Landlord lowers price to reward good tenants

Rohan Knowles is lowering the rent at his Western Heights property. Photo/Stephen Parker

One local landlord has lowered the rent on his Western Heights property by $30 a week to reward good tenants - despite a rental shortage in the city.

Rohan Knowles said he bought the three-bedroom house 10 years ago and had originally lived in it, but had been renting it out for a "significant" amount of time.

After the last tenant left recently, Mr Knowles said 22 groups of people viewed the house and "all of them didn't fit the bill".

"Their references didn't stack up or they weren't able to pay the bond in advance."

He said the new tenants moved in yesterday but he didn't haven't any details about them as it had all been handled by his property manager.

"They have a proven history of paying their rent on time and keeping the place immaculate. Because of these good references, by lowering the rent we hope the place will be looked after and cared for."

He said the tenants had indicated they would like to stay long term which was always good news for a landlord.

Prior to the new tenants moving in, Mr Knowles ensured the house was in good condition - hanging up net curtains, checking fire alarms, chem-washing the deck and servicing the heat pump.

While some of these actions were in keeping with mandatory regulations he said he wanted to make sure the place "was somewhere nice to move into".

When asked about the Trade Me figures showing the median rent price advertised had decreased, Mr Knowles said he would "take it with a grain of salt". He said there were reasons rents went up, due to rates increasing or other contributing factors.

"People can't expect rent prices to stay the same ... when the house is empty it puts a strain on our other finances."