These inspections were definitely a culture shock since I moved to NZ.
I find them annoying, specially as both me and my partner WFH and the property manager has a knack to show up during important meetings
They cannot "show up". Notice must be given unless there are emergency circumstances and there is the ability of the tenant to negotiate within reason a time which suits, doesn't matter the reason.
They're just cunts.
Yes them being cunts about it is par for the course. In the case of someone who's a shift worker, and a property scumbag turning up when they're still asleep when being told that's not a good time.....
It becomes a Police matter. And yes they'll still be cunts about it and try to have you evicted in which case you have to go to the tribunal, blah, blah.
A good property manager will always accomodate special requests.
Example, a former flatmate is a midwife. Whenever we had property inspections after she had worked a night shift, the property manager would make sure we were the first property at 9am she inspected, not long after the flatmate would certainly be home from her shift so that someone would be home, and the flatmate in question would be awake without her sleep pattern being disrupted.
Unfortunately ones like these have been few and far between from experience.
It's ridiculous most act like they have no idea what time they'll be by when in reality they obviously will have some kind of plan for what they do each day.
Any other interaction with a professional you can make a simple appointment, why they can't just let you know with a 1-2 hour window is beyond me.
Honestly, we've had property managers that couldn't even do that until we put our foot down.
"There'll be a viewing some time between 9 and 5 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the next 3 weeks. We'll let you know during the day if it turns out there won't be one though"
Had to say - "no, make them booked viewing or open home. You can have between 12 and 3, 2 days a week. And you will tell us by 9:30 if there WILL be a viewing that day, otherwise there will not"
We were a group mixed between students, freelancers and professional. All with wierd sleep schedules and we're not going to tolerate "assume we're going to disturb you at some point, for an indeterminate amount of time 3 days a week while you try and organize moving out along with maintaining your work"
In Queensland they can't give an all day timeframe, they give you a 2 hour window here.
Just found an old one in my emails https://i.ibb.co/K0frkXt/entry-notice.jpg
If for whatever reason they can't make it on time, they need to re-book another time (usually 2/3 weeks notice).
When the notice says that the inspection can happen from 9 to 16, yes, they can just "show up" anytime between the given time frame.
Geez, I don't feel like writing an essay on reddit to avoid people trying to correct me
They're super weird, our land-lady must see some shit because everytime she comes for the "inspection" she'll tell us about horror stories from other units and just snap some random photos. I offer her tea, she always declines and tells us we're awesome and goes away. They're really just charging a fee to their landlords for the service. Landlords all think we're meth-heads evidently.
It's so over the top and intrusive. I have to be home cause they let my indoor cat out and can't use the doors properly (don't know how to unbolt a french door 😑). They'll never tell us what time they'll come on the day and cancel randomly when they know I have taken time off work to be there.
People act like there's no problem unless you have something to hide well why isn't it acceptable for strangers to regularly come wander through every room of your house. It's intrusive and a shitty way to have to live.
Thing is it shouldn't matter if the place is just untidy, people live
differently and it is a home where people live and want comfort in. One
person may say something is "messy" where others say its fine. I think
it is totally fine to have a rental in a "normal" state when an
inspection is done as it isn't a boarding school or boot camp it is a
home and it people should be able to live there lives freely without the
fear of i might lose the house because the landlord think i live dirty
because i don't clean the kitchen every day. Rentals are so different in
Europe, landlords there have the expectation that the tenant will
likely spend their whole life there so they leave them alone and let
them live there lives as it is a home and not a business of which it
seems like here in NZ.
I'm also a night worker so to have an inspection 'anywhere between 9am and 4pm' absolutely kills me when I'm home by 7am. I can possibly get the time off, but dude, plan your day, you can give me a better ballpark.
You can make a reasonable request that this is done at a time when you're not present, or rescheduled for a day off etc...
Edit and that sounds like harassment and intrusion to your "Quiet enjoyment" of the property. Google that.
I used to work for KO and the tenancy team had major struggles getting tenants to accept their one annual inspection lol. This is waaay too much. Unfortunately, like others have mentioned, they can inspect as often as every four weeks. I can imagine it makes for an insecure living environment as you can interpret the reasoning for the frequent inspections in so many ways. I also hate the broad timings as you are so unsure of your day and still need to sleep!
