STUFF
René Simonis was paying $180 a week for a house on the site of Waikato s former Candyland, but a proposed rent increase started him investigating whether it was up to spec.
A threatened stampede of landlords leaving the residential property market has failed to eventuate. The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act (RTAA) passes into law on February 11. Under the new law, landlords can no longer issue 90-day ‘no cause’ termination notices and fixed term tenancies will automatically roll over to periodic tenancies on expiry unless otherwise agreed. Rent increases have been limited to once a year, rental bidding has been outlawed, and landlords have to allow tenants to make minor alterations (such as baby-proofing, hanging pictures, and earthquake proofing) to their rental.
“There’s enough there to have a closer look at the sector, it affects a lot of people up and down the country.”
Demand for rental accommodation meant more competition for properties, making applicants feel pressured to provide personal information that went beyond what was required by landlords, he said.
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards is looking into the information that landlords are asking of applicants, and what they’re doing with it. Landlords could legitimately collect personal information to select a tenant, such as proof of identity or whether they had any pets, and to determine if they could pay the rent. However, other information about a tenant’s nationality, marital status, gender or banking history were almost never justified.
What landlords say about bad tenant blacklist after complaints to Privacy Commissioner
4 Feb, 2021 04:30 AM
4 minutes to read
Landlords have responded to Privacy Commissioner John Edwards hitting out at some of them for holding tenant blacklists and requiring more information than is legal. Edwards announced he will focus on the collection, retention and disclosure of information by landlords and property management agencies after his office received many complaints.
Sharon Cullwick, executive officer New Zealand Property Investors Federation, said bad tenant or blacklists were not a fair or transparent way to find out tenant details because they were one-sided and could unfairly keep someone out of the market because of inaccuracies.