This year I have some Argentineans, Canadians, and Dutch.

The Dutch couple seemed nice. They were not sure how long they wanted to stay. I have been occasionally caught with tenants only staying for a few weeks on a periodic tenancy so I signed them up for a four month fixed period. All was fine for one week then the calls started. We want out of here they say. The stove does not work, the fridge keeps stopping and there is a bad smell. Well I soon fixed the stove by turning it off automatic, swopped the fridge, and could not smell anything apart from the pollen on the trees outside. We want our entire bond back in cash they demanded.

If you do not give it back we will go to the police and write to the newspaper saying you let stinky flats. Well this statement was like a red rag to a bull to me.

I pointed out that we have different laws in NZ and what ever goes in their country counts for nothing here. I said to them they have signed up for four months and that I would return at the end of the lease to pick up the keys.

Next day they rang and were far more conciliatory. Can we please give notice they say. I met with them again. It turned out they had been off to the police, and the city council environment department. The health inspector could not smell anything but they said their noses were more sensitive than our so they could not stay in the place any longer. It was affecting their health. What a con job I thought. They were just trying to avoid paying a premium at backpackers.

Then they say when we go can you give us a cheque for the bond. You should have seen their faces when I said the Government now has the bond money and that they will put the money into their bank account when work recommences. I can not make the Government work over the Christmas break. I can see we are going to have another childish squabble in three weeks when they want to leave.

I find it interesting how people want to use the services of civil servants like the police and sanitation inspectors when it suits them to win their argument but then flip flop and want to avoid following any laws at all if it is in their interest to do so.

image by rightee

I have recently had two different tenancies where the tenant was on home detention and got into rent arrears.

First one had been there a for a number of months. When he appeared in court he missed part of a weeks rent. Thinking this was the start of slide downhill I issued a 10 day letter but he managed to limp along paying every week but never fully catching up. Then he missed again so I lodged the tribunal application. His probation officer rang trying to soft talk me into doing nothing. But he will need to go to jail the PO says.

Well isnt that a shame I say. Just get me the rent money I say and he can stay for as long as he likes. No rent money so the tenancy ended as I wished and the not particularly large debt was cleared with the bond. If I had left the issue no doubt the rent arrears would have continued to climb. The risk in this case was if he got jail the chances of being paid any debt was nil.

Then another one pops up the very next week. This one had been newspaper front page news. Paua poachers. Mr Tenant gets jail and Mrs Tenant get HD. She has two young children to look after. The probation officer calls again to keep me fully informed. Not that this means we get any rent. Mr tenant’s benefit was stopped when jail started and Mrs tenant is no eligible for a benefit because she is here on an expired visitors permit.

These Paua poachers had been good tenants for the last three years.

So the claim is she is heading off to WINZ to try and get some money to live on. The nice probation officer says Mrs tenant is very worried about not paying the rent. Can I please no worry about the rent the PO says.

Well guess what I say.

Yes that is right. I said I am not operating a branch of the Department of Corrections. If the Government wants me to provide accommodation for its offenders it needs to pay me.

So ho hum here we go again off to the tribunal to try and solve the issue.

Perhaps we could have some comments from PTers on what should be done and who should suffer.

Who is the bad person in the story?

1. Are the children to blame. Should they have a house to live in and food to eat.
2. One of them did take part in the Paua gathering and processing.
3. Should society through WINZ pay Mrs tenant some money to permit her to eat, and keep a roof over her head.
4. Should the courts just put Mrs tenant onto the first plane back to any country the plane is headed to and send her kids who were born here with her.
5. Should the landlord continue to bear the cost of housing the tenants for the next 9 months until Mr Tenant gets out of jail and returns to his benefit.
6. Should the court ask landlords permission before they hand down HD sentences.
7. Should we charge more for those tenants on HD to reflect the higher wear and tear on the property and reflect the lower cost to society by not needing to build more jails.

What are your thoughts?