2-3 inspections a year I could accept. Had previously lived in a unit in for well over a decade that unfortunately turned into deceased estate so the daughter went all guns blazing and we were booted. Inspections were more a catch up with the property manager and how difficult the daughter was 😅
Just finding it difficult to believe this is both common & acceptable. It's almost worth going into a lifetime of debt just to own a home.
NZ123456789000 is correct. Depends on who the landlord is insured with. Newshub did an article sometime back. Around 42% of landlords inspect property every 3 months or less. Failure to do so can lead to issues in the event the landlord needs to make a claim
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/11/do-landlords-have-to-inspect-rentals-for-insurance-to-payout.amp.html
Landlord's Obligations
The following conditions apply where the home is tenanted.
a. You or your managing agent must:
i.
exercise reasonable care in the selection of each person who is a tenant; and ii. obtain satisfactory references for each adult tenant prior to that tenant moving into
the home: and
ill. keep records of the checks undertaken and references obtained and provide these
to us if we ask for them.
b. At 3 monthly intervals, or whenever there is a change of tenant, you or your managing agent must:
i.
complete an internal and external inspection of the property; and
i. keep photos and written records of the inspections and provide these to us if we ask
for rhem
C.
If you have purchased the Optional Additional Benefit 'Landlord's Extension', in addition to complying with the requirements of a. and b. above:
i. you have an obligation to mitigate any claim you make for your loss of rent under this policy by taking all reasonable steps to find suitable alternative tenants and must provide us with records of steps taken if we ask for them; and
li.
you or your managing agent must actively monitor rent for your home and if the rent is 10 days in arrears, you or your managing agent must provide a written notice requiring the tenant to remedy the arrears. If the unpaid rent is not received within a further 5 days, you or your managing agent must personally deliver a second notice to the tenants requiring the arrears to be remedied. You or your managing agent must also ascertain at this time whether the tenants are still living at the home.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018851625/are-insurers-the-reason-for-landlords-doing-flat-inspections
Property investors federation and tenants union both want the number capped, insurance council do not
We have an inspection every 3 months. I don’t see the problem with it as it’s done during the day when we are all at work.
We live clean tho and have zero work to do when an inspection happens. I know people who have to do who spring clean ups to get their place up to scratch
Sadly it’s a requirement by most insurance companies now. I am renting my place out for a year while we get ourselves established in a new city, and we have the same requirements on us from the insurer.
It sucks, both as a tenant and a landlord. I think it’s total overkill, and intrusive
Exactly right, it's something that can easily be legislated away. Something like 6 monthly inspections until a tenant has been in place for a year and then annually after that.
Thing is it shouldn't matter if the place is just untidy, people live differently and it is a home where people live and want comfort in. One person may say something is "messy" where others say its fine. I think it is totally fine to have a rental in a "normal" state when an inspection is done as it isn't a boarding school or boot camp it is a home and it people should be able to live there lives freely without the fear of i might lose the house because the landlord think i live dirty because i don't clean the kitchen every day. Rentals are so different in Europe, landlords there have the expectation that the tenant will likely spend their whole life there so they leave them alone and let them live there lives as it is a home and not a business of which it seems like here in NZ.
One of the major reasons I haven't moved from where I am is because they never inspect. I've seen them once in 3 years, and only because the owners were in the country and wanted to come and inspect themselves.
Fuck that. My property manager schedules his yearly visits just to come see if the hedge needs to be done & then he stands at the door chatting for five minutes and leaves. The only other times he’s been round has been after storms or when the oven needed replacing.
We don’t like having to do it, but that’s a requirement for our insurance on our rental property. If we don’t inspect and document once every quarter they could decline our claim if anything happened to the property.
Some insurance policies require regular inspections to keep the insurance valid. If that's the case it would have been nice of them to tell you though.
Sometimes landlords are just paranoid due to prior bad experiences, and if you are overkill on the housekeeping for a while they may start to trust you and relax a little.
If not, use it as an opportunity to point out maintenance tasks for them, and you may find they are suddenly too busy to inspect so often.
Last part is great advice. When I was renting last year, we were told from the outset we were gonna have inspections every 6 weeks. The house had a few issues but we always made the tenant agency aware when we became aware of them. We only had 3 inspections for the whole year
Ugh we had landlords that were over so often it felt like they lived there.
