thing with the new Act.
It does make it easier for tenants to get pets
in terms of a sort of dangerous dog that you
can still decline them if you don't think the dog
is suitable and if it breaches the Dangerous Dogs Act
and things like that. What if you've just got nice carpets,
that's just an unfortunate break for the landlord.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Okay, So if there's a chance of an animal coming
in and they're going to pool all over the place
and ruin the carpets or something, that's still not good
enough grounds. No, is there anything about the value of
the property that might you could say, we're going to
rule it out. You could try what if you had
an artwork, So if you had a sort of a
(24:42):
post In fact, I know that people people who have
got a Marii sort of carving which runs it's a
beam that runs head to foot. To be honest, I
reckon you could say, look, part of the house contains
a very valuable work of art no cat.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, I mean I would recommend that the owner in
that situation would decline the pet application and then it
can go to the tendency tropan or for a rule,
because you can say that the property is not suitable
for a pet and that might pass.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Because who can judge what is and what isn't art? Ah, Yeah,
there we go anyway. Ten eighty What are the good,
the red, and the green flags for a good? Bad,
good or bad tenant? Landlord? Eighty? Josh?
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Hello, Yeah, hey are you Tim?
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Your real estate guy? Sorry, sorry many of you. I
just I'm like another one, hey, but just you know,
thinking about what qualifies people for a rental house, I'm
also thinking about what disqualifies people from renting a house.
(25:49):
I'd imagine combinations of different things. As an example, you know,
if you own cats and small children, I mean, having
cats is almost getting you disqualified. And I think that's
that's quite harsh. A Like, we went from a fun
(26:10):
loving country who allowed rented is to have pets to
a country where if you say you've got cats or pets,
you're probably going to disqualify you how yourself from potential property.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I think there's a Factive might have got wrong there, Josh.
I think that we were more hostile to pets than
we are now. The law has changed to make it difficult.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Not exactly what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So we're more lower now, No, we're more loving. What is.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
St No, I know what you're saying. They changed the rules,
but now it's just it's as simple as just don't
take pets on. It's their choice. They don't, they don't
have to. And I'm very cynical about the bond money.
Why would I pay extra bond money when I've already
paid bond money, Like, is it an exercise to take
(27:04):
one hundred percent to that money off the clients? You're
going to make up the costs upon leewing.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Is that an extra bond for cats? I let Mike
come in on that, Josh.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah. So the landlord can request an extra two weeks
bond for as a pet bond. So that takes the
total for some tenants up to six weeks of a bond,
which is quite It is a big amount for some people,
so you don't have to go all the way up
to the full two weeks. So we have signed some
tenancy agreements recently with only one extra week added, and
that's because we wanted to get the deal over the line. Basically,
(27:35):
in terms of pets, overall, the new legislation will force
more people into having pets, and then hopefully the landlords
will see some of the benefits of allowing a tenant
to have a pet. People with pets stay longer because
they find it harder to get a new rental, So
there are benefits for landlords.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Can the landlord ask to meet the cat or the dog?
We have had a hamster.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Yes they can. And we have had ones where the
landlords have met the dog, and that.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Would be that actually is not a bad idea because
if you meet the dog and y what a sweet
what a sweet dog?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, and it's worked. We've had ones where the owners
have gone to the property, met the prospective tenants, met
the dog and said, yep, thumbs up. All good.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Not I mean information is you know as king, isn't it?
Or Queen Ron's waiting. We'll come to you Ron in
just a moment. We've got Mike Atkinson with us. What
are the green what are the flags? Red or green?
A good or bad landlord or tenant? Wight hundred eighty
twenty two minutes to fire News Talk said, be where
with Mike Atkinson talking about finding a good or bad
(28:34):
landlord or tenant. I wait, one hundred eighty ten eighty.
We've got a bunch of texts to get to as well.
But your calls ron, Hello.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
OHI the landlord had properly said it through the years,
so it might wind them. I've had several tenants over
the years and through real estate mainly. Yeah, I used
to render by myself at Yeah, I just find it.
You don't trust tenants, and i'd want one tenant to
(29:05):
sort of mom two kids and she had a dog
as well. I think you are through through a real
estate So anyway, she she did a run army and
almost three thousand dollars at seven hundred dollars in gas
bill that she didn't put her name into.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, could you could you have seen that company coming
or sort of?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
But yeah, I'm going back to the nineties. But yeah,
just a sort of suspect that you might do something.
But yeah, I would never trust trust another one.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You never trust another tenant, no way, No, uh, there
must what there must be a way of sort of
narrowing it down. Wouldn't they to be more being more confident,
I mean otherwise, I mean you could use an argument
about not trusting, to not trusting anyone and just in
general in life.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Yeah, I don't know what. You know, what background she had,
I don't know. I don't know estates.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Did you find her through a real estate letting company?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Okay, and that I.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Did have it rented through Red White as well. But
when Real White took it over, they were in black Ranger.
I went there one day in the window, no one there.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have you still got Have you still got the property?
Speaker 4 (30:30):
I've still got it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Yeah you should. I'll go to a SPA property management.
What do you think, Mike. I don't want to use
it as a free ad for you, but there you go.
Hang on a second.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yes, we're always looking for new Landloalds. And if you've
tried Barford and Thompson and you've tried Rey White, and
maybe it's time to try the best.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I'll send you the bill tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I think look, actually, Ron, I think that's I mean,
that is a question of you know, you've got to
you've maybe you've just got to find a company that
that finds you a decent tenant. And backs themselves up.
Maybe you do need to look for someone else to
do it, because I don't know something. It's easy to
have a couple of misgivings there, but I don't know.
He's been a landlord for thirty three years and must
(31:11):
have been some good tenants in there as well, I
imagine hopefully.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, well he said that was in the nineties, so
if that's his most recent tenant, then he's doing pretty well.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, okay, Tim, maybe off the subject, but here goes.
If a rental property has a leak and has to
be dried out and redecorated over a month, should the
tenant get a rent rebate for living through that?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yes? Definitely.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And how okay, let's say the rent six hundred bucks
a week and you're having to live through well, not
really having the proper use of your house, what would
that look like?