Goodness that was fast I said. I only lodged the application on two days ago. I had told the court staff that the nice tenant had a six year old and a new born baby. I liked the tenant and gave the court staff this information to ensure they gave her a little bit of compassion and consideration. Normally the court give people at least two days notice to get out. Sometimes when there are very young children involved they give them a little bit more time. Because I had not heard from the bailiff that they had served the notice I just assumed that they were giving her until Monday to get out.

“I did not let you know in advance” he said. “We have been on industrial action, but anyway come quickly.”

This solo parent tenant had only been in the property for 10 weeks. She came with good references and good credit on Veda. Also her mother had once been a good tenant of mine. She presented as being a thoroughly decent person. Her story about WINZ not helping with bond and rent seemed reasonable. She was supposed to have recently stopped working at a high paid job. She paid the full bond and rent with her own cash of $1500.

Because I believed the story I was a little bit slower than normal issuing the 10 day letter when the rent was missed. I however quickly followed up with a tribunal application.

She turned up at mediation baby in arms and made sincere promises to pay $50 extra each week off the debt. The debt at that time was still less than the bond.

Last week she paid the due amount right at the end of the time she was due to pay or be evicted. Conditional termination orders are normally worded to give the tenant three working days after the rent is due or be instantly evicted. Having a long weekend in the middle meant that she had six days to pay. So last week I received $365 but not that weeks rent. I felt a little sad about asking for the termination bearing in mind her nice children. I was expecting a tearful confrontation. Bad greedy landlord throwing defenceless mother with baby clinging to her breast flashed through my mind.

So I got into the house with the bailiff at 2pm this afternoon. She had already gone with the house empty. In the corner of the lounge was a large flat screen liquid crystal TV screen with serious damage to its screen. A relatively small amount of rubbish in bags was left for me to dispose of. At the end of the hall a hole had been made and a rough incompetent attempt had been made to repair it.

On the lounge ceiling was a line of blood spots. So what had been going on?

I talked to the neighbours. The domestic violence had been terrible they said. The man had been throwing things off the high deck. Loud shouting and other sounds had been common. The poor little six year old boy would appear at the window looking terrified.

So tomorrow it is clean up day. Take the rubbish to the tip, mow the lawns, fix the damage, and show a prospective tenant through the house. Then it will be onto the next property and its problems to be sorted.

Day One

New tenants
If a payment in say the first three weeks is missed then urgent action is required. This has the purpose of impressing your tenant that you are the landlord and bringing them into line. Often early action like this will be all that is needed for the rest of the tenancy.

Send the tenant a text message saying rent has been missed. If you do not get a response to this text by say 10 am send a second one stating that a 10 Day Notice to remedy (section 56 notice) is about to be issued that day.

If still no response by the end of that day issue the notice. This notice should be personally handed to the tenant or stuck with adhesive tape to the front door of the rental. A photo of the notice stuck to the door might be useful.

Existing tenants
Hopefully the tenant has been good in the past and just misses one payment. Send off a mild text message or make a pleasant phone call informing the tenant that the rent payment has been missed for some reason and politely ask that they can look into the problem and let you know the result.

The Next Day

Check the bank account again

New tenants
If you have had no response to your texts and 10 Day Notice then send a third text message. “Court action about to commence. Please contact me urgently.” If by say the end of that second day the response has not been positive then lodge your tribunal application. It is critical to act decisively on tenants that miss the first automatic rent payment. These are the most dangerous cases and usually indicate you have made a serious mistake in choosing your tenant. If it has all been a terrible mistake and they pay you then withdraw the tribunal application. All you have lost is the $20 application fee and a bit of time making the application out. Note: you are permitted to re activate this application within one month if they miss the following week’s rent payment.

Existing tenants
Polite persistence is often needed. Push too hard and you will offend a good person that has a small crisis in their life. Phone them to discuss the issue if they have not already responded. Often they will promise to pay double the next week. Suggest they might like to pay what they can afford this week. Suggest that they might like to pay say an extra $20 per week in addition to the rent till they have caught up.

