This is an interesting aspect of the tenancy law changes. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/landlords-in-180b-sector
-worry-can-tenants-paint-after-next-months-law-change/JGX6O6
KVQLUAHOW5JHIE6GCHCY/

clementine - 2021-01-26 12:10:00

Article is paywalled unfortunately.

apollo11 - 2021-01-26 12:46:00

i thought they had to ask the landlord first but im still reading up on it , crazy stuff anyway

pearlypearl - 2021-01-26 13:08:00

As I understand it, tenants can make a request to the landlord to make minor changes to the rental property. I wouldn't consider redecorating minor however. I couldn't read the article so just guessing this is what it is about.

jonnythecat - 2021-01-26 13:17:00

42B Minor changes
(1) Without limiting section 42A(1), it is unreasonable for a landlord to withhold consent to a minor change to premises.
(2) In this section and section 42A, a minor change is any fixture, renovation, alteration, or addition of or to the premises that—
(a) presents no more than a low risk of material damage to the premises; and
(b) would allow the premises to be returned easily to substantially the same condition; and
(c) does not pose a risk to health and safety (including during work to install, remove, or undo the minor change) that cannot reasonably practicably be eliminated or minimised; and
(d) does not compromise the structural integrity, weathertightness, or character of any building; and
(e) would not have an unreasonable negative effect on any person’s enjoyment or use of any property outside the premises; and
(f) does not require any regulatory consent (for example, a building consent); and
(g) does not breach any obligation or restriction relevant to the premises (for example, an obligation or a restriction imposed by a bylaw, a planning or body corporate rule, or a covenant).
(3) A landlord commits an unlawful act if the landlord withholds consent for a minor change.
(4) If a minor change is made in accordance with a request under section 42A, the tenant must, on or before the expiry of the tenancy, return the premises to a condition that is substantially the same as the condition that the premises were in before the minor change was made.
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply if the landlord and the tenant agree a different arrangement in relation to the minor change for the end of the tenancy (for example, that the minor change will remain in place).
(6) A tenant who fails to comply with subsection (4) commits an unlawful act.

sparkychap - 2021-01-26 13:20:00

Thank you for posting that information Sparkychap, that all sounds very reasonable.

jonnythecat - 2021-01-26 13:35:00

Sounds like excessive state interference in a business transaction.

blogzy - 2021-01-26 15:17:00

NH its all good. They may even improve the look of the place.

msigg - 2021-01-26 15:42:00

Probably because of the need to put Flatscreen TVs on walls now.
Encourages the tenant to interact with the landlord about this subject & not DIY.
Encourages the landlord to have them fitted & left for the next tenant.
Steel framed houses add to the complications along with the need for TV aerial cabling & fittings in every room now.

marte - 2021-01-26 16:24:00

I'm all for it as long as the tenant is willing to pay a professional painter to do the job, provide receipts and then same procedure for returning the property back to how it was on leaving.

apollo11 - 2021-01-26 21:25:00

It wouldn't a)ways be necessary to return it to original, there's a option to change something & then leave it like that. Cat door for example.
Flatscreen tv stand on a wall.
Tv serial cable & sockets.
Picture rail to hang pictures from.
Insect screens, towel rails, hand rails, garden tool rack in garage, etc etc.

Edited by marte at 2:09 am, Wed 27 Jan

marte - 2021-01-27 02:09:00

42A Consent for tenant’s fixtures, etc

(1) The landlord must not unreasonably withhold consent for a fixture, renovation, alteration, or addition.

(2)The landlord may impose reasonable conditions on the landlord’s consent.

(3)If the tenant makes a written request for consent, the landlord must respond in writing within 21 days after receiving the request.

(4)In the response, the landlord must indicate whether or not the landlord considers the fixture, renovation, alteration, or addition to be a minor change (see section 42B(2)).

(5)If the landlord considers the fixture, renovation, alteration, or addition to be more than a minor change and the landlord needs more time to consider the request, the landlord may, in the written response under subsection (3), extend the time for responding to the tenant’s request.

(6)A landlord who extends the time for responding under subsection (5) must respond to the request in writing within a reasonable amount of time.