Speaker 1 (31:43):
They often will sort of measure it based on the
amount of utility of the property that you're no longer
able to use, and then an amount for disruption. So
we've had ones where like the dishwasher wasn't working and
the tribunal has said dropped the rent by forty dollars
for the dishwasher a week, sometimes fifteen dollars a week
for a dishwasher.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Having to do your own that's got a bit at
least one hundred bucks this week.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I agree on that one.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
It's just that funny having to do your own dishes
between having to stack the dishwise. Ah, that's pretty stingy,
isn't it.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yes, some of the times the reductions I think are
actually a bit unfair to the tenants. Like even just
having to put up with all of that repair work
would be quite disruptive.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Actually, I mean I was just thinking if you were
a shift worker like I am, if I was living
in a house and there was a problem, and you know,
I mean literally the difference between getting a decent sleep
or not having the dryers and everything pumping and people
knocking on the door and doing different work. Yeah. Actually,
does that mean that you would always leave that to
the tribune or are you a little bit more reasonable? No?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
We try to organize it directly with the tenant, using
the measuring sticks that we've worked out of what we
think is fair.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
What's the biggest deduction for.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh, just when you can't even live in the there's
times where people can't even live in the property. But yeah,
just it just comes. Some people will be living in
the kitchen basically because they don't want to go to
a motel or something like that. So then they get like,
you know, eighty percent off the rent while the work
is being done.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well, then they'll probably find a way of living with that,
wouldn't it. It's a bit like when you're living in
a property when it's getting renovated, you put up with
it because well, it's cheaper thing getting another house, which
is luxury. Okay. Another text, I we have pin holes
through the walls that were painted last year, is there
where in tear? If not, can I force them to
repair it all the fixings in the walls? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, if it's just been freshly painted. The sort of
measuring stick with where in tear is did the damage
occur gradually and or was it sudden? So you could
argue that a thumbtack through a wall was a sudden event,
which makes it damage. So you could ask the tenant
to reinstate that back to how it was when they vacated,
(33:57):
and if they don't agree with your assessment, then you
could go to the tenancy tribunal. To get them to
rule on that.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Could they just say, well, tell us what the color
of the wall allers in our painter.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
They get enough? Yep, they could do that. You can
take a pragmatic approach to I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
That okay, So when a new tenant moves into a property,
would would it just be best to say, look, I
want to hang some paintings, what are your rules about?
You know? Because I mean sometimes you know those sticky things.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
The three hooks are the way to go.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But sometimes they can rip paint off walls when they
come off, so that's.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
They can when people don't know how to take them
off properly. Like my fiance she took them down and
try r this weekend and pulled them off and took
the paint.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
But even then, you know how you can pull them
and stretch them and it sort of gives way. Sometimes
the last bit will go I'm going to tear the
wall paper.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yes, I mean on that drawing pin issue. It's probably
better if you've had a tenant they've been good, Just
move on with the If there's only a couple of
holes in the walls, it's probably better to just say
thanks for being a tenant. We got the rent. Everything
else is fine.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Are you what about the rules? Say, for instance, if
I as a tenant and I put a hole through
some dry wall because I was trying to put a
shelf anyway, I'd be patching it myself and everything. What
sort of standard of workmership is acceptable. I'm a fantastic
plaster at DIY, I like to think, but it might
not be up to the standard of the landlord.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, so it needs to be up to a reasonable
standard basically. So we have had tenants before where they've
done that, They've made some damage to the walls, and
then they've gone and done They've made it even worse
by trying to do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, it is a degree of difficulty where the pulse
does get up a little bit. Okay, here's another Texas
before we the out of the property of the week High.
We're just going through that. Our tenants signed the contract
two years ago, no pets our property at the agency
took inspection photos as usual usual we noticed kitty litters
and aquariums. Ha We talked to the agency looking after
(35:49):
a home and contract was no pets. Tenants decided to
move out two weeks. Rent does not cover, replacing carpet,
et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, it's about an agency letting
them down. But actually, if a tenant just moves in
a pet without asking, what's the rule there?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, so that's in to breach of the RTA if
they don't have permission to have the pet. So you
can then go after the tenant for the damage that
has been caused by the pets because they weren't permitted
on the property. In terms of the agent letting them down,
if the agent has just seen these photos for the
first time as well, there's nothing that the property manager
can do to stop someone from bringing in a cat.
(36:25):
We can just take the right steps once they've got
the cat and get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Hey, just out of curiosity, what are the rules at
the end of a tendency? In fact, it was something
I wanted to talk about in a bit more detail,
but we're run out of time. But at the end
of a tendancy, say, if you've you know, you had
the responsibility of mow the lawns, how how do you
ascertain whether the leading agency has got a reasonable quote?
And the reason I mentioned is because I got a
quote for cleaning some carpet and a couch and a
(36:51):
couple of chairs, And one company, which clearly does a
lot of insurance work, wanted to charge sixteen hundred dollars
and most other companies were three hundred dollars. What if
I was a tenant and you got a quote from
this company for cleaning the carpet, and it came and
it's some ridiculous amount. Where's the reasonableness coming.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Well, if you're the tenant on the way out, it's
best to get those things done yourself and then you
have total control over the costs. But if you do
have a property manager that tries to hit you up
for an exorbitant bill after the tendancy, you can go
to the tribunal and one of the things the adjudicators
do is they have like a price book of everything
and they will set the compensate the payment back to
(37:29):
a reasonable amount.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Do you have a copy of that price book?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
You say no, they seem it's something that they keep it.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
It's quite a wouldn't they share it with you? Then
you can save all this tenant to be like here's
the book.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yes, it would be a lot easier if there was
just sort of some defined rules.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
They're preserving their judicial discretion. Anyway, Hey, look we're going
to be back and just particularly one roof properly. The
week is next and I think by looking at it,
it would confirm that my producer has the same crush
on Queenstown property that I do. Because this is a
gorgeous looking property and frankly I would like it. So
I'm not sure if the fifteen million dollars on Lotto
(38:04):
to Nat'll do it, but I'll share it with you
in just a moment nine and a half minutes to five.