If next week all you get is the normal rent and no catch-up then send a text asking about the catch up. If the second week is also missed, or no catch up paid then issue a 10 Day Notice. If the written notice falls on deaf ears then lodge a tribunal application.

Generally, lodge a tribunal application if two weeks rent payments have been missed. Note: At this stage, two weeks rent missed will only be one week in arrears, because rent is paid in advance.

10 Day Notices. (10 working days, excluding . . . . . Xmas/New Year)

It is possible to get sample forms off the DBH web site. However, the best system is a duplicate self carbonising book that is with the LL (or in the car), all the time. The original is given to the tenant or stuck to the front or main entrance door of the rental.

Write the following on it:

(as shown on the tenancy agreement)

The rent payment of $ scheduled to be paid last night has not been received. This is a breach of your tenancy agreement. Failure to immediately remedy this breach will result in an application to the Court.
Signed

If you make statements like, “you will be evicted,” or “it will be bad for you if you do not pay,” or similar, these can cause trouble at the Tenancy Tribunal. I use the word “Court” rather than Tribunal, because it sounds more significant even though they are one and the same thing.

Tribunal Applications For Rent Arrears

Application forms can be obtained off the DBH web site or from their offices. Applications can be by fax or via the Internet. If you are making an application for rent arrears you need to ask for only two things.

1. Money order for rent arrears of $xxx
2. A termination order

Applicants need the Money order to enable them to recover the rent arrears with assistance from the Court system. As a separate issue, you need a possession order to recover the rental dwelling. This is called an eviction or distress warrant.

Reason given

1. Rent owed to date xx-yy-2007 equals $xxx - Note: always make the amount / date of the rent owed to date up to the end of the next rent period. At the mediation or tribunal this figure can be updated.
2. 10 Day Notice issued on date such and such and personally given to tenant or stuck to door. The Tenancy Tribunal application has to say how the notice was served because this affects the day that the 10 day period will expire. For instance, if you posted the letter, then a Section 56 / 10 Day Notice effectively becomes a 14 Day Notice to allow for the time it takes for a letter to be delivered.

Attach a copy of the tenancy agreement, schedule of rent payments received, 10 Day Notice and fax off.

Note: do not forget to pay first. Your local branch of Westpac will accept the $20 fee and stamp your application form, so don’t forget to take the application form to the bank for stamping.

An applicant can only expect to have the Tenancy Tribunal award what has been applied for. It’s unreasonable to expect to introduce new claims at the time of the Tribunal hearing and have them approved.

This means if the tenant vacates before the hearing, then it is better to withdraw the application and submit a new one, including any other costs that have occurred such as cleaning and repairs. There are minor differences from one Tribunal to another and not all offices of the Department of Building and Housing interpret the RTA the same way. Some areas will let applicants change the application after it has been lodged but before the hearing.

Mediation

This can be by personally attending or by phone. Some of the best and most effective mediations can be by a one-to-one conversation with the Tenancy Mediator. The mediator is permitted to talk separately with the tenant and if both of you agree to the amount owed and the consequences then the mediator can type up the order and sign it on everyone’s behalf.

Normally however it is a good idea to meet fact to face with the tenant along with the mediator. Especially for new landlords

Always attempt to resolve the matter in mediation even if you have to compromise. Stick to the issue of rent. Be realistic about the amount of catch up payment per week. Demand a consequential clause. A consequential clause will say the tenant must pay the rent and catch up each and every week until caught up or the tenancy will end. Many new landlords overlook this and leave with no useful outcome. Having a conditional termination order is a very powerful ongoing incentive for the tenant to pay or be immediately evicted.

Make sure the tenant’s phone number is supplied to Tenancy Services. They will need this to contact the tenant. Often if the tenant does not attend, it is possible to contact the tenant by phone from the Tenancy office and conduct the mediation by phone.

Mediated orders are normally forwarded to the Court and the Tenancy Adjudicator will seal them making the Order fully enforceable.