Salient

Landlords

By Ali | 9 Jul, 2007

Ten Things You Need to Know About Landlords:
1. They want to make money.
2. They don’t want to spend money.
3. They will charge the top rental on a property that they think someone will pay.
4. They like tenants who don’t complain.
5. If they don’t agree to something in writing, they probably won’t do it.
6. They usually win at the Tenancy Tribunal.
7. If you complain too much, they will usually find a way to get rid of you.
8. They are very unlikely to allow you to have a dog – you’ll be lucky if they even let you have a cat.
9. They don’t give a toss about putting totally incompatible tenants next to you.
10. However nice they seem when you are signing the lease, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU.

A case in point – landlady from Hell:
A student (we’ll call her “A”) recently told me a story about her former landlady, from whom she rented a property at 50 Bedford Street, Northland for two years. “A” ended up at the Tenancy Tribunal, and the landlady claimed costs from her, which were lies, such as costs to clean out a shed full of rubbish and to clean the house. Despite this, the landlady’s lies were accepted and she won the case. This landlady also never gave back a number of “A’s” chattels from the house – curtains, light shades and a dryer, to name a few. An appeal by “A” to the District Court was lost as the amount in question was claimed by the landlady to be less than $1000, who didn’t even bother to turn up to that hearing. Once the costs had been ‘awarded’ to “A”, the landlady did not contact her until three weeks later when bailiffs came to take the “A’s” car if she didn’t pay in full on the spot. “A” had intended to make weekly payments as she had little money and was a solo mum, but the landlady once again lied to the Court, saying that there had already been a Court meeting called ‘examination’ at which she had been unhappy at the rate at which “A” was going to pay. That meeting never actually happened. When the bailiffs turned up, there was nothing “A” could do. The bailiff even rang the landlady twice to ask her if she would consider the hardship of the case and reconsider her demands. She refused both times. “A” was only able to keep her car as someone from her church stumped up with more than $2000.

Make a note of this address, and make your own decision about whether you want to rent that house.

The advice in this column is completely my own opinion, knowledge or experience, or information volunteered to me by others. Where I have made claims about specific individuals, I CAN prove them.

Please send your questions and stories about renting to rentingwithali@gmail.com.