The one roof property of the week on the weekend Collective, Yes,
and the one roof property of the week is an
absolute ripper. It's I'll give you the address, seven Forest
Lines Rise, Ben Lomond, Queenstown. Six six bedrooms is it
(38:29):
ten bathrooms? That's not a TYPEO ten bathrooms, eleven car
garage and the house is okay. The house is just
under twelve hundred square meters. It's eighty five square meters
the land of three point one to nine hectares. It
was built well, it's new twenty twenty six, an extraordinary
six bedroom residents. It's a private gated estate, just ten
(38:52):
minutes from Queenstown's vibrant CBD, setting an expanse of thirty
one thousand square meters of pristine land. I'm going to
hand it over to Mike to describe it. This one,
and I always love the homstamate. I don't know how
much you'd have to win for lotto. What do you think, Mike,
how would you describe this to a future tenant? Would
they allow cats? Hang on a second, there we go.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
I think you might need to win lotto twice to
get this house. I didn't even realize houses of the
standard were actually being built.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
It's amazing, yeah, I mean it's it's almost like it's
camouflaged as well. You look down from on top it
looks like on the roof it has gardens sort of
growing as well, and the views right around Lake Wakatupou.
I mean, it is absolutely stunning. And I missed the
bit where it talks about price, so I need to
go back to that because what is the property value
(39:43):
on that one?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Do you think it's got to be like thirty five
million or something.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
I don't think. I don't think we can get a
read on the price. I don't think. But anyway, look
it's worth just having a look at it because you know,
often from these I'd love to get it. Wouldn't you
love to go to an open home and just have
a wander through.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I would love to go and have a look at
that house. It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
How would you dress if you were going to the
open home, you see, because I would not want them
to know that I was a pauper.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, a suit or something would be of sufficient.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I guess, yeah, maybe that might look like you drive anyway,
But it is an absolutely stunning house and it's the
sort of thing as I say, I think the powerball
is what is it? Fifteen million? And I to be honest,
I don't think you get any change out of that.
I think you'd still end up with a mortgage. But
if you're if you want to go and have a
look at and it also it's great to look at
some of these properties just from some design ideas, but yeah,
(40:37):
the panoramic views from the bedroom as well and totally
glass surroundings and it just absolutely magnificence. So you have
to make it the property of the week. And as
I say, that is what's the address? Seven Forest Lines Rise? Hey,
great to see you again, Mike.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Thank you for having me now.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I look forward to hearing about your successful purchase of
that property. Anyway, you go to a Spark Property Management
to check out Mike's work property. Their parents quite as
next with John Cown, News Talk ZEDB for more from
the weekend collective. Listen live to news Talk ZEDB weekends
(41:18):
from three pm, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
ME Saturday Summer.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Some bos them on Selver's food and ham.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now don't they help himself? And welcome pack Sorry the
Weekend Collective. I'm Tim Beverage and this is the One
Roof Radio Show for this hour. By the way, looking
ahead the Parents Squad. We've also got John Cown with us,
talking about those moments when your kids do something that's
not just naughty, but it's really beyond the pale. How
do you keep with it? But right now, as I say,
(00:48):
the One Roof Radio Show will want your calls eight
hundred eighty ten eighty text nine two nine two. What
we're going to talk about as well? I mean, who
hasn't at some stage in their life been a landlord
or a tenant. Oh, it wouldn't be many people who've
missed that pleasure, would there be? For many people it's
the first time when they actually have to think about contracts,
your legal obligations. And of course when it comes to
(01:11):
the good guys or villains, depending on which political party
you're arguing for, look to be honest good guys and villains.
It always depends on the luck of the drawer, and
you get them on both sides. But are there red
flags which should have you as a landlord rejecting a
particular tenant, And likewise, as a tenant, are there red
flags which mean that actually, you know you love the property,
(01:33):
but you really should find somewhere else to live. And look,
these questions might not seem to matter until well, you know,
suddenly it does. So we also got to look at
the beginnings and end endings of a tendancy. Who mows
the lawns? Tied? Is the gardens? What are reasonable chargers?
How do you handle that at the end of a tendancy?
Do you need to document every scratch and imperfection in
(01:56):
the property when you become a tenant so they don't go, oh,
there were a bit of a scratch here. You have
to pay for this, the relining of the walls or something. Anyway,
we want to know what you think on eight hundred
eighty ten eighty text nine two nine two. What issue
did you or should you have seen coming? What red
flags did you miss? And when is a property so
(02:16):
good that, ah, look who cares of the landlorders? It's fantastic.
I love the I love the aspect and the view.
So anyway we want to talk what your cause? O
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and joining us to
discuss this. He is managing director at Aspire Property Management.
His name's Mike Atkinson and here he is Mike.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Hello, Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Good thank you. You know, are there things that people
really need to you know, the challenges things you need
to think about when you're taking on a property, because
you know, especially first time renters and all that sort
of thing, you just sort of think, oh, look at this,
it's nice the rents, right, but the landlord might I
don't know, do you need to look into the landlord.
You're in the property management company, so your businesses is
(02:58):
smoothing all these potential cracks over, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well yeah, I mean it's our job to make sure
that a tenant feels comfortable renting from us. You know,
we have a score of four point nine out of
five on Google and we weren't really hard to maintain
that so that someone knows that if they rent a
property from us, they're going to be treated with a
certain level of care.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, actually you've just mentioned the first thing I hadn't
even thought of the Google rating, would you. Actually, I
don't know what to think of Google ratings, because you
only need someone who becomes disgruntled to give you a
crappy rating, and it can affect well, you know, if
you've got hundreds of ratings, you're probably fairly safe.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah. I mean, we have had one star Google reviews
and it's really discouraging. We always try to reach out
to people to make it right because we care. But
if I was a tenant looking to rent a property,
I would look at the company's Google reviews and if
there's a number of them that are negative from tenants,
that's definitely something to be mindful.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Of because say, let's say, I don't know how many
ratings have you.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Guys got over six hundred?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay, because I seem to remember that when it comes
to Google ratings, you can say view from lowest. So
you go, let's see all the one star ratings, and
if that's your first port of call, I mean, everyone
gets a one star rating. If you would listened to
the people who hate my guts, you know, you would
might never turn on the radio.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's right. But I mean you can sort of see
a pattern with some companies google reviews. It's the same
when you're looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. You know,
some people will say, oh, it's too expensive when they've
gone to a very expensive restaurant. So you have to
use a bit of judgment and working out if you
think the reviews are valid or not.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
How about judging tenants then, because you guys are in
the business of looking after your land of the landlord's
interests as well. I mean yes, I mean technically you're
acting for the landlord, but you're really actually just tell
us what is the relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, so the landlord is the is the client. They're
the ones that pay our fees and they sign the
contract with us. They're the ones that can fire us.