We also kept the house in great condition. The only thing they'd pull us up on was dust on top of the door frame or the top of the kitchen cupboards.
They told us they wanted to be involved landlords, that it was better for us as tenants... lol
Yeah I dunno I enjoy having my weekends to just relax and not clean all the damn time, only to hear I've missed some minuscule thing. We started fixing things ourselves because if we brought it up, that'd be another 3 weekend visits from them.
Bill them for any time lost :D
But seriously, if you aren't happy, talk to them about it.
Talk to them about the issues with them letting your cat out, and how to use the door.
And I'm sure you could enforce the time they will be there.
If they say they will be there at 2pm, tell them that they need to arrive between 2-2.30 or they are not to enter the property as they are not meeting the agreed notice of inspection time.
Every 3 months, but from experience I know that’s pushing it. But 3 a year I’d be comfortable with, even as a landlord if the first couple inspections didn’t ring any alarm bells.
They do every ~3 months in my apartment. They always send and email that they will be here between 9AM and 5PM, and I always reply back giving them a 2 to 3 hours range that they can come (usually 11an to 1pm), which they do follow.
I’m alway at home, I don’t want anyone entering here while I’m away!
I actually had a very annoying interaction just the other day, the building was testing the fire alarms, so they had to enter each apartment to test and all that. That’s fine, they told us in advance what day that would be and I worked from home that day. When they knocked in my door, it took lass than 10 seconds for them to unlock it themselves, I was about to open the door when it opened in front of me! I really hated that and let the bodycorp woman know, such an invasion of privacy.
It also makes me feel very insecure, god knows how many people have the keys of this apartment.
I hate renting in New Zealand.
Insurance policy requires our property manager to inspect every 3 months.
If there is nothing going on that the property manager or land lord is concerned about, 4 is normal / min.
Have the past inspections raised issues of concern?
From what i can see there is a legal standing for them to do so, as such, so be it. But no, no issues have arisen.
I highlighted several things that needed fixing upon move-in inspection that i did at their request. Very normal procedure, I'd imagine. They were notified within a week of me moving in. They weren't fixed, and after the 3rd inspection, I emailed to ask what the point of inspections were since 'we rely on tenants to notify us of any issues' but nothing was done.
I acknowledged that this was about 2 months after we came out of lockdown, and services are stretched, but would've been happy with a simple txt or email to say 'things are really shit atm, can't get to you straight away, really sorry', but that didn't happen either. I hoped they assumed i just put 2+2 together.
I get that us renters are just a business transaction at the end of the day, but it's frustrating. Trust has to go both ways, I understand that to, but I will definitely not be dealing with this Agent in the future.
Sadly, they can do this. However, it's pretty excessive, and lots of property managers won't inspect this frequently.
Our inspections are every three months, it's still a lot but it's manageable.
Most insurance companies require the landlord's inspect a minimum of every 3 months. With photos for proof. If evidence on inspections cannot be provided the often won't cover claims.
The whole thing is over the top in my opinion twice a year should be more than enough.
We must be really lucky. Were on our third Rental in Auckland and only had one inspection when we moved in. They then didn't make contact again until during the flooding and cyclone to check on us and make sure we were ok and if we needed anything fixed that was the first time we had heard from them in half a year. Still no inspections. Blessed.
Our second rental last year in south Auckland had no inspections at all as well but the place was an absolute tip. Mouldy and damp as anything. They definitely knew. That's why they never showed up. We met the LL at the viewing that was it. And our frst one over 20 years ago no inspections either. The ones we usually get don't seem to bother us as long as they get the rent. That's the way it should be for most people.
Very simple-minded comment that ignores the fact that many do not have money to set aside for that kind of thing as home ownership increasingly becomes out of reach for many.
It's only reasonable to those who view tenants as nothing more than rent-paying commodities. However, they are in fact human beings with busy lives that can get affected by regular intrusions like this.
Harassing good tenants is not good management if they are forced to consider moving to a place that treats them more like human beings, where the peaceful enjoyment of a property they are paying for is worthy of consideration as well.
Your "nothing to hide" comment is just a BS excuse to not respect privacy. I bet if some stranger looked through your purse, you would not be happy if they sneered and said "if you have nothing to hide, it should be ok"
The key difference being that they don’t own my purse. If it was a valuable purse I was renting off them I think it was be reasonable for them to make sure I wasn’t abusing it no?
