Landlords’ obstacles

Re Rosemary McLeod’s column London’s fire sprang from landlord logic (June 23), I have been a residential landlord in Wellington since 1990.

She asks why landlords don’t take up the government subsidy to insulate houses? It’s because we have to have low-income tenants or beneficiaries in our rentals to qualify.

This may not sit comfortably with Ms McLeod but a high proportion of these tenants are very bad payers.

The accommodation subsidies are paid directly to the tenant. Even if the tenant doesn’t pay rent to the landlord, they still get the subsidy. It is never assigned direct to the landlord.

When rental arrears accrue the Tenancy Tribunal makes an order for the tenant to pay. Then that judgment just sits in a landlord’s file. Judgments are nearly impossible to enforce.

Perhaps Ms McLeod could use her research skills to see how many applications to the Tenancy Tribunal are for rental arrears. She will find it is more than 90 per cent each year.

Ms McLeod has completed a house renovation. If she is so concerned with the housing shortage why did she not use her surplus funds to buy a flash rental for all the homeless people she likes to comment on, or at the very least offer a couple of rooms in her renovated home to the homeless. ROBYN GREEN Island Bay [abridged]