The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024 will now make it harder for landlords to refuse tenant pet requests without a good reason, but an extra to-week bond may be requested.
Criticism has arisen from landlords who don't want to allow pets, and others who concerned about the lack of clarity on what is considered 'reasonable'.
But, David Seymour told Matt and Tyler that he is not concerned about tenant behaviour in regard to the new rules.
"People that are animal lovers are generally good to humans as well, so you might be opening up, a whole market of really great tenants," Seymour said.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
So actively to. David Seymour says new pet born rules
coming into force today deliver on an act promise to
fix a problem facing thousands of KEI we renters. David
Seymour is on the line right now. Very good afternoon
to you, David.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hey you, good afternoon now.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
David. How do you expect the Tendency Tribune on to
interpret reasonable grounds in these cases?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, you've got to have a reason, and it's got
to be something that stacks up with a bit of
common sense. If, for example, it was an apartment block
and there was someone right next door who was really
badly allergic to a pet, then you could maybe understand
that say okay, well, look, a reasonable person would say
that's not quite right. If it was a property that,
(01:03):
for example, had some sort of crazily sensitive carpet or
fittings or something you knew that even the goodest boy
ever was just going to mol and destroy, then you know,
you might say that's reasonable. I'm not trying to sort
of make the law on ZD, but you can kind
of think how actually this is not too hard key
with a generally sensible people and they'll get to good results.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
You talk about pets here. When we talk about pets,
is that what if someone says five cats, I've got
five cats, let's go.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, Well that's exactly it. I mean, I've always worried
that your life would go on this trajectory, and it
seems that you going even faster than i'd fear it.
But look, I mean again, they're going to make a
judgment call. I think what's important is right now, the
status quo is no. So if you talk to the
people up at pet Refuge, they take people in if
they're being abused and their pets are being blackmailed, you
(01:55):
know that they're going to hurt the pet to try
and control the victim of domestic abuse. You know, these
guys are jumping up and down about this because they
can see an exit plan for people who are victims
of domestic abuse. If you look at people have pets,
you know the tenants having markets still tough for younger people.
They're really excited about this. So what we're really doing
is creating possibility. The government is saying, look, here's a
(02:18):
framework you can use to take advantage of that possibility
was right Now the default is know that so many
people and that's a massive shift.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Now, of course, you can't force people to take on
a tenant, So how do you check that the person
is rejecting not rejecting. So basically, you've got two people.
One of them's got three cats, one of them's got
no cats. You as a land or just happen to
pick the other person. You may be rejecting them because
of the cats, But how do you know.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, you're right, We're not here to force people. We're
here to create win wins. That's what we're all about.
I just you know, try and take a sonny re
view of the world generally. But the thing about the
two weeks bond, that is there to give an incentive
and give the peace of mind. So you know, you say, okay, look,
I've always been worried about this, but now I know
I can take two weeks, rent an additional bond for
any damage a pet might create and so you know,
(03:09):
any natural bias that might be there, you kind of
cancel that out.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
There's been a couple of texts already, David, and granted
it's just a text and there's no proof there but
from landlord saying because of this, they're going to get
out of the game. You think they're just hottier.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's crazy. You know, the amount
of damage that could potentially done is going to be
covered by the bond. The number of potential tenants that
you can have as great. And I may be a
bit biased, but you know, I think on balance, people
that are animal lovers are generally good to humans as well,
so you might be opening up a whole market of
(03:47):
really great tenants.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
So in New Zealand, Now, should it be assumed that
this is the default, that allowing allowing a pet into
a rental is the default position?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yep. So if you've got if you've got your reasons,
you know to do it. At the end of the day,
if you don't want to accept someone who's an applicant,
you've got a whole lot of applicants, it's a busy market,
then you take the person you want to. You've you've
got that right, absolutely. But what we've done is we've
opened up that possibility and I think possibility is a
wonderful work.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
All right, Thank you so much for your time. Now,
I will just push back a little bit on something
you said earlier. When I was a kid growing up
on the farm, we had five cats, and so I'm
going the other way. I now have no cats. Explained
so much, Matt, I'm on the trajectory away from a
crazy old cat man.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You've just got one small.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
World now, I'm look. I think everyone should just be
pleased and proud of who they aren't. Don't let people
judge or make you feel small.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Beautifully, said David. Hey, really great, davey On, thank you
so much for your time. We'll catch up again. So
there is egg party leader, David. See you more.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
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