(7)A landlord commits an unlawful act if the landlord fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsection (3), (4), or (6).

catwoman1974 - 2021-01-27 04:10:00

The member deleted this message.

marte - 2021-01-27 10:44:00

apollo11 wrote:

I'm all for it as long as the tenant is willing to pay a professional painter to do the job, provide receipts and then same procedure for returning the property back to how it was on leaving.

Agree. Sense of entitlement can be a bit much with some tenants and their tastes may not suit.
Is there an obligation for reinstatement in the new rules, rather than "easily allow".

amasser - 2021-01-27 10:55:00

amasser wrote:

Agree. Sense of entitlement can be a bit much with some tenants and their tastes may not suit.
Is there an obligation for reinstatement in the new rules, rather than "easily allow".

You could read the legislation quoted above and get the answer for yourself.

sparkychap - 2021-01-27 11:08:00

In some areas of Europe, the tenant can completely redecorate, and rearrange walls, but when the tenant leaves, the space must put back to original.

ghoti - 2021-01-27 11:23:00

Just said on the news - all done at the renter's expense

catwoman1974 - 2021-02-10 18:16:00

catwoman1974 wrote:

Just said on the news - all done at the renter's expense

Or you could have read #5 two weeks ago.

sparkychap - 2021-02-10 19:17:00

My friend went overseas for a couple of years so rented out their place, tenants asked if they could put a few hooks in the walls so being lovely decent people they said yes.

Sure enough when they returned some walls had 8 hooks in, there was only 1 wall in the house that hadn’t had multiple hooks put in, a couple had had multiple hooks in then they decided they wanted them somewhere else pulled them out and put 8 more in in slightly different spots.

deendon1 - 2021-02-10 19:46:00

ghoti wrote:

In some areas of Europe, the tenant can completely redecorate, and rearrange walls, but when the tenant leaves, the space must put back to original.

To be fair they are usually renting from an organisation/business etc that is in the long term business of renting properties, said business usually owns hundreds of them and the tenant can expect to stay as long as they like.

deendon1 - 2021-02-10 19:49:00

Nothing like black ceilings and bright blue window sills!

lakeview3 - 2021-02-10 20:54:00

deendon1 wrote:

To be fair they are usually renting from an organisation/business etc that is in the long term business of renting properties, said business usually owns hundreds of them and the tenant can expect to stay as long as they like.

We know friends who have rented a unit to the same person for over 5yrs now and with the previous landlord the same person was living there before the year 2000. They don't really have any issues for them to do the work.

rayonline_tm - 2021-02-10 21:10:00

lakeview3 wrote:

Nothing like black ceilings and bright blue window sills!

Brother in law and his missus at the time decided to 'jazz up' their rental, all architrave around floors, doors and ceiling cornice painted gloss neon blue. It was trippy. Don't know if permission was asked or what the landlord thought of it.

apollo11 - 2021-02-10 21:23:00

apollo11 wrote:

Brother in law and his missus at the time decided to 'jazz up' their rental, all architrave around floors, doors and ceiling cornice painted gloss neon blue. It was trippy. Don't know if permission was asked or what the landlord thought of it.

lol what a nightmare!

Actually though sometimes I look back on some colours I have used in the past and find myself thinking “what WAS I thinking”?

I did have a deep burgundy red lounge in my old villa and that looked amazing with big gold framed beveled mirror over the fireplace. It had a big bay window and 14 ft stud. Was a huge room.

Now we are all neutral with any colours being in the accessories- much easier to change.

lakeview3 - 2021-02-10 21:43:00

The girls got to choose their room colours, so various shades of Indigo and purple were chosen. Doesn't worry me, it's easy enough to paint over if required.

apollo11 - 2021-02-10 21:52:00

deendon1 wrote:

My friend went overseas for a couple of years so rented out their place, tenants asked if they could put a few hooks in the walls so being lovely decent people they said yes.

Sure enough when they returned some walls had 8 hooks in, there was only 1 wall in the house that hadn’t had multiple hooks put in, a couple had had multiple hooks in then they decided they wanted them somewhere else pulled them out and put 8 more in in slightly different spots.

Many properties in the States charge for hook holes in walls.
One trick to help cover them was to put toothpaste in the holes.

