Property managers call for more information
The Government’s announcement that rental property managers will be regulated has left the industry asking for more detail, and tenants calling for landlords to be regulated too.
Regulating property managers was one of the Labour Party’s campaign promises in the last election, because the industry is not currently regulated.
Earlier this year the Government proposed a licensing scheme for them, and yesterday Housing Minister Megan Woods announced a new regulatory system for the industry.
It would involve compulsory registration and licencing for both individual property managers and their organisations, training and entry requirements, practise standards, and a complaints and disciplinary process, which would be administered by the Real Estate Authority (REA).
With the Real Estate Authority set to be the regulator of the industry, it was not clear whether that would mean that all property managers would have to join the Real Estate Institute, Residential Property Managers Association chairman David Pearse said.
‘‘If so, that could be a big step back for the industry, as we are currently looking at setting higher standards for property managers than there is under the institute.’’
Property Brokers general manager of property management David Faulkner said regulation was hugely important for the industry, was the right thing to do, and offered better protection for consumers. ‘‘It will mean there will be less and less property managers who are prepared to take the risk of managing noncompliant rental properties. It will lead to more compliant properties, and it will benefit tenants.
‘‘We are still a relatively amateur industry, and this gives us the chance to become more professional.’’
But he would like more detail around industry entry requirements because the better educated a property manager was the better they would perform, he said.
‘‘It has been a long journey to get to this point, and, with an election next year, it is important the National Party supports this too. I understand they want more detail before they agree to anything.’’
Private landlords who managed their own property were a large part of the rental sector, and they should be regulated too, Renters United president Geordie Rogers said.
But Property Investors Federation vice-president Peter Lewis said it was appropriate that self-managing property owners would not be subject to regulation. It was not suitable for the New Zealand market at this stage, and the federation had created its own landlord education programme, which it was using to upskill its members on all aspects of the business, he said. ‘‘More generally, we are in favour of property managers being regulated because they handle other people’s money, and there should be checks and balances around that.
‘‘Regulation is not a cure-all for the industry though, and nor is it a guarantee of good behaviour.’’