So we definitely act for the landlord, but we have
a duty of care to the tenants as well. And
also the best tendancy for the landlord is one where
the tenant is happy and they look after the property,
so you can really manage the property in a way
that's a win for both parties. And you know, one
(05:03):
of our values is to be warm. You know, even
if you have to give someone bad news or they're
not paying the rent, you don't have to be you know,
evil about it. You can definitely still be one of
the good guys. Well, some of the things that you
read in the newspaper, some of the companies, you know,
they don't they don't tread carefully on any of the
things that they do, and they're just a bit harsh
with people, and it doesn't it's not a win for
(05:23):
the customers at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Is there a bit of a heavy handedness that exists
out there?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh? Definitely?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Why is that? Is it just an experienced landlords and
property managers or what?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I think? It just sort of it's comes from a
long time ago where when I first got into the industry,
it was really about talking to your landlords and the
tenants were just people that sort of got on the
way of your day to day business. And well and yes, well,
but that was sort of the way that people thought
about it. And it's modernized a lot now and you know,
(05:54):
we you know, we really go out of our way
to try to make the tenants lives better because it
does have a better result for the landlord. They're going
to stay longer and they're going to look after the
property better.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay, so okay from your point of view when you
are looking for on behalf of your landlord clients, because
not everyone's got a long history of renting. There are
people who have first time in the marketplace, and you know,
there's got to be a place for first time renters.
How do you discern the red flags and the green flags?
(06:25):
What are the things that sort of rule someone in
or out? Are there obvious sort of things that I
can see just the way you open your mouth to
speak almost instantly that there are a few things that
come instantly to mind.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Go there are I mean, it all just starts, even
at the very first viewing. You know, turn up at
the time that the viewing starts. A smile goes a
long way, like if you're warm when you are dealing
with people.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Always see, I don't know if you can trust smiles.
No know how many people can smile sweetly and when
the going gets tough they turn into a bloody honey
bit at honey badger. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, I mean you still do all the other checks
as well, So things like credit checks are a big one.
And if you are a tenant looking to rent, you
can actually go to sorted dot or dot NZ and
get a copy of your credit score. And I would
recommend that to anyone because the credit score. If you
seem like a great person but your credit score is
very low, it's hard to get the landlord to see
the value.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Do you take okay? Can you get someone's credit score?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
They have to give us permission to get their credits.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
It's okay. What if they give you a printed copy
of the credit score, because you, I mean, anyone can
photoshop a credit score, can't they?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yes, so we wouldn't accept a printed copy of one.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
What if they smiled sweetly at you and said hi,
and even they are stacked up, would you be like,
I'm gonna get still get this or you'd be like, okay,
I think we can take this at face value. And
then you find out they're three times bankrupted.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And you know, a lot of landlords have lots of
rent insurance and a condition of that insurance is that
the property manager has taken all the correct steps. So
if we were to just take someone at face value
and not do the it's like trust and verify.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well that's let's see, there will be I mean, there
are people who do their own renting letting.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, so that's good advice for them that you need
to find you need to get the stuff from the
source yourself. Yes, absolutely, m so smile actually funny, a
smile costs nothing. It's on I don't know whoever said
that first time, But it does cost nothing, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, it does. And even just your communication style and
being interested in the property is another good sign of
people that are looking to see where they're going to
have to take care of it, and just overall treating
the application process seriously, getting your documents in on time.
We rent to a lot of first time renters and
we've got data on some of them and they're fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
How you've got data on some of them? Oh, you
mean we're from the tenancy.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, we've got data on people that we've rented to before.
Often its people that are going to university and stuff
like that. So they've come from their parents' house and
they've moved into a rental. And we've had a lot
of really successful tendancies with young people renting for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So what are the immediate read I mean, let me
just cancel that question. What about from the tenants point view? See,
most there'd be tenants who wouldn't want to appear that
they're going to be a hassle, and yet they might
need to ask certain questions about the property, and there
would come a question with some landlords you're just coming
(09:18):
here as you're coming here as a property management person.
But there'd be people who would be like, how would
they ask questions about a property without looking that they're
going to be the high maintenance tenant.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Well, so I have been a tenant myself as well
many times, and I don't think there's anything wrong with
asking questions about the property. And if the other party
isn't that happy to answer them, then maybe they're not
the right landlord for you.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, should you ever, I mean, is it ever a
doable thing to say, Look, I love the house. The
landlord looks like he might be a bit of fee
but we what I love here? I mean, because you know,
people do fall in love with properties. It's the same
thing with buying a house, you know, you get emotionally
attached to it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yes, And I mean that's what the Tenancy Tribunal and
the RTA is as a protection against things like that.
So it's a pretty strong piece of legislation and the
tenant is protected. So if you did happen to move
into a rental property and the landlord turned out to
be a nightmare, you can ring oh eight hundred tenancy
and the government will give you free advice on how
to minimize the impact of this rogue landlord.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Okay, we'd love to hear from you on this. How
do you I mean, it's also the question about how
important the relationship is between tenant and landlord. And as
I say that, it sounds like a stupid question because
you think, oh, of course it's vital. But I mean,
what are the basics of just a good relationship between
a landlord and a tenant.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
It just comes down, I think, to communication and expectations.
So if things are discussed before the tendency agreement is
signed and the item isn't in the tenancy agreement, and
then it becomes sort of like a he said, she
said about whether or not the shed would be involved
in the tenancy or not, or things like that. So
just really good communication, making sure everything is documented, being
(11:05):
open and transparent about as much as you can, and
looking people that are looking to work together. It's going
to be better in the long term because it is
a business relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, is it harder for people who are, you first
time on their own to rent a property? Because I
imagine on paper, if a couple comes to a property
and they've got you know, baby in tow, and they
look like a nice young couple, they've ticked a bunch
of boxes already, and there's something I guess that makes
you think, oh, well this, you know, there's a there's
(11:35):
a relationship here, here's a family. They're obviously going to
want to find a place that they're probably not going
to be much trouble as opposed to someone comes in
on their own, they've never rented before, single person. Are
they up against it?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
They can be. It depends on the landlord. But there's
a few other factors as well, like they might have
really great credit, really great employment, really great ability to
pay the rent. So there's lots of different sort of
factors that go into the decision making on which person
gets the property.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So how do you decide between a bunch of good tenants?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It is actually quite challenging because if you have a
property where you've got like five people that really want
the property, it's also the people that don't get it
are going to be upset, so you have to make
sure that you do. Sometimes it's just which of the
a one tenant's got their application in first, because there's
otherwise you open yourself up to discrimination and all sorts
of things like that. It can it can be a
(12:26):
challenge when you have multiple applicants that are all really good.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Does that mean it becomes a bidding war or is it?