I don't blame them. My Late Husband had rentals in Texas [we were in California at the time] that were a total mess of wall holes which we discovered after he retired and we moved back.
The realtor had never done an inspection by the look of the insides.

coralsnake - 2021-02-11 01:33:00

apollo11 wrote:

Article is paywalled unfortunately.

Chrome has a bypass paywall...

lythande1 - 2021-02-11 07:59:00

deendon1 wrote:

My friend went overseas for a couple of years so rented out their place, tenants asked if they could put a few hooks in the walls so being lovely decent people they said yes.

Sure enough when they returned some walls had 8 hooks in, there was only 1 wall in the house that hadn’t had multiple hooks put in, a couple had had multiple hooks in then they decided they wanted them somewhere else pulled them out and put 8 more in in slightly different spots.

Your friend made the mistake of giving permission without a reinstatement clause. On saying that I have found that tenants damage and repairs are needed with every tenancy.

deboron - 2021-02-11 08:17:00

It's common overseas....in fact in Germany people take kitchens with them...weird. Maybe they're all standard sizes and shapes? Can't see how that would work here.

If there are rules I'd say yes, as in done to a professional standard and no crazy decor colours/styles....

lythande1 - 2021-02-11 08:17:00

I would hope that many of the changes requested would be reasonable and most LL would go along with them... I can see a tenant saying that the paint work in the kitchen is a bit shabby and could do with a freshen up... and the LL saying "I supply the paint and brushes, if you do the work.. what colour do you reckon it should be done in" I suspect the whole concept / idea will get a bad name because of bad / unreasonable LL's and/or tenants who just want to be troublesome and try it on !!
Good / reasonable LL and tenants have been doing this sort of stuff for years..

The other part of the changes which will see it harder to terminate a tenancy, I think will bite on the bum those tenants who do not have a perfect renting record, but who many LL would "take a punt on" and give them a chance... LL will be placing greater reliance on the tenants past renting history...

onl_148 - 2021-02-11 12:01:00

I think it will be a nightmare.

The differences of opinion of what is 'minor', people not understanding that they still have to ask, the responsibility to 'put it back'. It's a lot of additional risk to the landlord and the tiny amount of bond allowed to be charged which now has to also cover the potential of people not putting it back.

Edited by loose.unit8 at 12:19 pm, Thu 11 Feb

loose.unit8 - 2021-02-11 12:18:00

Any changes at the tenants expense. That will get a few running.

fxx99 - 2021-02-11 12:52:00

lythande1 wrote:

Chrome has a bypass paywall...

I try to limit my exposure to google apps. Best not to feed the Beast.

apollo11 - 2021-02-11 14:30:00

loose.unit8 wrote:

I think it will be a nightmare.

The differences of opinion of what is 'minor', people not understanding that they still have to ask, the responsibility to 'put it back'. It's a lot of additional risk to the landlord and the tiny amount of bond allowed to be charged which now has to also cover the potential of people not putting it back.

Yes... as a LL you would hope you do not have to make the "what is minor" decision for at least another 6 to 12 months... by then several LL's will have had their decision put to the scrutiny of the TT.. by which time it is hoped that all players will have a better idea of what "minor" means !!!

onl_148 - 2021-02-11 14:57:00

The member deleted this message.

fxx99 - 2021-02-11 15:10:00

Oh hell, I can see this getting messy like the carpet cleaning clauses
Some ppls idea of "reasonably clean" vary as much as those who consider a few screw holes in the walls as being irrelevant.

mrfxit - 2021-02-11 16:15:00

When we had tenants I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if they had put some pictures up, and really wouldn't have expected them to have to ask. I'd rather they felt the place was their home however painting would be a different story and if the tenant is able to paint the house on day one of moving in thats a bit concerning. Its all very well saying they are responsible for changing when they move out but in reality this isn't always (hardly ever) likely to happen.

vellumbooks - 2021-02-11 18:00:00

I was think what if the painted the whole inside black or something.

rodeorunch - 2021-02-11 20:00:00

deendon1 wrote:

My friend went overseas for a couple of years so rented out their place, tenants asked if they could put a few hooks in the walls so being lovely decent people they said yes.

