The rental market in one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing cities is so competitive landlords are being offered more money, pet bonds and gifts by desperate renters wanting a home. Working families are holed up with whānau and one tradie says he is living in his van because he can’t find
Tauranga rentals: Landlords offered gifts to secure homes as prices rise, while wage earners can’t find a house
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Hunapo is a forklift driver and her partner is a scaffolding labourer.
They cannot understand why it has been so difficult to find a rental but wonder if it is because they have a rental history only in Australia.
“We’re still going to try to make it here so fingers crossed someone in the near future will give us a shot,” she says.
“I’m just hanging in there … I have my moments but I’m trying to look on the bright side. It would make the world of difference to have our own home again. We just need a chance.”
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However, she has now set a deadline: if they still don’t have their own home by March next year, they will be “packing up and going back to Australia, where we seemed to find it easier”.
Tradie Dan Nash is living with his two dogs in a van and says the rental market is “brutal”. Those who have pets are the most disadvantaged.
The carpenter says, in his view, it is “hardcore discrimination” and he is unwilling to part with his pets to get a home.
“I’m not going to put my companions down, that is too rough.”
Missy is a 14-year-old red heeler cross and Mary is an eight-year-old “beautiful mongrel”.
“I think it’s messed up and if any race, religion, or sex were discriminated against as much as dog owners there would be an outrage. I’m living like a traveller in my own country.”
The 39-year-old says he decided to live in his van after living with a family member in Te Puke for a while. “I couldn’t impose on her any longer.”
Jayden Jarvis has almost given up on getting a rental. The 21-year-old business owner and father, who co-parents a toddler, feels his age and circumstances are counting against him.
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Some of the feedback he has received during his nine-month search for a home has been harsh.
“Some have said they don’t want little kids at the property with one parent. Others have said, ‘What if your business fails?’”
Jarvis is grateful to live with his sister in Pāpāmoa but says it’s not ideal as she has a young family herself.
“It is pretty stink when I just want my own place and somewhere for myself and my daughter to call home.”
Renters’ circumstances ‘heartbreaking’
Tauranga Rentals principal officer Dan Lusby feels for those desperate to find a home in the city and says some people’s circumstances are “heartbreaking”.
“There are situations where a house is getting sold and they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong and they have been perfect tenants but, because there isn’t a lot available, they are having to compromise. They are taking houses too big or too small or too expensive in locations they don’t want.
“It’s a real struggle and a strain on people’s mental health, so it is really hard and they are caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Lusby says potential tenants are inviting property managers to view the rental they are about to leave “so we can see they are looking after it”, instead of giving written references.
“They are showing us their work contracts to show they have enough money to pay the rent. They might not need a house for a month but they’ll take it over in one week’s time because they don’t want to miss out. Usually, you have to give four weeks’ notice.
A three-bedroom home in Tauranga has an average rent of $690 a week or $800 for Mt Maunganui, he says, describing the rental market as “crazy”.
Tauranga Property Investors spokeswoman Juli Anne Tolley says joint tenancy applications have become a “consistent trend”.
“This includes two to three couples applying together, multi-generational families and groups of flatmates. It is a trend that began to emerge more when rents began their rise a few years ago.”
Applicants have offered to pay a few months in advance or extra money and or even wine to secure the properties they want.
Those with pets often offer to pay more bond, which Tolley says is not legal under the Residential Tenancy Act as the maximum bond is four weeks’ rent.
Properties under $600 a week often have more than 100 applicants, while those over $600 have about 50.
Tolley says rates, insurance, interest rates and maintenance costs are still increasing and that is making it harder to hold rents down.
“The average landlord is not the guy driving around in a Ferrari. They are people who have worked two jobs, given up the weekends to paint and refurbish a property, and taken on the risk of owning it to help build a future. They are people who have turned their parents’ property into a rental to help secure support for their elderly parents in care.
“They are young families who have bought a bigger house for their growing family and turned their first house into a rental in the hopes of having an opportunity to help pay for their kids’ university.”
She says most investors she knows care about the welfare of their tenants and look after them.
Bay Financial Mentors kahukura Cody Westworth, who works with clients experiencing financial hardship and who are homeless or about to become homeless, says some are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul, which works only for so long.
“Eventually, they will start to miss rent altogether and have to utilise other services such as Work and Income or Whānau Direct to pay arrears. While this may help in the short time, they eventually will end up in the same position if income is not increased.”
She says the service occasionally sees people supplementing their income with illegal activities or by taking in unapproved boarders.
“Many of our clients are forced out of the rental market. I have seen families move here from other towns only to return home because they just can’t afford to live here. One of the main reasons is the inability to maintain suitable housing.
“As long as housing is in such short supply, landlords are able to charge as much as they like for rentals, pricing many whānau out of the market.”
Tenancy Services acting head of tenancy Allan Galloway says that, as the Residential Tenancies Act makes no reference to pets, it advises that any conditions regarding tenants having pets are clearly agreed before a tenancy agreement is signed.
It is illegal for a landlord to discriminate against potential tenants based on family status. However, landlords can specify the maximum number of people who can live in the home, which can affect some families.
“If tenants, or potential tenants, feel they have been discriminated against, they have an option of raising a complaint to either Tenancy Services, or the Human Rights Commission, not both,” he says.
Trade Me figures show the median weekly rent for the Bay of Plenty in April was $650, the same as Auckland and Wellington. That figure has jumped $100 a week since April 2021.
Due to the low number of listings in Tauranga in April, Trade Me was unable to supply analysis for the city. In February, the median figure was $665.