Is it often a case where I mean, how common
is it that the landlord's like, this is the rent
I expect I'm not expecting. Do they want you to
bring more money out of a competitive rental market or not.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's illegal to ask the tenant to increase the rental.
There's no rental bidding is prohibited under Oh yeah, and that's.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Quite Is that quite new, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It is quite new?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes, So what happens if somebody.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
A tenant can off offer but yeah, a tenant can
offer it, but a landlord can't solicit it.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Hmmm. That's an interesting one because I wonder sometimes does
that make it more difficult? You sort of think, well,
we've got four or five viable candidates, this one's offered
us more money, which feels like shark infested waters in
a way, would you ever sort of think I don't
think I wouldn't want to go there? Would it almost
rule them out? Because you're like, look, we just want
(13:20):
to find the best tenant.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I don't think it would rule them out. But if
you're getting an extra ten dollars a week in rent,
you certainly wouldn't want to let that jeopardize selecting the
best tenant over ten dollars a week, because a good
tenant paying ten dollars a week less is going to
be a lot better value long term than someone paying
an extra.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Who makes the final decision on renting a property, then obviously,
if it's a landlord and a tenant individual landlords, they're
making the call on it with you, do you how
does it work? Do you sort of offer advice and say, look,
we quite like candidate B. You know you might like candidate.
Do they ever want to meet them? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah? So, the way that our structure with our clients
is that we present them with the applications and we
give our advice based on what we would do if
it was our property, and then the owner of the
property makes the final decision, and then they decide yes,
so they decide who goes in basically.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
What's on what generally on paper because they don't meet
the people necessarily do they know it's literally on paper?
So what wins the day?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Normally our advice wins the day. So that's good. We
would get Yeah, yeah, we would get sense, doesn't it
it does? Well, that's what they pay us for. And
you know, we've got eleven hundred properties, so we do
thousands of tendancies and yeah, we've had some that have
gone bad and we've learned from those so we are
able to pass that knowledge on to the customers that
we can make informed decisions on those.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Ones that have gone bad because we you know, one
of the themes today is you know, spotting a good
or a bad tenant or landlord. When you look back
at those and you know, obviously you've got a fantastic
credit rating, you know, with what you do, and everyone
makes mistakes, but what were the were there any things
that you thought, oh, well, actually, you know what, that's
quite you know, you would have liked to have known
(15:03):
that lesson before or what were the obvious lesons that
came out?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
There are some where you will have a property that
is just not attracting quality applicants, so you always have
to take a bit more of a risk on those tenants.
But you can have a tendency where we had one
recently where the tenant had been there for five years,
absolutely no issues, and then something happened in their personal life.
I don't know what it was, and then everything changed.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Or tragedy actually can yeah, yeah, so things like that
step stick? Can you no? Yeah, we'd love your cause
on this. I mean, how if you are a tenant
or a landlord, how do you what are the flags
that you would recognize would single someone out as in
a no go zone or in fact a go zone,
(15:49):
a green how would you decide on who gets the
green light and the red light? We'd love your cause.
Eight hundred and eighty and eighty And how important is it?
And if you're dealing with an individual landlord versus how
relaxed would you feel you go? You know, I prefer
dealing with a property management company and it makes me
much more lex because they're doing the business all the time.
Or do you think no, no property management companies. I'm
(16:12):
just going to become a number. I want to get
rent something from an individual landlord. We want your cause
on this selecting a ten into a landlord. What are
your rules? I eight hundred eighty ten eighty. It is
twenty two and a half past four. News Talk said,
B yes, we're with my cat Onton Beverage. By the way,
I for you just in case you've joined for the
first time. And my guest is Mike Atkinson. He's managing
director at a spy property management. What are the red
(16:32):
flags or yellow yellow flags? I can't believe I said that.
What are the red flags and the green flags for
finding a tenant and or a landlord? Because it may
well be the case that you know, you meet the
landlord and you think love the house, don't like him
or her, or you might have a beef against a
particular property management company. I'll never go through them. I'll
(16:53):
go through this agency. What are the flags that rule
it in or out? For you? I eight hundred eighty
ten eighty and Sally Gooda.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Hello, well this is a purple flag. I I was
reading a property to two headdresses, fully furnished, and when
they were leaving, I went out to talk to them
and one was all elated. She just sold my English
(17:21):
oak dining room suite. She was selling the furniture.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
She was elated. What did she think that it was
hers to sell?
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Well, she got the money for it, and I said, well,
that's my money, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
How much she get for it?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Oh, I forget now. It was a week while ago,
but it was an English oak dining room. Sweet. Yeah,
And what.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
She was she said to you that she was elated, like,
I'm delighted I've just sold you dining sweet.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
She looked elated to me and said to me, oh,
look I've just sold this. And she told me how
much you got that? I can't remember now, but I thought,
how often would that happen?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
How long were they tenants for?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Oh, best part of a year.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Okay, well that's that's actually not very long, Mike. That
is a strange one. I'm not I'm not sure how
Sally would avoid that sort of behavior it self. But
what's the story there a second, let me just turn
your microphone on.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yes, that would be hard to predict that upfront. In
that instance of a tenant is selling the landlord's furniture,
that would go through the tenancy tribunal and you could
get the cost of the item's back but it can
also be a criminal matter as well, so that could
be filed with the police as well. If it was
proven in the civil court that they had no right
(18:53):
to sell the steel, the furniture effectible.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Oh well, you know, I put a stop to it
there and then so.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It didn't the sale didn't go ahead.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes, but I took the money for it.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Okay, not not quite a stop. So did you miss
the English oak table?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I did, really yes, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
That is a strange one. Do you think that would
there be any way a tenant would get confused and
think that. Oh no, I mean there's no way. I
mean that's a bit of a It's a strange path
to go down, isn't it. But yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's why I would have to go through the tribunal,
I think first, because they'd have to establish that they
didn't have the right under the tenancy to be gifted
the furniture or anything like that, because you can sometimes
gift the tenant items.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that is a weird one, isn't it. Actually, Well,
there's something that I don't know where she said their addresses,
what they had to do in anything? But would they
But what can you do in terms of checking out
people's criminal records.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
We use a system called Renty and they do like
a full background check for us. It's a platform that
most property men are either use Renty or another one
called TPS, and that does like a full background check
on people. So we do all of that stuff before
they move in.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
What would individual landlords do if they have to. Is
that a platform they could access or would they have
to do it in a more manual way.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
They could would have to do it a more manual way.
