Call to end eviction, rent freeze
It is time for Government to lift restrictions on the rental market imposed because of Covid-19, the Real Estate Institute says.
On March 24, before New Zealand went into alert level 4 lockdown, the Government introduced emergency changes to protect tenants.
Rents were frozen for an initial period of six months, until September 25.
Tenancies could not be ended – except in exceptional circumstances – until at least June 25. Tenants who had received or given notice to end their tenancies could stay in their rental properties.
Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell said it had been important to protect tenants from rental increases and ensure no one was left homeless during the lockdown, but the situation had since moved on ‘‘dramatically’’.
‘‘With no active cases of Covid-19 in the country and 20 days in a row of no new cases, therefore, we would argue that the emergency legislation has served its purpose and should be ended immediately, or at the latest by June 26, which was the end of the initial three-month period,’’ Norwell said.
‘‘Now the legislation is doing more harm than good and a number of negative stories have been appearing in the media to this effect. Additionally, we’ve had examples from our members where tenants are seriously in arrears with rent . . . delays in securing a tribunal hearing are only exacerbating the situation.
‘‘One recent example is a landlord selling their rental property due to financial hardship. The purchaser of the property required vacant settlement; however, the owner has been unable to provide this due to the emergency legislation.
‘‘Now the owner is having to pay penalties in the region of $20,000 until they can provide a vacant property to the purchaser. The mortgage ‘holiday’ scheme does not cover these sorts of issues and the entire process is costing them financially and of course adding to their stress.’’,
Norwell said she was told of another couple who had lost their jobs because of Covid, could not afford a rental property and were stuck in a property without heating or shower because they could not ask their tenants to leave.
‘‘We appreciate that it may have been difficult for the Government to have foreseen the extent of the negative impact of the emergency legislation on landlords and tenants when the legislation was first implemented. However, the consequences have now become clear in the past weeks, which is why REINZ is calling on the Government to bring these emergency provisions to an end immediately,’’ she said.
A Housing and Urban Development Ministry spokesman said Government was in the process of making its decision on whether to extend tenancy terminations and would make an announcement when it was finalised.
‘‘The Government is aware of the importance of letting landlords and tenants know about the future of tenancy terminations, so they can to begin making decisions and plans for the second half of the year as to their businesses and accommodation needs.
‘‘The rent increase freeze applies for an initial period of six months – from March 26 to September 25. At the end of this period, the government will evaluate whether rent increase freezes need to be extended.’’