Sure enough when they returned some walls had 8 hooks in, there was only 1 wall in the house that hadn’t had multiple hooks put in, a couple had had multiple hooks in then they decided they wanted them somewhere else pulled them out and put 8 more in in slightly different spots.

Did they cry into their capital gain? That’s a minor inconvenience at most.

sw20 - 2021-02-11 20:09:00

This message was deleted.

vintage_betty - 2021-02-12 06:50:00

Good tenants were good tenants before these rule changes.

Most tenants, simply end up being a greater risk with the changes. Unlike with a car rental, the renter is not paying for insurance against damage they may cause. So the cost goes elsewhere. More risk; higher rental prices.

soundsgood - 2021-02-12 07:24:00

The worst thing in these new rules, I think, is the tenant's ability to assign the tenancy. I don't understand how that can be allowed. It's hard enough now choosing the right tenant. I'm not having the tenant choose for me. What do others think of this new rule? I know on reasonable grounds you can object but the term "reasonable" is so subjective. I'm surprised more landlords aren't talking about this.

oakcottage - 2021-02-12 07:33:00

oakcottage wrote:

The worst thing in these new rules, I think, is the tenant's ability to assign the tenancy. I don't understand how that can be allowed. It's hard enough now choosing the right tenant. I'm not having the tenant choose for me. What do others think of this new rule? I know on reasonable grounds you can object but the term "reasonable" is so subjective. I'm surprised more landlords aren't talking about this.

The rules are insane. The aim is to further destroy the private market and force more onto Government dependancy. If only there was an opposition party...

pcle - 2021-02-12 08:22:00

rodeorunch wrote:

I was think what if the painted the whole inside black or something.

Somebody did in a flat I moved into once.
But instead of removing the posters, they just painted around them.
Then when they left, they took the posters down. So there were these random big white rectangles on the walls.

marte - 2021-02-12 09:50:00

vintage_betty wrote:

When we rented my husband built a garden shed. When we left we said we can take it down but our landlords actually ended up buying it off us. We had done a few other minor things too - new dining room curtains, raised garden bed, new shower curtain and a few other things. They were happy with all of that to stay. Why wouldn't you when they were better than what was originally there! Our place before that we were there for 9 years and we pretty much had full reign there (but that was earthquake damaged and we knew it was always going to be repaired one day anyway.) I have always had great landlords thankfully.

One person's opinion of "better than what was originally there" vs the another person's opinion, when you don't own the thing you're changing, can be a dangerous game to play.

Edited by loose.unit8 at 10:28 am, Fri 12 Feb

loose.unit8 - 2021-02-12 10:28:00

sw20 wrote:

Did they cry into their capital gain? That’s a minor inconvenience at most.

Capital gain is irrelevant. It's damage done by the tenant and the tenant should pay to put it right.

If nothing else, it's the 'right thing to do'.

Edited by loose.unit8 at 10:37 am, Fri 12 Feb

loose.unit8 - 2021-02-12 10:30:00

apollo11 wrote:

I'm all for it as long as the tenant is willing to pay a professional painter to do the job, provide receipts and then same procedure for returning the property back to how it was on leaving.

So the tenant gets a professional painter in to paint the kitchen so you get a nice new professional paint job done then when they leave you want it put back to original which would include all marks etc I presume that were there since you want it the same as when they moved in. Now that doesn't make any sense to me. Lol

coolnzmum - 2021-02-12 11:30:00

coolnzmum wrote:

So the tenant gets a professional painter in to paint the kitchen so you get a nice new professional paint job done then when they leave you want it put back to original which would include all marks etc I presume that were there since you want it the same as when they moved in. Now that doesn't make any sense to me. Lol

Or the tenant could just leave the paint alone. No one is compelling them to change anything. I don't see why the landlord should supply a house so that the tenant can practice their diy skills, or lack there-of. And if the landlord is happy with what the tenant has paid to have done, then the 'return to original' part could be waived by agreement.

apollo11 - 2021-02-12 12:12:00

Once we owners used to own our houses..now the town council and the government does..just like we dont own our devices.

whynot47 - 2021-02-12 13:00:00

whynot47 wrote:

Once we owners used to own our houses..now the town council and the government does..just like we dont own our devices.

Yes but this time socialism is different...

pcle - 2021-02-12 13:14:00