Kitchen Facilities in a Rental
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| 1 | Asking, for a friend, well daughter lol. We want clarification as to what the minimum requirements are for kitchen facilities in a self contained unit. I am not sure where to look on the Tenancy Services website. Thanks in advance. joanie04 - 2021-06-11 19:50:00 |
| 2 | From this link: "" The Housing Improvement Regulations 1947 sets minimum requirements for housing standards and states each property must have a room that can be used as a kitchen or kitchenette with a sink and tap connected to useable water. It also states properties must have a bathroom with a shower or bath and running hot water, a toilet for the exclusive use of those that live in the property and means for washing clothes."" But that's odd as I thought it had to have hot water, and some form of cooking.... but someone else will have the full deal.... autumnwinds - 2021-06-11 20:09:00 |
| 3 | Thanks autumnwinds. Will check it out. joanie04 - 2021-06-11 20:16:00 |
| 4 | Well I guess as long as it has the same as motel units i.e. small fridge, elements, maybe microwave, sink to do dishes and a bathroom it should right since that is what WINZ supply in emergency housing motels. coolnzmum - 2021-06-11 22:18:00 |
| 5 | Have found the correct part of the relevant law, and I was right, they do have to have cooking facilities: Other relevant info: Yes. Your place must have a kitchen, and the kitchen must have an adequate means of preparing and cooking food. This includes both by boiling (so a stove top with elements) and by baking (an oven). Extractor fan - kitchen: autumnwinds - 2021-06-11 22:43:00 |
| 6 | Just something to consider ... I'm going to guess your daughter is renting a 'sleepout' type unit/building and she's been provided with a benchtop oven and plug in cooker ... or similar. If the property your daughter is renting doesn't have proper kitchen facilities, there is a good chance it's because it's not permitted as a separate dwelling. If this is the case it's not a simple case of 'serving notice' or 'asking/forcing' the landlord to upgrade the facilities, as it's highly likely that the outcome of that process is the landlord will be informed the property can't be able to be used as a rental and your daughter will have to find somewhere else to live. By no means am I saying you shouldn't follow it through (and there are other things to consider such as safety/insurance etc), just making you fully aware of what is quite likely to be an outcome, so you/your daughter can decide for yourselves how to progress. desi1969 - 2021-06-12 00:31:00 |
| 7 | coolnzmum wrote:
the government is a law unto themselves, they will have a clause somewhere that the rules don't apply to them. kittylittle - 2021-06-12 06:31:00 |
| 8 | kittylittle wrote: sparkychap - 2021-06-12 06:34:00 |
| 9 | desi1969 wrote:
It is the other way round Desi. She is in the main dwelling. The people in the "sleepout" are moving out. Are advertising their place, stating the new tenants can use the "main house kitchen". There is a viewing coming up but no one has said anything about that to her (will be at work). She and her BF are going to meet with the PM, and offer to take on the full rental of both places, but negotiate a new figure (something less). They would then like to enter into a new agreement and go periodic. They can cope with the total rent of both places as she is moving to 5 days a week at her job and possibly the assistant managers role (which she is basically doing already). They will now concentrate on buying. Her BF's mother as offered a few options to help them. They are meeting with his family over the weekend to discuss their future plans and then go a see a mortgage broker. joanie04 - 2021-06-12 10:48:00 |
| 10 | Cooktop and small bench top oven, microwave will do, sink with running water. plenty to survive on. cheaper to buy Chinese dinner for $10.that's the way it's going here. msigg - 2021-06-12 11:00:00 |
| 11 | joanie04 wrote: Questions: Are the occupants of the sleepout the owners? sparkychap - 2021-06-12 11:14:00 |
| 12 | msigg wrote:
Sorry microwave will not do under the tenancy law, must be suitable to bake in and states not a microwave I just won a case in court of this and the washing machine which stopped working weeks after moving in. Yeap got 251.00 had to wait 21 days to be paid But I took mediation option should have said no And taken it higher... anne1955 - 2021-06-12 11:48:00 |
| 13 | It said bench top oven and a microwave and a cooktop.? msigg - 2021-06-12 12:04:00 |
| 14 | sparkychap wrote:
No joanie04 - 2021-06-12 12:26:00 |
| 15 | msigg wrote:
There is a kitchen sink. Tenants appear to have a bench top oven and a microwave. Not sure about a cooktop. joanie04 - 2021-06-12 12:28:00 |
| 16 | Those who think a microwave can't 'boil and bake' have obviously not seen the few thousand Microwave Baking books out there. Anyway Trademe always has plenty of dirt cheap benchtop ovens. artemis - 2021-06-12 13:04:00 |
| 17 | joanie04 wrote:
Cooktop is not required in that case. The landlord is way out of order to offer main house kitchen use. artemis - 2021-06-12 13:06:00 |
