RTA changes will challenge landlords

Friday, September 10th 2010, 5:19PM

Last week, with little fanfare, the Residential Tenancies Act was finally been passed after years of mucking around. Oops I mean consultation and discussion.

The RTA, which is the rulebook landlords and tenants live by, has generally been given the thumbs up.

However the latest issue of the NZ Property Investor Magazine sent out this week we take a deeper look into the changes.

While there are some things landlords will like it appears that running a rental property may get quite a bit harder. Also there is a raft of different things fines can be levied on.

In writing the article we discussed the changes with many people who will have to help manage the rules when they take effect and they made the point there was quite a few areas were there was uncertainty.

The only way definition was going to come into the rules was once there had been some test cases.

It is a sure thing some of the recalcitrant tenants will try out these new rules and use them to have a go at landlords.

I would suggest, if you are a landlord, you have a read of the article and learn what the changes will mean for you. Another option of course is to engage a property manager to take over the job.

To find out more about what is in this issue of the NZ Property Investor Magazine click on this link. If you want to save some money then think about subscribing this month as the cover price and subscription rates will increase when the government increases the gst rate to 15%.

Subscribe now for just $99 a year

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