Friday 20th of June 2008

One thing all property investors and landlords should be aware of now is the long-winded re-write of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

As, hopefully, all landlords know the RTA is the bible for how to manage your rentals and sets the rules around what tenants and landlords can do.

The RTA rewrite has been a torturous process. It started eight years ago and nearly got derailed last year when another competing bill was presented to Parliament – but then withdrawn.

The final bill is 67 pages long and tough reading.

What has been fascinating is that although this is the central book of instructions for landlords, very few have seen the bill which has been presented back from the select committee. And even organisations you would expect to have read it, such as the National Party housing spokesman, hadn't done so when the NZ Property Investor magazine first contacted them.

One of the most contentious items in the bill is the issue of making tenants liable for only four weeks of rent for any damage.

Feedback so far is that this is far too low and that it is not something the officials discussed with the industry reference group which was consulted about the changes.

Another change is that rental property owners must appoint an agent if they are going to be out of the country for more than 21 days and also let the bond centre know who the agent is.

The key point is that this piece of legislation is now on the runway and getting ready to take off. All investors should be aware, or at least find out, what these changes mean for them.