House rental procedures

[althea]

I'm planning to rent a 2-bedroom house in Chch starting this Dec to share with a friend. Found some places on trademe and realestate.co.nz, and emailed them. I'm really not sure how the process of renting a whole house is like? I've rented a room before, but that just involved one trip to the agent to fill my name into the tenancy agreement. Anyone care to share?

Also, a few Qs:

1. It appears that the majority of houses advertised are by agents, which typically require a letting fee. Is there any benefit of renting from an agent? Or can I enlist with an agent and have them look for a property for me? Would I have to pay them anything if I don't approve of the properties they find? Is there any risk of renting from a private landlord instead?

2. Most agents state that a tenancy reference is required. How do I go about obtaining that?

[Familyofmonkeys]

I'm planning to rent a 2-bedroom house in Chch starting this Dec to share with a friend. Found some places on trademe and realestate.co.nz, and emailed them. I'm really not sure how the process of renting a whole house is like? I've rented a room before, but that just involved one trip to the agent to fill my name into the tenancy agreement. Anyone care to share?

Also, a few Qs:

1. It appears that the majority of houses advertised are by agents, which typically require a letting fee. Is there any benefit of renting from an agent? Or can I enlist with an agent and have them look for a property for me? Would I have to pay them anything if I don't approve of the properties they find? Is there any risk of renting from a private landlord instead?

2. Most agents state that a tenancy reference is required. How do I go about obtaining that?

The process for renting a house is not that different to renting a room. You'll need to find somewhere first and fill in a tenancy application form. If there are several people wanting to rent a property, the application forms are generally used by the agent or property owner to choose their preferred tenants....this can be an issue if you have lots of kids, pets etc. You then need to agree a start date and term for the tenancy...most common are 6 month or 12 month fixed terms (during which time you are tied into the contract, but the rent is fixed), but you can also get rolling tenancies where there is no end date and you basically have to give 3 weeks notice. Sometimes a fixed term contract will continue into a rolling tenancy after the fixed term unless you intend to vacate at the end, whilst other times you'll need to negotiate a further fixed term period....these things are negotiable though!

You'll need to pay a bond (anything from 1 to 4 weeks rent seems common), which gets lodged with the department of building and housing, and I would advise you to read all the information on their website carefully to avoid problems later.....
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/tenants-index

Your bond can be transferred between rentals too, which saves you having to get a refund and pay out for a new bond if you move. If you haven't had a confirmation letter from the Dept of Building and Housing within a few weeks of starting a tenancy, it is important to contact them to ensure your bond money has been correctly lodged by the agent of landlord, and get your bond number.

Agents fees are usually equal to a weeks rent. Private landlords don't usually charge any fees, although I have seen some houses where the landlord has asked for a small 'admin fee', but this is not common and I'm not sure whether it's even legal. I've never heard of an agent 'actively' looking for a rental house for you....this seems more like a North American idea? However, some people leave their details with an agent, who may contact them if any of their existing rentals becomes vacant or they take on a new suitable property.

It is personal preference as to whether you would be better renting via an agent or a private landlord...there are pro's and con's for both. An agent can be better in that they are a neutral 'third party'....sometimes house owners can get a bit nit-picky about minor knocks and scuff marks around a house, whereas an agent will see it as 'fair wear and tear'....which in most cases it would be. Some agents (and I do mean only 'some') have better arrangements for out of hours emergencies (and DO make sure you ask about this) and should be able to supply you with details for emergency plumbers etc that they have an agreement with. On the other hand, it is sometimes much easier to deal direct with the property owner, particularly if you have anything that needs repairing or fixing, and rent 'may' be cheaper since they are not losing any rental income to an agent.

As for references...this can sometimes be a bit tricky if you are new to NZ but there are several options available to you. Firstly a reference from an old rental agent/landlord can be useful. Here they don't seem to be interested in a 'pre-prepared' reference but prefer to contact people directly with their own sets of questions. An old morgage statement showing you paid your morgage payments on time might be helpful. An employer reference or a copy of your employment contract can be useful, especially if it confirms your income, so they know you can afford to pay the rent. Failing that, a bank statement showing you have sufficient funds to pay the rent for a reasonable length of time. Personal references from any friends or family you may have in NZ can be useful in some cases. NZ is a country with high levels of immigration, so it seems they are quite open to various sorts of references here. In some cases they will check everything while in other cases they might ask for details and not bother checking out any of them.

When you move into a property you'll usually have to fill in an inspection report or inventory.....this is really important or you can be blamed for damaged you haven't causes when you leave. Make sure you note down EVERYTHING however unimportant it might seem. Include all marks on walls, broken hooks, damp or mouldy patches, pulls or marks on the caprets, chipped tiles, missing or not working lightbulbs (if any are not working, the landlord or agent is obliged to cover the cost of you replacing them) etc. The same applies to smoke alarms....check the batteries and if they are not working or missing, get the landlord or agent to refund you the replacement cost....if they don't work then insisit they get fixed! You can be charged (from your bond) if they have to replace lightbulbs when you leave, and legally this can also include an hourly rate for the time it takes someone to go and buy some and fit them. Make sure you describe the state of any garden accurately since you would generally be responsible for maintaining it to the same standard, although unless specifically agreed in your contract you don't have to do any pruning or mainenance of structure. You are required to mow lawns and pull weeds. Take lots of photos of everything if possible. Also make sure you take meter readings for electicity, gas (if available) and water...and check these agree with the agents meter readings too.

This might seem overkill, and most of the time you'll have no problems so I'm not trying to scare you or say that all agents or landlords here are dreadful. But, there are some landlords out there who are after as much money as they can get and will try to get you to pay for things which you are not required to, especially if you are a recent immigrant and not a Kiwi... they can assume you aren't fully aware of your tenancy rights. We had this happen to us with our first rental in NZ and it took 6 months and involvement from the Dept of Building and Housing to get a refund of the largish sum of money our landlady had taken from our bond, which she was not entitled to take.....once we got the 'real' receipts from a contractor, it turns out she had 'tried' to get us to pay for redecorating two whole rooms, rather than re-papering one wall where our son had ripped some wallpaper off.

Lastly, be sure to inform the agent or landlord immediately if you find any sort of fault, or a problem develops with the property, otherwise you can be held liable for any further associated damage. Even if they don't fix the problem or it seems really minor and isn't causing you any bother, you should still inform them to cover yourself.

Hope this all helps

[althea]

Thanks for the answer!

I have actually been in NZ for the past 5 months or so, and have been renting a room in a pre-rented house. So I would have a previous landlord (the house is rented from an agent), I'm just not sure how to obtain a reference from the previous agency?

As for the agent not searching for properties for me, I'm a little confused. I contacted Harcourts about a property that they listed on realestate.co.nz, and they responded asking me to fill in a tenancy application form. However, the form isn't an application for that particular property, but rather a general form, asking me which suburb I would want a place in, the maximum rent I'm willing to pay, how many bedrooms I want, etc. Not sure why I would need to fill in all that if I was only applying for this particular property?

[Familyofmonkeys]

I'm just not sure how to obtain a reference from the previous agency?

Just supply a name, address and phone number for the previous agency, along with the address of the property you previously rented. That way your previous agent can be contacted directly for a reference.

[catt]

A general application form is all that you will get so just fill in what you can. They dont have a seperate form for each property. The form will cover you for anything that they have on their books. We used Quinovic and had a good experience with them ....... i am not sure i would rent from a private landlord unless it was someone i knew already but thats just a personal opinion.