So I think you can still go to the police
and request a criminal background check, but they take about
six weeks to.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Come so okay, So that's one of the vulnerabilities of
individual landlords is if someone actually has a criminal record,
you're not going to find out in time.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That's right. Yeah, so there's a yeah, that's one of
the benefits that we have as access to sort of
like better databases and systems.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Unless you've had a friend who's in the police and
you'd say, just have a quick dig into this and
risky job. Yes, Actually that is a bit that does
sound like a bit of a fishock. So there's no
way of landlords getting around that unless they go I
guess could they pay a property management company a fee
get them to do that?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, they could, And that's why some people will often
use a property management company to find them tenants and
do what they call a casual let where we would
find the tenants and they would manage the property.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
To be honest, I don't know why anyone wouldn't do that,
but I mean, what sort of fees do if you
just had to find the tenant but not management the company.
If I came to you and said, look, Mike, find
me a tenant, I'll manage it a lot of the
heaps of time on my hands, and I'm brilliant. You'd say,
how would that work? Would be a couple of weeks
rent or something? Or a week's rent?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, it's one week's rent plus GST plus the trade
me fee as well. That's what we charge. I think
some parts of New Zealand they charge two weeks rent
plus GST because the rents are a bit lower.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Has trade Me changed from that point of view?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
With their with you know how they're trying to get
they're not charging fees. Oh no, you're a business, so
you're not.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
I'm going to assure you.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I've got one. A text here said I've got one
red flag cats pets that could be a red flag.
But the law has changed on that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yes it has so, but it doesn't stop at from
choosing a person that doesn't have a cat. So if
you've got two great applicants and one has a cat
and one doesn't, often the person without the cat will
be chosen.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Can you ask if they've got a cat?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, you can, or a dog.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You can, So you can discriminate on pets. But what's
the fish shock there's a cat, isn't there?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
There is? And that is that as soon as they
move in, they can put in a formal request to
get a pet, and the landlord can't unreasonably withhold consent.
So if you know it's a property that's not got
a body corporate, you're pretty much in the clear to
get that cat over the line. Once you've done.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sorry say that, if you've got a property that doesn't
have a body corporate. What if someone's got Oh hell,
this sadoozy, isn't it. What if what if it's just
obvious they've lied? What what if that's a reason to
somebody had a cat or a dog? We're not going
to have a crack at cats. By the way, I
just mentioned you know the Texter had a cat. So
(23:00):
what if something you've are you allowed to You're allowed
to ask if they've got pets.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You are, So they would have filled out the application
saying that it was true that they don't know what
if it was a lie, the owners would be on
the landlord to prove that. So maybe you could get
a reference from the previous landlord asking if they had
a cat or not. But yeah, the landlord would have
to be able to prove it, and then you would
have to take them to the tenancy tribunal to say
(23:24):
that the application wasn't correct and it has that probably
has not been tested at the tribunal yet, so we
wouldn't be able to say what the outcome would be.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That does make a bit of an ass of the lord,
doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It does. It's definitely a work around there is to
basically apply and then get your new pet right after
you move in, even though it turns off and it's
a seven year old cat.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
That well, I mean I might have a couple of
aggressive attack dogs and I don't have a pet, and
then I go, oh, look I'd like to get a
couple of dogs in and they happen to be well,
you don't know the aggressive until they've eaten the postman,
you know.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, exactly. I mean that's the thing with the new Act.
It does make it easier for tenants to get pets
in terms of a sort of dangerous dog that you
can still decline them if you don't think the dog
is suitable and if it breaches the Dangerous Dogs Act
and things like that. What if you've just got nice carpets,
that's just an unfortunate break for the landlord.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Okay, So if there's a chance of an animal coming
in and they're going to pool all over the place
and ruin the carpets or something, that's still not good
enough grounds. No, is there anything about the value of
the property that might you could say, we're going to
rule it out. You could try what if you had
an artwork, So if you had a sort of a
(24:42):
post In fact, I know that people people who have
got a Marii sort of carving which runs it's a
beam that runs head to foot. To be honest, I
reckon you could say, look, part of the house contains
a very valuable work of art no cat.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, I mean I would recommend that the owner in
that situation would decline the pet application and then it
can go to the tendency tropan or for a rule,
because you can say that the property is not suitable
for a pet and that might pass.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Because who can judge what is and what isn't art? Ah, Yeah,
there we go anyway. Ten eighty What are the good,
the red, and the green flags for a good? Bad,
good or bad tenant? Landlord? Eighty? Josh?
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Hello, Yeah, hey are you Tim?
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Your real estate guy? Sorry, sorry many of you. I
just I'm like another one, hey, but just you know,
thinking about what qualifies people for a rental house, I'm
also thinking about what disqualifies people from renting a house.
(25:49):
I'd imagine combinations of different things. As an example, you know,
if you own cats and small children, I mean, having
cats is almost getting you disqualified. And I think that's
that's quite harsh. A Like, we went from a fun
(26:10):
loving country who allowed rented is to have pets to
a country where if you say you've got cats or pets,
you're probably going to disqualify you how yourself from potential property.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I think there's a Factive might have got wrong there, Josh.
I think that we were more hostile to pets than
we are now. The law has changed to make it difficult.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Not exactly what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So we're more lower now, No, we're more loving. What is.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
St No, I know what you're saying. They changed the rules,
but now it's just it's as simple as just don't
take pets on. It's their choice. They don't, they don't
have to. And I'm very cynical about the bond money.
