Govt to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants
Law this year will fulfil National’s pledge to reinstate ‘no-cause’ evictions
Landlords will shortly regain the ability to easily end a tenancy without citing a specific reason, as the Government moves to fulfil a pledge to reinstate “no-cause” evictions.
Cabinet has made policy decisions on its promised tenancy reforms. Legislation is being drafted for introduction next month and is set to be passed by the end of the year. It will roll back many of the changes brought in during the first term of the former Labour-led Government.
In the case of reinstating no-cause evictions, it will mean NZ First voting to repeal legislation it helped pass just four years ago, although at the time it noted its disquiet at banning nocause evictions.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the changes were “pro-tenant”, arguing that making it more attractive to be a landlord would drive investment into the sector, boosting supply and generating competition for tenants, keeping a lid on rapidly rising rents.
“The previous Government waged a war on landlords. Many landlords told us this caused them to exit the rental market altogether,” Bishop said.
“It caused worse outcomes for tenants: Rents up by $170 per week since 2017, the social housing waitlist increasing by about 20,000 families and thousands of families living in emergency housing motels.
“We’ve heard from many landlords that, without the backstop of 90-day no-cause terminations, they were unwilling to take a chance on a tenant who may, for example, not have perfect references or a steady 9-to5 job.”
Act backed the changes, with leader David Seymour saying “when one Kiwi offers another Kiwi a place to live, both are better off”.
“Landlords want to make a fair return on helping another person with a place to live and tenants want a choice of affordable places to live. But when we skew the delicate balance of rights and obligations between landlord and tenant, both sides suffer,” Seymour said.
Labour housing spokesman Kieran McAnulty said the changes were “same old, same old from National”.
“These changes, alongside bringing back interest deductibility, will make it harder for renters and first-home buyers. Nothing tangible that will see more houses built, just increasing the competition on existing housing stock instead of building more homes,” he said.
Greens housing spokeswoman Tamatha Paul said the changes would mean “a lot of people will be getting kicked out of their homes for unfair reasons”.
“It reinforces to renters that the homes they’re living in are not theirs.”
At present, a landlord can end a periodic tenancy only if they have a specific termination ground like demolishing the property or doing extensive renovation. Returning to no-cause terminations will mean landlords can end periodic tenancies without giving any grounds if they give the tenant 90 days’ notice.
The Government is making other changes too. Currently, landlords must give 63 days’ notice to end a periodic tenancy when the owner or their family wants to return to live in the home or if the property is needed for an employee. They must give 90 days’ notice to end the tenancy if the property has been sold with a requirement to vacate it.
Both of those notice periods will be shortened to 42 days.
Landlords will also be able to end fixed-term tenancies without giving specific grounds. Currently, such a tenancy automatically converts to a