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Welcome to Whittle Knight & Boatwood Ltd 2020 –  as we celebrate our 54th year of being in business.

January and February

January and February are traditionally very busy months at Whittle Knight & Boatwood Ltd – and this year has been no exception. The property management team have carried out just over 200 bond inspections – which means that’s a lot of people moving in and out of properties. One common theme that we came across during these two months, has been the resistance to professionally clean carpets. The Act is very clear, professional carpet cleaning cannot be enforced, unless of course there are stains on the carpet at the end of the Tenancy, that were not present at the start. More and more tenants are becoming more familiar with the law.

CLAUSES LIKELY TO BE DEEMED “UNENFORCEABLE”

  • Carpets must be professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy.

REASON WHY

  • A tenant only has to leave the premises in a reasonably clean and tidy condition. Tenants do not have to leave the carpets in a professionally cleaned state.

 

 

 

The Healthy Homes Bill comes into effect from 1 July 2021 – we are in full swing with property assessments to ensure we comply with regulations by the required date.Thank you to the majority of you that have responded. As we receive these reports, we will send them through to you. For those of you who are still a bit ‘unsure’ of this new legislation, think of it as you would your vehicle. Your vehicle must pass compliance in order to drive it on the road (registration and warrant of fitness). It’s the same for your rental property, it must pass compliance in order to be rented out.

There are 5 criteria that a property must comply with, so it’s not just insulation. It is not sufficient to just say ‘it complies’ – evidence is required to support that it  complies. One of the supporting documents is the Heating Tool – every rental property must have a compliant heating appliance to the main living room, and this heating appliance must be run through the heating tool, and the report supplied as evidence that the heating source complies (a wall heater to a regular sized lounge room, or no heating at all will not comply). If your rental property is new or not very old, whilst it should easily comply with the legislation, it will still need to be assessed and verified that it complies. Feel free to contact Tania for any further information you may require.

Hot on the heels of the Government’s announcement late last year by Associate Minister for Housing Kris Faafoi – about proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill – the Bill was introduced to Parliament this month.

Click here to read about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill

 

Whilst the majority of these proposals will not impact how we conduct our property management business at Whittle Knight & Boatwood Ltd, the proposed changes to the fixed term have the potential to have quite a wide ranging effect. The fixed term tenancy has always worked very well here in Christchurch both for landlords and tenants alike. These proposals will not provide an ‘even playing field’ for landlords and tenants – rather, it will have tenants making many of the decisions on the future of the Tenancy.

Here is a summary of the proposed changes

If like us, you are not in favour of the proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Amendment, have your say by submitting your opinion online. (submissions close on Wednesday 25th March):

 

 

Click here to make a submission

We continue to support the The Call For Change Campaign to get the Property Management industry regulated.

 

 

 

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