Housing crisis 2

I have been reading a lot about the housing crisis in New Zealand and the latest is there is more housing to be built. I have been a landlord for about 20 years and when the Tenancy Tribunal came in it was a very good thing for both the landlord and the tenant. Nowadays, however, it is more and more becoming more favourable to the tenant. The law, as it stands, is very hard on landlords and I am not surprised that many people are opting to turn their rental properties into Airbnb listings rather than the hassle of renting to tenants who can ‘‘get away with murder’’ in a rented property. As an example, the law now states that a landlord has to give a tenant four months’ notice if they wish to evict them. That is absolutely unworkable. Three months was bad enough. Can you imagine the amount of so-called ‘‘accidental’’ damage a tenant could inflict on a property in that time? I understand that the government runs rental housing at a loss, whereas private landlords are in business to make a profit.

Can I suggest that the government consider making some of the laws concerning private rental properties more favourable to the landlords and more people might consider returning some of those AirBnB’s back into rental properties again.

I have had some serious issues with tenants in recent years who have gotten away with some destructive behaviour because it has been deemed ‘‘accidental’’ or ‘‘normal wear and tear’’. It seems tenants are not being made to leave a property in the condition it was found in as the above adjectives could be applied to almost any situation. I had a hole in

our two-year old carpet the size of a tennis ball, which was obviously a burn made by some round object and it was deemed accidental so the tenant was not required to contribute a single cent to its repair.

How about returning more protection back to the landlords to protect their asset. We have not got a bottomless pit of money like the government has.

Trish Oh

Hamilton