Rental managers fear for safety

Changes meaning landlords can no longer give tenants 90 days’ notice without due cause could jeopardise people’s safety and clog up the Tenancy Tribunal, property managers warn.

Proposed changes to tenancy laws were announced on Sunday to give renters more security. They include the end to landlord’s ability to end a lease without cause. Tenants can challenge the reason at the Tenancy Tribunal, where landlords must provide evidence to back their case.

However, David Pearse, president of the Property Managers Institute of New Zealand, said he did not believe landlords were misusing the 90-day notice provision. In 20 years of property management, he said he had never heard of a landlord randomly changing a tenant as it was a lot of work to do so. ‘‘There is always a reason behind a 90-day notice being issued by a landlord and the Government will need to review and upgrade the Tenancy

Tribunal process to cope with the influx of landlord applications.’’

David Faulkner, a former property manager, said he had no problem with other changes such as healthy homes and limiting rent increases, but the end of the ‘‘no cause’’ 90-day notice was a major issue. It was rarely used, usually to remove a tenant whom property managers or landlords felt threatened by.

But the new changes required landlords or property managers to provide proof, which was sometimes hard to get, especially in remote regions.

‘‘For example, a few years ago you had two property managers shot and killed up in Northland . . . and this guy was a loner, out in the middle of the sticks, and I suspect those two property managers knew he was a risk.

‘‘For me, how are you going to get three cases of evidence when you’re dealing with extreme cases like this and have it be able to be proven in [the] Tenancy Tribunal on the balance of probabilities? To me it’s a real health and safety issue which has not been taken into consideration.’’

Faulkner said property managers faced intimidating behaviour ‘‘all the time’’. He knew of one property manager who had had their office set fire to after giving a tenant notice and another who was threatened with bricks through their window. ‘‘These are the things that don’t get reported. Police typically don’t get involved because it’s a civil issue.’’

The Real Estate Institute agreed it was a concern if the Tenancy Tribunal was deluged with extra cases.

‘‘The current wait time for a tribunal hearing is around six weeks, and our concern is that this could stretch out even longer, causing further damage to a landlord’s property in the meantime or further stress for neighbours having to deal with anti-social behaviour,’’ chief executive Bindi Norwell said.

Robert Whitaker, of tenants’ advocacy group Renters United, said large numbers of New Zealanders were now renters, and very few behaved badly. ‘‘The vast majority of tenants are nice, lawabiding people who pay their rent on time and look after the house.’’