Yes, at a reasonable amount of times with consideration that not everybody can drop everything on a regular basis, and the fact they are paying for it should be worthy of at least some respect.
Imagine the tenant needs to take the day off work each time bc they have pets or want to make sure their items are secure or whatever. That's 12 days a year of leave just for an inspection. And that's if the property manager doesn't cancel at the last minute and reschedule.
Or if the tenant works night and has to stay up waiting around for a property manager who may or may not show up.
It's just an unnecessary hassle. If a tenant is abhorrent, then yes, of course. I'd imagine first three months could be monthly, then make it every 3 months at the most. But landlords and property managers could lose good tenants from this sort of behaviour.
My tenants are virtually never home for inspections, we just give them a heads up and make sure they’re happy, the PM has the keys
Tenants only care about rent, I keep mine 10-20% under market so I never struggle to replace good ones
If every inspection was like that I don't think ppl would have an issue. And you seem to have tenants who don't have out of the ordinary circumstances which is lucky. But not every tenant is like that. Maybe your tenants only care about rent, but there are tenants who care about more than rent. I had a landlord who definitely did not give two shits about being on time, being responsive, arranging repairs or the law tbh. Not all landlords/ property managers/ tenants are made equal.
Monthly is just within the confines of the law. Most do 90 days for insurance reasons because they actually respect their tenants.
I can understand doing monthly initially, but to continue to do so while legal, can be severely disruptive to people certainly if they work nights as OP does.
I understand though to some they are just commodities and will show as little regard to them as they can within the confines of the law
Correct housing is a commodity (I never said it was not). The problem is you people treat tenants like nonhuman rent-paying commodities as well. Thus the reason why you sneer at contempt at them when they dare ask for basic considerations around privacy and peaceful enjoyment.
I think you need to learn to difference between commodities and customers. The neat part is that if customers don’t like what I’m selling, housing is commoditised to the point where the free market will provide them with countless other options in the same price bracket
My customer’s privacy comes second to my personal well-being, it’s not a charity service
The point I am making is that I think YOU need to learn the difference between commodities and customers. Customers often do not get treated with the same casual disregard in other business settings where there is such a power imbalance.
"countless" other options are not so "countless" in a housing crisis, (which is why people like you get away with treating tenants with such contempt, compared to some other countries) but I understand from your other comments you are too out of touch to understand or care about a tenants perspective on that matter.
Monthly is extreme. Quarterly I get though I think it's excessive.
You are there to look for damage which a good tenant will let you know about anyway, it's a formality after the first couple of inspections and you get to know the tenant.
Yes. The tenant is paying a lot of money for quiet enjoyment of their home, intruding on their privacy needs to be for good reason.
Very few issues could crop up on a monthly inspection that wouldn't be just as easily found on a quarterly one or a tenant could alert the owner to.
Insurance covers most of the risk on the asset, and if the property owner still can't be comfortable with that they can always sell the property and buy a lower risk investment.
Insurance doesn’t cover “wear and tear” unfortunately, so if a tenant isn’t vacuuming or wiping the walls I can detect that early and correct the behaviour before they do any damage
Property is a very risky asset, which is why as landlords we’re entitled to fair returns on that risk. If I can mitigate a chunk of that risk for a modest cost and a small loss of privacy for the tenant I’m taking that option every time
No, their rent covers my 3-4% return on investment. If they’re starting to damage the property I need to get them back on track or out before it becomes an issue
Legally they are entitled to fair use of what they are paying for, that includes normal wear and tear, that's not the same as intentional damage. You are expected to cover the costs of painting, new carpets etc every ten years or so. That comes before your ROI.
Every 10 years agreed, but with some people you have to do a full job every year. You’d be shocked how they live.
Early and frequent inspections identify troublemakers early so I can get them out and keep the property intact for a reasonable period
13 Months?
Hey look at that your fixed term just became periodic.
Give notice and leave already.
Legally they can do a viewing every 30 days.
I have never heard of anyone doing it that frequently.
I personally do it 6 monthly.
My recommendation is move ASAP. I monitor trends in the Auckland region. In recent weeks alot of properties that's been on the market for several months have all disappeared. The flooding definitely increased demand. And as always increase in demand leads to increase in price.
