Landlords want police help in making tenants pay up

Residential landlords have offered to regulate their industry by registering themselves, but in return they want police and court help in chasing tenants for money.

The landlords' national body, the Property Investors Federation, calculates that between $5 million and $6 million is owed to private landlords in rental arrears.

They estimate the Government is owed $1.6 million by tenants in state houses.

More than 186,000 residential landlords own 250,000 houses nationally, and about one-third of New Zealanders rent.

Auckland Property Investors Association president Andrew King said the scheme being proposed was that landlords would have to have training and obtain a certificate saying they had the ability to do their job.

The training would help them understand the Residential Tenancies Act, which governs the sector, and give them skills to deal professionally with their tenants.

The federation wants automatic registration of all landlords into a recognised industry body.

Mr King said most landlords owned only one or two properties, were not association members and were sometimes ignorant of the law. But they were owed $5 million to $6 million annually in unpaid rent.

Under the proposals, only certified landlords would be able to manage properties and cases going to the Tenancy Tribunal would need to cite the landlord's registration number before they could be heard.

Unregistered landlords would have to hand their properties over to a professional manager.

In return for self-regulation, landlords are demanding help in recovering unpaid rent and repairing properties damaged by tenants. Mr King said 80 per cent of tribunal hearings were brought by landlords owed money by tenants.

The Government is looking at imbalances in the rental property industry and has conducted a review of the act.

The Department of Building and Housing has held public meetings around the country and submissions closed last month.

The department is considering whether landlords and property managers should have to be registered, whether there should be a "quality mark" for their services, and whether standards for rental properties should be set out in law.

Helen Gatonyi, co-ordinator of the Tenants Protection Association in Christchurch, opposed some of the landlords' suggestions.

"They are looking at punitive measures and treating their customers with utter contempt. They don't see customers as people living in homes but as a money-making venture to extract as much out of them as possible."

The association was seeking only minor changes to the act, but it supported more industry regulation, particularly of property managers and agents "because it will bring a degree of professionalism", she said.

Tenants opposed being treated as criminals over rent arrears, and the tribunal rather than police should be left to deal with matters.

What landlords say

* The abandonment of a rental property with unpaid rent is theft and should be a criminal offence covered by district courts. When the tenancy is over, the Tenancy Tribunal should no longer have jurisdiction in the matter.

* Wilful damage of a rental property is deemed vandalism and should be a criminal offence covered by district courts.

* Cancelling rent payments on giving notice to vacate a property should be considered an unlawful act under the Residential Tenancies Act with a $500 fine imposed.

* Gaining a tenancy through providing a false identity or information should be considered an unlawful act with a $500 fine imposed.

* All tribunal costs and expenses in locating defaulting tenants should be included in awards against the tenant.

* Property owners should have the ability to charge tenants current interest rates as a penalty for late rent payments so the owed amount accumulates.