| 18 | joanie04 wrote: so, for clarity, when your daughter rented the house, there was no agreement that sleepout tenants could use the main house kitchen? sparkychap - 2021-06-12 13:42:00 |
| 19 | artemis wrote:
The current tenants are offering as they need to find someone to replace them. joanie04 - 2021-06-12 13:57:00 |
| 20 | sparkychap wrote:
Nothing in the agreement. She has been there two and half years and barely sees them. They were already in residence when the daughter and her BF took over the tenancy in the main house. joanie04 - 2021-06-12 13:59:00 |
| 21 | Thanks everyone for the replies. I have to go out and do my volunteer bit for our sports club. joanie04 - 2021-06-12 14:00:00 |
| 22 | joanie04 wrote: OK so it sounds to me like the sleepout tenants have no right to your daughters kitchen and they have no right to enter her part of the property. Is the PM organizing the viewing? Daughter should address this with the PM urgently and ensure its clear that the kitchen is not on the menu. sparkychap - 2021-06-12 16:30:00 |
| 23 | Thanks for all the answers joanie. Yes, as per Sparky ... the people in the 'sleepout' have no right to access to your daughters kitchen. So moving forward up to your daughter if she wants to take on the sleepout and pay extra rent (she might actually WANT to do this for extra privacy etc) or to just reinforce to the PM that the 'new' tenants won't be getting access to the house. My suggestion would be to possibly take on the sleepout herself ... just get it added to her existing tenancy for a nominal increase in rent (ie NOT the full amount that the PM is wanting) and get the number of 'tenants' on her tenancy agreement increased. Don't do a separate rental for the sleepout. That way she can choose to get in a flatmate/boarder/tenant herself, someone she likes and knows and possibly even make the figures work in her favour to decrease her weekly rent (thereby helping her save for her own place a bit quicker ;) ). Use the fact that it doesn't have a proper kitchen therefore it's probably not a legal dwelling in her favour to negotiate the rent etc. Also make sure she DOUBLE checks that the sleepout is on it's own power supply. Often these things aren't done properly and are fed by the main dwelling; your daughter 'might' find she's been paying for extra for power. desi1969 - 2021-06-12 17:45:00 |
| 24 | Oh, and water :D desi1969 - 2021-06-12 18:03:00 |
| 25 | Desi she is in Hamilton, no water. The power is shared. There is a check meter that my daughter reads every month, advises the power company and they work out the sleep outs share and my daughter bills them with a share of the gas hot water. I think the gas is split 2/5 3/5, not sure. They are leaning towards taking on the whole rental and hopefully for a reduction in the total rent. Her BF and I jokingly suggested she could rent it to her father since he has had to relocate to south of the Harbour Bridge due to getting himself in a pile of trouble. She just laughed and said that is not happening lol. joanie04 - 2021-06-13 14:28:00 |
| 26 | Apparently there was a viewing on Saturday. Daughter and BF both at work. The PM was advised that she could not show them the kitchen facilities. Apparently the PM was going to mention they could use the kitchen facilities but not show them. They are waiting to see what the outcome was. joanie04 - 2021-06-13 20:03:00 |
| 27 | Well that's Mickey Mouse. I always thought that when you rented a home, it was 'yours' for the duration. Even the owner or PM had to make appts to view. They couldn't just come into your home whenever they wanted. Unless the tenancy agreement was for a room and shared facilities, as happens in a shared home situation where the owner lives on site as well, I'd confidently say that your daughter does not have to make any of her private space available to outside 'agencies' (such as tenants in a sleepout). And surely it won't stop at just using the kitchen. The new tenants are just as likely to make themselves at home inside her place. One day your daughter will come home to find them lounging over the furniture hogging the TV, with friends, showering daily in the bathroom, using the laundry and using all her data'. buzzy110 - 2021-06-14 11:36:00 |
| 28 | joanie04 wrote:
Make sure your daughter is putting everything in writing! desi1969 - 2021-06-14 12:51:00 |
| 29 | desi1969 wrote:
Thanks Desi. Daughter is pretty on to it. Had real issues with the first property she rented with Bond not being lodged when it should have been and a number of PM's that didn't last long. She is very good at record keeping. Her job requires it. joanie04 - 2021-06-14 18:04:00 |
| 30 | Update, they had a meeting with the PM today and basically they may as well have not bothered. In the meantime she has spoken to one of the departing tenants and he has stated that he was only happy to show prospective new tenants where they live, not the daughter's property. He has a potential replacement tenant coming tomorrow at 2pm and they understand that they only use their unit and there is no access to the daughter's place. joanie04 - 2021-06-15 19:02:00 |