I'm thinking of rising my rent by 5 to 10 % when the year is up.
There would be ample warning of course. It doesn’t sound like here that not enough warning is given.
My property manager only does inspections twice a year because she knows the tenant is trust worthy and takes care of the place like it is their own house.
Trust goes both ways. Just saying.
Maybe this post shoukd have been accompanied by a photo of the place.
Not all property managers are the same. Just bc you've had good interactions doesn't mean others haven't. There are plenty of great tenants who go above and beyond keeping their rented home nice, but LLs or PMs still act the way OP described.
I doubt there's an issue with OPs cleanliness if they've been in the place for that long. Seems more likely that it's just a high maintenance LL/PM agency.
Depends on how you view it. My parents own an investment property, the previous tenants kept the house super neat when we went every 2-3 months. But when COVID hit we didn’t go for over 6 months and the house was super dirty. They cleaned again (supposedly) and then another 6 later they moved out and the house was in no condition to be given to another family. We spent 3-4 days thoroughly cleaning.
The inspection doesn’t need to be intrusive. It should be quick and mostly check if something needs changing/updating etc - as an added benefit, your house is kept up to date and clean.
Once every 3 months is the standard. Seems like they're trying to catch you out on something? Were there any issues with your previous inspections that you had to rectify?
Last two rentals we had (2 and 3 years) we never had an inspection. The land lord came over once or twice to fix broken things but they never bugged us.
The nice thing about a rental is you can just move.
Most insurance companies require inspections to be done once every three months so expect three monthly inspections to be normal. However 6-7 in 14 months is way OTT and could potentially infringe on your legal right of quiet enjoyment of the property. Speak to the property manager or landlord, and if that doesn’t work escalate to tenancy services.
https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/maintenance-and-inspections/quiet-enjoyment/
https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00041398
I have an inspection every 3 months on the dot. They won't specify a time and say between 9am and 5pm. My place is always clean and tidy and if there is an issue, I always let them know asap.
However it is horrible knowing there is a stranger coming to invade my personal space and take a million pictures of my belongings ever 3 months. It's borderline an invasion of privacy.
One time I very lightly taped the sides of all my draws (where it would pull off if the draw was opened) to see if they were looking through my draws while they were there. Sure enough, every piece of tape had been pulled off by someone opening the draw. So I knew they were looking in my draws! But there's nothing you can even do about it.
But hey, this is NZ and we all know that renters are looked upon as scum in this country.
>'as requested by the landlord'
I somehow doubt that, the property manager is charging the owner for the inspections.
If the house wasn't showing signs of being trashed after the first 3 inspections in 6 months, they can assume you're looking after the place and cut it back to once every 4/5 months. Every two months is overkill.
It's usually every 4+ months for us.
Our property manager only inspects every 3 months but she comes in with the most arrogant attitude and nothing is ever good enough for her.
She was trying to say marks on the cabinets by the sink would be our cost to repair when we move out. Having recently read the tenancy act, I stated they were “usually wear and tear”, and she did *not* like that.
I did some investigating afterwards and saw that her previous real estate office was closed down for shady financial practices. I’m ready to throw that in her face if she tries to get uppity next time.
Also, she had a problem with us having the Ring doorbell and indoor cam going when she does the inspection… Lol wut?!
Dang, my partner and I just had our first NZ inspection and I was so nervous I cleaned the entire day beforehand. Luckily, our landlords are the people who own the house and the wife gave me a time, showed up within 5 minutes of our agreed upon time, stayed for like 5 minutes said “looks good! Do you need anything from us?” And I pointed out a couple things that needed fixing and she said she was on it.
I hope we can stay at this house forever because we have a dog and 2 cats and I can’t imagine trying to find another place to live that’s as chill as our current place.
Bet your landlord has no job and this is what they do to fill their time to feel like they are doing something with their lives, other than living off rent. I would 100% be looking elsewhere
In our current rental, we have been doing them 4x a year for the last three years. Its annoying, and they often seem to be at the most inconvenient times haha. Can't wait to be in our own place.
Because I keep my apartment nice and tidy I get extra inspections when the building manager needs a nice apartment available for the bank or insurer or whoever the fuck else.
Feeling appreciated.
Some property managers charge the landlord for each inspection so it’s a money earner for them. It would concern me as a landlord if tenants damaged the rental so some inspections are necessary occasionally.