Why would I pay extra bond money when I've already
paid bond money, Like, is it an exercise to take
(27:04):
one hundred percent to that money off the clients? You're
going to make up the costs upon leewing.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Is that an extra bond for cats? I let Mike
come in on that, Josh.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah. So the landlord can request an extra two weeks
bond for as a pet bond. So that takes the
total for some tenants up to six weeks of a bond,
which is quite It is a big amount for some people,
so you don't have to go all the way up
to the full two weeks. So we have signed some
tenancy agreements recently with only one extra week added, and
that's because we wanted to get the deal over the line. Basically,
(27:35):
in terms of pets, overall, the new legislation will force
more people into having pets, and then hopefully the landlords
will see some of the benefits of allowing a tenant
to have a pet. People with pets stay longer because
they find it harder to get a new rental, So
there are benefits for landlords.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Can the landlord ask to meet the cat or the dog?
We have had a hamster.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Yes they can. And we have had ones where the
landlords have met the dog, and that.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Would be that actually is not a bad idea because
if you meet the dog and y what a sweet
what a sweet dog?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yes, and it's worked. We've had ones where the owners
have gone to the property, met the prospective tenants, met
the dog and said, yep, thumbs up. All good.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Not I mean information is you know as king, isn't it?
Or Queen Ron's waiting. We'll come to you Ron in
just a moment. We've got Mike Atkinson with us. What
are the green what are the flags? Red or green?
A good or bad landlord or tenant? Wight hundred eighty
twenty two minutes to fire News Talk said, be where
with Mike Atkinson talking about finding a good or bad
(28:34):
landlord or tenant. I wait, one hundred eighty ten eighty.
We've got a bunch of texts to get to as well.
But your calls ron, Hello.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
OHI the landlord had properly said it through the years,
so it might wind them. I've had several tenants over
the years and through real estate mainly. Yeah, I used
to render by myself at Yeah, I just find it.
You don't trust tenants, and i'd want one tenant to
(29:05):
sort of mom two kids and she had a dog
as well. I think you are through through a real
estate So anyway, she she did a run army and
almost three thousand dollars at seven hundred dollars in gas
bill that she didn't put her name into.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, could you could you have seen that company coming
or sort of?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
But yeah, I'm going back to the nineties. But yeah,
just a sort of suspect that you might do something.
But yeah, I would never trust trust another one.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You never trust another tenant, no way, No, uh, there
must what there must be a way of sort of
narrowing it down. Wouldn't they to be more being more confident,
I mean otherwise, I mean you could use an argument
about not trusting, to not trusting anyone and just in
general in life.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Yeah, I don't know what. You know, what background she had,
I don't know. I don't know estates.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Did you find her through a real estate letting company?
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Okay, and that I.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Did have it rented through Red White as well. But
when Real White took it over, they were in black Ranger.
I went there one day in the window, no one there.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have you still got Have you still got the property?
Speaker 4 (30:30):
I've still got it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Yeah you should. I'll go to a SPA property management.
What do you think, Mike. I don't want to use
it as a free ad for you, but there you go.
Hang on a second.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yes, we're always looking for new Landloalds. And if you've
tried Barford and Thompson and you've tried Rey White, and
maybe it's time to try the best.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I'll send you the bill tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I think look, actually, Ron, I think that's I mean,
that is a question of you know, you've got to
you've maybe you've just got to find a company that
that finds you a decent tenant. And backs themselves up.
Maybe you do need to look for someone else to
do it, because I don't know something. It's easy to
have a couple of misgivings there, but I don't know.
He's been a landlord for thirty three years and must
(31:11):
have been some good tenants in there as well, I
imagine hopefully.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, well he said that was in the nineties, so
if that's his most recent tenant, then he's doing pretty well.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, okay, Tim, maybe off the subject, but here goes.
If a rental property has a leak and has to
be dried out and redecorated over a month, should the
tenant get a rent rebate for living through that?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yes? Definitely.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And how okay, let's say the rent six hundred bucks
a week and you're having to live through well, not
really having the proper use of your house, what would
that look like?
Speaker 1 (31:43):
They often will sort of measure it based on the
amount of utility of the property that you're no longer
able to use, and then an amount for disruption. So
we've had ones where like the dishwasher wasn't working and
the tribunal has said dropped the rent by forty dollars
for the dishwasher a week, sometimes fifteen dollars a week
for a dishwasher.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Having to do your own that's got a bit at
least one hundred bucks this week.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I agree on that one.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
It's just that funny having to do your own dishes
between having to stack the dishwise. Ah, that's pretty stingy,
isn't it.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yes, some of the times the reductions I think are
actually a bit unfair to the tenants. Like even just
having to put up with all of that repair work
would be quite disruptive.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Actually, I mean I was just thinking if you were
a shift worker like I am, if I was living
in a house and there was a problem, and you know,
I mean literally the difference between getting a decent sleep
or not having the dryers and everything pumping and people
knocking on the door and doing different work. Yeah. Actually,
does that mean that you would always leave that to
the tribune or are you a little bit more reasonable? No?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
We try to organize it directly with the tenant, using
the measuring sticks that we've worked out of what we
think is fair.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
What's the biggest deduction for.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh, just when you can't even live in the there's
times where people can't even live in the property. But yeah,
just it just comes. Some people will be living in
the kitchen basically because they don't want to go to
a motel or something like that. So then they get like,
you know, eighty percent off the rent while the work
is being done.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Well, then they'll probably find a way of living with that,
wouldn't it. It's a bit like when you're living in
a property when it's getting renovated, you put up with
it because well, it's cheaper thing getting another house, which
is luxury. Okay. Another text, I we have pin holes
through the walls that were painted last year, is there
where in tear? If not, can I force them to
repair it all the fixings in the walls? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah, if it's just been freshly painted. The sort of
measuring stick with where in tear is did the damage
occur gradually and or was it sudden? So you could
argue that a thumbtack through a wall was a sudden event,
which makes it damage. So you could ask the tenant
to reinstate that back to how it was when they vacated,
(33:57):
and if they don't agree with your assessment, then you
could go to the tenancy tribunal. To get them to
rule on that.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Could they just say, well, tell us what the color
of the wall allers in our painter.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
They get enough? Yep, they could do that. You can
take a pragmatic approach to I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
That okay, So when a new tenant moves into a property,
would would it just be best to say, look, I
want to hang some paintings, what are your rules about?
