All About Your Tenancy!
We are so happy to have you as our tenants and hope that we are able to help with, guide you through, and resolve any issues that may arise. Feel free to refer back to this page whenever you have questions about your tenancy but if you do have any questions that are not answered here, simply email your dedicated Property Manager and they will be able to help you.
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Introductions
Hopefully, you have met your Property Manager by now. They are your first point of contact for anything and everything relating to your property and tenancy.
You will also occasionally hear from the accounts admin for water billing or rent arrears.
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Rent arrears
Rent is to be paid a week in advance. It is like paying for a traditional parking meter. You pay for the park and then you use the park for the time you have paid. The same goes for rent in NZ. You pay a week ahead, and then live in it for the week. If you pay one day late, you are in fact in arrears of 1 week (not 1 day). That is because, as mentioned, you must pay rent at least one week in advance.
If you are 1-5 days late, you will receive texts, emails and/or calls once a day until you have paid rent.
On the 5th day, if you are still late and have not made contact with us, we will send you a 14 day notice.
If after 14 days, you are still in arrears, we will be applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
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Water Billing​
If your tenancy is being charged for water, please note that invoices will be sent to you from us. You must pay your portion to us according to our invoice. You have 14 days to pay this bill.
After 14 days and your water bill is not paid to us, we will send you a 14 day notice.
If the 14 day notice expires, we will be applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
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Expectations
It's really important to know that landlords are expected to provide a property in a reasonably clean and tidy condition. We do our absolute best to hold our landlords to this. We also expect that you, as our tenants, will honour your home and keep it in a reasonably clean and tidy condition as well; even more so when the tenancy has ended. We will be comparing the pre inspection to all your routine inspections as well as the final inspection to ensure that we are maintaining the condition of the home. Any discrepancies will be addressed.
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Keys
Feel free to make copies of the keys, but please ensure that all copies provided to you and any copies made by you are returned to us at the end of the tenancy. For most houses, we keep a lock box on site for ourselves and in case of emergencies. We will not be giving you access to this lock box unless absolutely necessary.
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Changes to the property
If you want to make changes to the property, please, pretty please, let your Property Manager know. A landlord cannot say "no" to minor changes such as wanting to hang pictures or TV etc but we do ask that you let your Property Manager know first. Please also know that it will be your responsibility to fill/patch/paint holes if you do make some in order to hang pictures/TV.
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Utilities
We hope that you have made contact with your utility companies. Renti should have been in touch about this. If you need some help with that, please don't hesitate to get in touch with your Property Manager. They might have some ideas.​
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Inspections
We have conducted a pre inspection of the property. If you would like a copy and have not already received it, please contact your Property Manager for this.
Routine inspections will occur for most properties every 3 months from your tenancy start date. Some properties might be every 6 months however. If you want to know your frequency, please simply ask your Property Manager, otherwise, don't worry, they will definitely be in touch. We will often give our tenants a weeks notice of our inspections. The minimum notice is 48 hours notice, but of course we want to give you more time to prepare. There is no need to be present at inspections as we will have made copies of keys to access the property for inspections.
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Maintenance
If you notice any maintenance issues, please do not hesitate to email your Property Manager. They will do their best to work with the landlord to remedy what they can. Any contractors organised will be given your details to make contact with you for any work needing done. This is to ensure that you are well notified. If you cannot meet a contractor for their work at your home because you are out, we can also provide the contractor a key. Please let the contractor know if that is the case.
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Urgent Maintenance
Urgent maintenance includes: burst pipes, heavy leaks, electrical hazards, pretty much anything that could be a health and safety risk to yourself and anything that could compromise the condition of the home if not remedied immediately. In this case, it is important to call your Property Manager on their phone. If you are not getting through quickly enough, please call 022 400 7877 or 022 159 7441.
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Burst Pipe
This is actually a common urgent maintenance issue. Please note that the first thing you need to do is locate the water meter mains and switch it off - "righty tighty, lefty loosey". Turn it all the way to the right and this should stop the water supply. In the meant time, contact your Property Manager.
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Landlord vs Tenant Responsibility
If you, your occupants or your guests cause any damage to the home, please know that is your responsibility to fix. Do let your Property Manager know about it before organising the fix as some landlords may have insurance which can cover tenant damage and you simply have to pay the excess amount. Excess amount can be located on your Tenancy Agreement.
If a chattel or something in the home needs repair that broke on its own, this is likely to be the landlord's responsibility. Contact your Property Manager so they can determine the cause and the responsibility.
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Notice periods
If you're on a periodic tenancy, and would like to end your tenancy, you are able to give 21 days notice minimum in writing. Landlords are able to give you 42 days notice if they're moving in and 90 days notice with no cause. Please note that this does not apply to fixed term tenancies. Do check your Tenancy Agreement.
If however you have experienced any domestic violence and would like to leave your tenancy because of this, you are able to give a minimum of 2 days notice.
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Also note that fixed term tenancies roll over to periodic at the "end date" if they are not renewed or if notice has not been given to end.
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Breaking fixed terms
If you are on a fixed term tenancy and are not able to complete your fixed term agreement, do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We are here to help and can understand that some situations just cannot be helped. Please note that we charge a $600 break fee and also you must pay rent up until we find a new tenant.
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End of Tenancy
At the end of a tenancy, we will need to do a final inspection in order to determine if you have indeed returned the property to us in a similar condition that you were given. We also need to calculate your water meter consumption which depends on the last water bill. This is not a quick process as you can see. Once it is confirmed that you have returned the property in a similar condition and your last water portion finalised, your Property Manager will let the landlord know and a bond form will be filled out and sent to you. Once you fill it out and send it back to the Property Manager, it will be lodged and your refund will be in process. It typically takes 10 working days for Bond Centre to refund bonds, but sometimes it takes longer.
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Tenancy Law
Did you know that if you have any questions about tenancy law, or get advise from someone who is not us, you can find out on the tenancy services website tenancy.govt.nz or call them on 0800 TENANCY.
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At the end of the day...
Please contact your Property Manager. They will not bite and are happy to help.
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Get in touch today!