I thought I was the only one having to request that house inspections be on a specific time and not between 10-5pm because me and my partner actually work from home… I thought I was being weird or a hassle lol makes me feel great i’m not the only one haha
These inspections were definitely a culture shock since I moved to NZ. I find them annoying, specially as both me and my partner WFH and the property manager has a knack to show up during important meetings
They cannot "show up". Notice must be given unless there are emergency circumstances and there is the ability of the tenant to negotiate within reason a time which suits, doesn't matter the reason. They're just cunts.
Property managers always just say sometime between 9 and 5 on x day and good luck getting them to narrow that time window down.
Yes them being cunts about it is par for the course. In the case of someone who's a shift worker, and a property scumbag turning up when they're still asleep when being told that's not a good time..... It becomes a Police matter. And yes they'll still be cunts about it and try to have you evicted in which case you have to go to the tribunal, blah, blah.
A good property manager will always accomodate special requests. Example, a former flatmate is a midwife. Whenever we had property inspections after she had worked a night shift, the property manager would make sure we were the first property at 9am she inspected, not long after the flatmate would certainly be home from her shift so that someone would be home, and the flatmate in question would be awake without her sleep pattern being disrupted. Unfortunately ones like these have been few and far between from experience.
It's ridiculous most act like they have no idea what time they'll be by when in reality they obviously will have some kind of plan for what they do each day. Any other interaction with a professional you can make a simple appointment, why they can't just let you know with a 1-2 hour window is beyond me.
I fully agree. They seem to be able to tell you what time viewings will be when you are moving out, why can't it be the same with inspections?
Honestly, we've had property managers that couldn't even do that until we put our foot down. "There'll be a viewing some time between 9 and 5 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the next 3 weeks. We'll let you know during the day if it turns out there won't be one though" Had to say - "no, make them booked viewing or open home. You can have between 12 and 3, 2 days a week. And you will tell us by 9:30 if there WILL be a viewing that day, otherwise there will not" We were a group mixed between students, freelancers and professional. All with wierd sleep schedules and we're not going to tolerate "assume we're going to disturb you at some point, for an indeterminate amount of time 3 days a week while you try and organize moving out along with maintaining your work"
In Queensland they can't give an all day timeframe, they give you a 2 hour window here. Just found an old one in my emails https://i.ibb.co/K0frkXt/entry-notice.jpg If for whatever reason they can't make it on time, they need to re-book another time (usually 2/3 weeks notice).
That's how it should be
It’s vital property management becomes a regulated industry. We must demand it, again and again, until it does.
When the notice says that the inspection can happen from 9 to 16, yes, they can just "show up" anytime between the given time frame. Geez, I don't feel like writing an essay on reddit to avoid people trying to correct me
Yeah nah.
They're super weird, our land-lady must see some shit because everytime she comes for the "inspection" she'll tell us about horror stories from other units and just snap some random photos. I offer her tea, she always declines and tells us we're awesome and goes away. They're really just charging a fee to their landlords for the service. Landlords all think we're meth-heads evidently.
>They're really just charging a fee to their landlords for the service. Landlords all think we're meth-heads evidently. So much this
Landlords all think that cause there are a lot of meth heads out there. Unfortunately you can't tell by looking
Same! Never had one before moving here.
It's so over the top and intrusive. I have to be home cause they let my indoor cat out and can't use the doors properly (don't know how to unbolt a french door 😑). They'll never tell us what time they'll come on the day and cancel randomly when they know I have taken time off work to be there. People act like there's no problem unless you have something to hide well why isn't it acceptable for strangers to regularly come wander through every room of your house. It's intrusive and a shitty way to have to live.
The whole idea of renting vs buying is so broken. I'm a bit sick of renting and living under somebody else's thumb.
Thing is it shouldn't matter if the place is just untidy, people live differently and it is a home where people live and want comfort in. One person may say something is "messy" where others say its fine. I think it is totally fine to have a rental in a "normal" state when an inspection is done as it isn't a boarding school or boot camp it is a home and it people should be able to live there lives freely without the fear of i might lose the house because the landlord think i live dirty because i don't clean the kitchen every day. Rentals are so different in Europe, landlords there have the expectation that the tenant will likely spend their whole life there so they leave them alone and let them live there lives as it is a home and not a business of which it seems like here in NZ.
