Paying for presents, not rent

Some South Canterbury renters chose to pay for presents, instead of paying rent, during the festive season.

Timaru Budget Advisory Trust has six renters on its books who have not paid rent for up to four weeks.

South Canterbury Property Investors Association president Kerry Beveridge said he knew of multiple tenants who had not paid their rent for one or more weeks during the festive season.

Trust co-ordinator Don Macfarlane said it was not unusual for people to get behind with their rental payments or power bills during the festive season as they paid for presents or other items instead.

He had two new clients, as of Wednesday, who had missed at least a week’s rent.

‘‘Of the six, only one appears to have made a deliberate choice to spend the rent money,’’ Macfarlane said.

‘‘The others have fallen foul of not keeping a close enough eye on their ins and outs from the bank, which are made more complicated over the holiday period with benefits and wages being paid at different times.’’

One of the trust’s clients had missed four weeks’ worth of rent, while another had missed three and two other renters had missed two.

Missing an automatic payment automatically triggered a dishonour fee of $15 to $25, with some banks charging an additional unauthorised overdraft fee, he said.

For people who were living hand to mouth, it often meant there were insufficient funds the following week, creating a vicious cycle, Macfarlane said.

He wanted people to know the trust could try to help people who had fallen behind with their payments or were having a hard time financially after Christmas.

‘‘No judgment,’’ Macfarlane said.

February 1 was when he suggested people should start putting money aside for the following Christmas, so they were not caught out.

Beveridge said he had four different tenants who were making different payment arrangements after they missed some rental payments.

‘‘Some forget that rent needs to be paid over Christmas,’’ Beveridge said.

While some tenants had not received the amount of holiday pay they expected, others had left the area over the festive season without paying their rent, he said.

‘‘In my experience, multiple tenants’ rent hasn’t come as the usual amount or as regularly.’’

He had a tenant who had missed multiple payments during the festive season.

The Christmas period could be a challenging time for tenants, especially when they got an unexpected bill or fee.

It could be quite straightforward to get rent off some tenants, but it depended on their ‘‘motivation and ability’’.

People’s choices could make it an issue, particularly if they decided to prioritise ‘‘other things’’ before rent, he said.

While he personally had not had to go to the Tenancy Tribunal, it was not unheard of in the association.

The Tenancy Tribunal figures for South Canterbury tenants were not available on Wednesday.

The majority were fantastic tenants, it would be less than 10 per cent who had created issues, he said.

‘‘The general rule is tenants and landlords get along pretty well.’’

Unfortunately, the ‘‘out of the ordinary’’ tenants appeared to stick in people’s memory, Beveridge said.