Addressing tenancy law reform

With news breaking on the proposed reforms to tenancy law, tenants and landlords alike are unsure how it’ll affect them. So we want to talk about what the proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act might mean for landlords and tenants.

The Government’s proposed changes revolve around the following areas:
1. Tenancy agreements: do changes need to be made to the types of tenancy agreements on offer, to ensure they remain fit for purpose in a modern renting environment?
2. Modifications to property: how can the law better help landlords and tenants agree to tenants making reasonable modifications to their rental home?
3. Pets: is the law fair when it comes to tenants and landlords agreeing whether pets can be kept or not?
4. Setting and increasing rent: should tenants know how rents are set? How often should rents be increased?
5. Boarding houses: MBIE wants to know how boarding house tenancies should be treated and how the quality of boarding houses and accountability of boarding house landlords can be improved.
6. Enforcement: can the enforcement of tenancy law be carried out more effectively?

So what does this mean for landlords and tenants across New Zealand?

From our point-of-view, we see the proposals as good and bad. Yes, the Residential Tenancies Act is over 30 years old and there are definitely some areas that require updating. But it needs to be fair to both tenants and landlords to ensure things run smoothly.