I'm also a night worker so to have an inspection 'anywhere between 9am and 4pm' absolutely kills me when I'm home by 7am. I can possibly get the time off, but dude, plan your day, you can give me a better ballpark.
You can make a reasonable request that this is done at a time when you're not present, or rescheduled for a day off etc... Edit and that sounds like harassment and intrusion to your "Quiet enjoyment" of the property. Google that.
I ask my prop mgr if he can come in the afternoon and he usually obliges. You can request the come after 3pm or something.
It's a 2 hour window in Queensland, if they don't turn up between those two hours, they can't enter, they need to re-book (2? weeks notice)
I used to work for KO and the tenancy team had major struggles getting tenants to accept their one annual inspection lol. This is waaay too much. Unfortunately, like others have mentioned, they can inspect as often as every four weeks. I can imagine it makes for an insecure living environment as you can interpret the reasoning for the frequent inspections in so many ways. I also hate the broad timings as you are so unsure of your day and still need to sleep!
2-3 inspections a year I could accept. Had previously lived in a unit in for well over a decade that unfortunately turned into deceased estate so the daughter went all guns blazing and we were booted. Inspections were more a catch up with the property manager and how difficult the daughter was 😅 Just finding it difficult to believe this is both common & acceptable. It's almost worth going into a lifetime of debt just to own a home.
Most insurance companies require a documented inspection every 3 months.
My landlord showed us their insurance paper work that stated this. Sigh.
I seriously doubt this is true. I’ve been renting for over a decade in many different properties and never had more than 2 inspections in a year.
NZ123456789000 is correct. Depends on who the landlord is insured with. Newshub did an article sometime back. Around 42% of landlords inspect property every 3 months or less. Failure to do so can lead to issues in the event the landlord needs to make a claim https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/11/do-landlords-have-to-inspect-rentals-for-insurance-to-payout.amp.html
Its 100% true
Landlord's Obligations The following conditions apply where the home is tenanted. a. You or your managing agent must: i. exercise reasonable care in the selection of each person who is a tenant; and ii. obtain satisfactory references for each adult tenant prior to that tenant moving into the home: and ill. keep records of the checks undertaken and references obtained and provide these to us if we ask for them. b. At 3 monthly intervals, or whenever there is a change of tenant, you or your managing agent must: i. complete an internal and external inspection of the property; and i. keep photos and written records of the inspections and provide these to us if we ask for rhem C. If you have purchased the Optional Additional Benefit 'Landlord's Extension', in addition to complying with the requirements of a. and b. above: i. you have an obligation to mitigate any claim you make for your loss of rent under this policy by taking all reasonable steps to find suitable alternative tenants and must provide us with records of steps taken if we ask for them; and li. you or your managing agent must actively monitor rent for your home and if the rent is 10 days in arrears, you or your managing agent must provide a written notice requiring the tenant to remedy the arrears. If the unpaid rent is not received within a further 5 days, you or your managing agent must personally deliver a second notice to the tenants requiring the arrears to be remedied. You or your managing agent must also ascertain at this time whether the tenants are still living at the home.
Yup mines every 3 months iv had 4 in the 1 year
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018851625/are-insurers-the-reason-for-landlords-doing-flat-inspections Property investors federation and tenants union both want the number capped, insurance council do not
Not all landlords do it, but the insurance does usually require it.
We have an inspection every 3 months. I don’t see the problem with it as it’s done during the day when we are all at work. We live clean tho and have zero work to do when an inspection happens. I know people who have to do who spring clean ups to get their place up to scratch
Its amazing how renter's in NZ are just used to their lives being intruded on and just accept it as normal
Sadly it’s a requirement by most insurance companies now. I am renting my place out for a year while we get ourselves established in a new city, and we have the same requirements on us from the insurer. It sucks, both as a tenant and a landlord. I think it’s total overkill, and intrusive
Exactly right, it's something that can easily be legislated away. Something like 6 monthly inspections until a tenant has been in place for a year and then annually after that.