You know? Because I mean sometimes you know those sticky things.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
The three hooks are the way to go.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But sometimes they can rip paint off walls when they
come off, so that's.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
They can when people don't know how to take them
off properly. Like my fiance she took them down and
try r this weekend and pulled them off and took
the paint.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
But even then, you know how you can pull them
and stretch them and it sort of gives way. Sometimes
the last bit will go I'm going to tear the
wall paper.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yes, I mean on that drawing pin issue. It's probably
better if you've had a tenant they've been good, Just
move on with the If there's only a couple of
holes in the walls, it's probably better to just say
thanks for being a tenant. We got the rent. Everything
else is fine.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Are you what about the rules? Say, for instance, if
I as a tenant and I put a hole through
some dry wall because I was trying to put a
shelf anyway, I'd be patching it myself and everything. What
sort of standard of workmership is acceptable. I'm a fantastic
plaster at DIY, I like to think, but it might
not be up to the standard of the landlord.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, so it needs to be up to a reasonable
standard basically. So we have had tenants before where they've
done that, They've made some damage to the walls, and
then they've gone and done They've made it even worse
by trying to do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, it is a degree of difficulty where the pulse
does get up a little bit. Okay, here's another Texas
before we the out of the property of the week High.
We're just going through that. Our tenants signed the contract
two years ago, no pets our property at the agency
took inspection photos as usual usual we noticed kitty litters
and aquariums. Ha We talked to the agency looking after
(35:49):
a home and contract was no pets. Tenants decided to
move out two weeks. Rent does not cover, replacing carpet,
et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, it's about an agency letting
them down. But actually, if a tenant just moves in
a pet without asking, what's the rule there?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, so that's in to breach of the RTA if
they don't have permission to have the pet. So you
can then go after the tenant for the damage that
has been caused by the pets because they weren't permitted
on the property. In terms of the agent letting them down,
if the agent has just seen these photos for the
first time as well, there's nothing that the property manager
can do to stop someone from bringing in a cat.
(36:25):
We can just take the right steps once they've got
the cat and get rid of it.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Hey, just out of curiosity, what are the rules at
the end of a tendency? In fact, it was something
I wanted to talk about in a bit more detail,
but we're run out of time. But at the end
of a tendancy, say, if you've you know, you had
the responsibility of mow the lawns, how how do you
ascertain whether the leading agency has got a reasonable quote?
And the reason I mentioned is because I got a
quote for cleaning some carpet and a couch and a
(36:51):
couple of chairs, And one company, which clearly does a
lot of insurance work, wanted to charge sixteen hundred dollars
and most other companies were three hundred dollars. What if
I was a tenant and you got a quote from
this company for cleaning the carpet, and it came and
it's some ridiculous amount. Where's the reasonableness coming.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Well, if you're the tenant on the way out, it's
best to get those things done yourself and then you
have total control over the costs. But if you do
have a property manager that tries to hit you up
for an exorbitant bill after the tendancy, you can go
to the tribunal and one of the things the adjudicators
do is they have like a price book of everything
and they will set the compensate the payment back to
(37:29):
a reasonable amount.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Do you have a copy of that price book?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
You say no, they seem it's something that they keep it.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
It's quite a wouldn't they share it with you? Then
you can save all this tenant to be like here's
the book.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yes, it would be a lot easier if there was
just sort of some defined rules.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
They're preserving their judicial discretion. Anyway, Hey, look we're going
to be back and just particularly one roof properly. The
week is next and I think by looking at it,
it would confirm that my producer has the same crush
on Queenstown property that I do. Because this is a
gorgeous looking property and frankly I would like it. So
I'm not sure if the fifteen million dollars on Lotto
(38:04):
to Nat'll do it, but I'll share it with you
in just a moment nine and a half minutes to five.
The one roof property of the week on the weekend Collective, Yes,
and the one roof property of the week is an
absolute ripper. It's I'll give you the address, seven Forest
Lines Rise, Ben Lomond, Queenstown. Six six bedrooms is it
(38:29):
ten bathrooms? That's not a TYPEO ten bathrooms, eleven car
garage and the house is okay. The house is just
under twelve hundred square meters. It's eighty five square meters
the land of three point one to nine hectares. It
was built well, it's new twenty twenty six, an extraordinary
six bedroom residents. It's a private gated estate, just ten
(38:52):
minutes from Queenstown's vibrant CBD, setting an expanse of thirty
one thousand square meters of pristine land. I'm going to
hand it over to Mike to describe it. This one,
and I always love the homstamate. I don't know how
much you'd have to win for lotto. What do you think, Mike,
how would you describe this to a future tenant? Would
they allow cats? Hang on a second, there we go.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
I think you might need to win lotto twice to
get this house. I didn't even realize houses of the
standard were actually being built.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
It's amazing, yeah, I mean it's it's almost like it's
camouflaged as well. You look down from on top it
looks like on the roof it has gardens sort of
growing as well, and the views right around Lake Wakatupou.
I mean, it is absolutely stunning. And I missed the
bit where it talks about price, so I need to
go back to that because what is the property value
(39:43):
on that one?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Do you think it's got to be like thirty five
million or something.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
I don't think. I don't think we can get a
read on the price. I don't think. But anyway, look
it's worth just having a look at it because you know,
often from these I'd love to get it. Wouldn't you
love to go to an open home and just have
a wander through.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I would love to go and have a look at
that house. It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
How would you dress if you were going to the
open home, you see, because I would not want them
to know that I was a pauper.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, a suit or something would be of sufficient.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I guess, yeah, maybe that might look like you drive anyway,
But it is an absolutely stunning house and it's the
sort of thing as I say, I think the powerball
is what is it? Fifteen million? And I to be honest,
I don't think you get any change out of that.
I think you'd still end up with a mortgage. But
if you're if you want to go and have a
look at and it also it's great to look at
some of these properties just from some design ideas, but yeah,
(40:37):
the panoramic views from the bedroom as well and totally
glass surroundings and it just absolutely magnificence. So you have
to make it the property of the week. And as
I say, that is what's the address? Seven Forest Lines Rise? Hey,
great to see you again, Mike.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Thank you for having me now.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I look forward to hearing about your successful purchase of
that property. Anyway, you go to a Spark Property Management
to check out Mike's work property. Their parents quite as
next with John Cown, News Talk ZEDB for more from
the weekend collective. Listen live to news Talk ZEDB weekends
(41:18):
from three pm, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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