I recently won a bottle of wine from illion the credit checking firm that members have access to. I posted a picture of the gift on our Facebook page. I hope you read all about it there. Illion replied to my email to them about several issues I asked them about. This is their reply. “We have recently been working with Sue Harrison and Jan Hains from the NZPIF on educating NZPIF members on how they can share their experiences with their good and bad tenants on our national tenancy database. We recently built these new 2-3 minute tutorial videos that they are going to upload on to the Members ar ..read more

I recently was credit and reference checking a tenancy application and came across this recent tribunal judgement. No one can say they were not warned. From personal experience I can assure you that guinea pig urine is way worse than dog urine. It cannot be removed and any claim for replacement of the damaged carpet will be depreciated despite depreciation not being permitted by IRD. Perhaps something you can ask Blair about since it was National that removed depreciation from all properties but Labour restored it for commercial properties. Here is the interesting judgement. I have not include ..read more

I found this article recently and thought it worth repeating. Readers might be interested to hear that the IRD wrote to all property investor groups offering to speak at our meetings re the new tax laws explaining Brightline and Interest deductibility. When the invitation was accepted by more than one association, they reversed their offer on the basis of covid risks. To bad I can not use the same excuse when it comes to paying tax. Accountants provide simple answer to brightline test Members of Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee have been taken on a deep dive into the complexities ..read more

IT WOULD BE NICE IF THIS YEAR WAS BETTER THAN LAST YEAR BUT ON THE BASIS OF WHAT WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR THAT DOES NOT SEEM LIKELY. In the last week rental providers have been accused of using a loop hole in the tax system. Yes the government has copied the English tax system that does not permit interest deductibility. The English media considers that move a failure because it hurt more people than it helped. It is about time those in power in New Zealand figured we are not a little island off the English coast. The last thing we need in our country is a society like the UK. When experts in Treas ..read more

The following has been compiled by Glenn Morris of the Nelson Property Investors Association What date do the amendments take effect? 11th Feb 2021 If you have an antisocial tenant, what evidence must you have, to apply to the tribunal for eviction? Three notices given of antisocial behaviour within 90 days. The notice must specifically describe the behaviour, who engaged in the behaviour (if known to the landlord), the date, the approximate time and location of the behaviour and how many other notices have been given. It must advice the tenant that they can challenge the notice in the Tribuna ..read more

The following is an abbreviated version of the Act compiled by Glenn Morris of the Nelson Property Investors Association. Landlords and tenants should not rely solely on this because there are many other very significant changes that if ignored or not followed correctly will result in significant penalties or lost rent and bonds. The Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill 2020 received Royal Assent on 11th August 2020 and is now law. Here are the details. After almost two years since the controversial tenancy law reform has been announced, the new law has passed and certainly re-wr ..read more

The proposed amendment states that the current act came into force 30 years ago in 1986. What is not said is that in 1986 at that time New Zealand had an iconic Labour leader David Lange and Roger Douglas was loose on the market. That government was re elected in 1987. It marked the first time that a Labour Government had been re elected to a second term since 1938. In 1987 there was a terrible world share market crash and thousands of New Zealanders lost their jobs. I know I was one of them. So history is repeating itself! Huge terrible changes to the rental laws as we know them are going to ..read more

A landlord or property manager is legally entitled to inspect a rental property every four weeks. This may not be feasible but other opportunities to see inside a rental unit are available such as when maintenance work is being carried out. An outside look at a property can give you a general idea of how the tenants are treating the unit and also whether other people are also in residence if say children’s toys etc. are permanently outside when the couple renting have no children, pet bowls when no pets are allowed, more cars parked there than should be necessary for the people renting. No not ..read more

Court litigation can be time consuming, expensive, and emotionally draining. Most disputes can be settled by bringing the ongoing problem to the forefront by sitting down with a mediator and being able to talk freely but in strict confidence and without prejudice. Parties to a dispute need to sometimes bring all matters to the table with assurances of confidentiality and without prejudicing their case. It gives all the opportunity to bring the matter to the forefront rather than wait for trial and to pay continuing costs of litigation. Parties know that if the matter is not settled at mediatio ..read more

I do enjoy hearing and communicating with many of you. I have seen my share of happy and less than happy property investors over the years. Not that all PI’s selling are unhappy. A few months ago I got an angry sounding email from an out of town member who had joined only 12 months previously. They said they were selling due to the actions of the current Government and also made some bad comments about their property manager. But then recently a number of new people have paid to join saying they have purchased properties and want to know how to go about choosing tenants, and so forth. Like do ..read more