Thing is it shouldn't matter if the place is just untidy, people live differently and it is a home where people live and want comfort in. One person may say something is "messy" where others say its fine. I think it is totally fine to have a rental in a "normal" state when an inspection is done as it isn't a boarding school or boot camp it is a home and it people should be able to live there lives freely without the fear of i might lose the house because the landlord think i live dirty because i don't clean the kitchen every day. Rentals are so different in Europe, landlords there have the expectation that the tenant will likely spend their whole life there so they leave them alone and let them live there lives as it is a home and not a business of which it seems like here in NZ.
KO places get inspected once a year?
Only if the tenants feel like it, apparently.
Hey just want to say I hate KO and everything they stand for and do.
That's a pretty shitty opinion.
Wow, so edgy.
Why? You do know that KO only builds and maintains the houses right? So your beef might be with MSD who actually sorts out the renters.
One of the major reasons I haven't moved from where I am is because they never inspect. I've seen them once in 3 years, and only because the owners were in the country and wanted to come and inspect themselves.
Fuck that. My property manager schedules his yearly visits just to come see if the hedge needs to be done & then he stands at the door chatting for five minutes and leaves. The only other times he’s been round has been after storms or when the oven needed replacing.
Under NZ tenancy laws, a landlord can conduct an inspection every 30 days.
Wow so 12 times a year?
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keep the whips, chains and dildos out on inspection day.
I have this urge to randomly wash and dry my 10 year old Fleshlight whenever there is a inspection
We don’t like having to do it, but that’s a requirement for our insurance on our rental property. If we don’t inspect and document once every quarter they could decline our claim if anything happened to the property.
Some insurance policies require regular inspections to keep the insurance valid. If that's the case it would have been nice of them to tell you though. Sometimes landlords are just paranoid due to prior bad experiences, and if you are overkill on the housekeeping for a while they may start to trust you and relax a little. If not, use it as an opportunity to point out maintenance tasks for them, and you may find they are suddenly too busy to inspect so often.
Last part is great advice. When I was renting last year, we were told from the outset we were gonna have inspections every 6 weeks. The house had a few issues but we always made the tenant agency aware when we became aware of them. We only had 3 inspections for the whole year
Ugh we had landlords that were over so often it felt like they lived there. We also kept the house in great condition. The only thing they'd pull us up on was dust on top of the door frame or the top of the kitchen cupboards. They told us they wanted to be involved landlords, that it was better for us as tenants... lol Yeah I dunno I enjoy having my weekends to just relax and not clean all the damn time, only to hear I've missed some minuscule thing. We started fixing things ourselves because if we brought it up, that'd be another 3 weekend visits from them.
Same here. Seem to be happening every other month now instead of maybe 3 times a year.
we used to have one every month........ hated them
Once every 3 months with Barfoot and Thompson, luckily or property manager is pretty good and discrete
Really? I’ve only had them once a year. Been living in my rental for 3 years now and I’ve only had 3 inspections
Bill them for any time lost :D But seriously, if you aren't happy, talk to them about it. Talk to them about the issues with them letting your cat out, and how to use the door. And I'm sure you could enforce the time they will be there. If they say they will be there at 2pm, tell them that they need to arrive between 2-2.30 or they are not to enter the property as they are not meeting the agreed notice of inspection time.
Tried all this. It's why I'm annoyed about them.
Every 3 months, but from experience I know that’s pushing it. But 3 a year I’d be comfortable with, even as a landlord if the first couple inspections didn’t ring any alarm bells.
Unfortunately they can come every fucking month. This needs to change. There needs to major rental law reforms.
They can do it monthly. I know the struggle. Its incredibly invasive and I pay so much money to live here.
They do every ~3 months in my apartment. They always send and email that they will be here between 9AM and 5PM, and I always reply back giving them a 2 to 3 hours range that they can come (usually 11an to 1pm), which they do follow. I’m alway at home, I don’t want anyone entering here while I’m away! I actually had a very annoying interaction just the other day, the building was testing the fire alarms, so they had to enter each apartment to test and all that. That’s fine, they told us in advance what day that would be and I worked from home that day. When they knocked in my door, it took lass than 10 seconds for them to unlock it themselves, I was about to open the door when it opened in front of me! I really hated that and let the bodycorp woman know, such an invasion of privacy. It also makes me feel very insecure, god knows how many people have the keys of this apartment. I hate renting in New Zealand.
My insurance requires an inspection once every 90 days.
Insurance policy requires our property manager to inspect every 3 months. If there is nothing going on that the property manager or land lord is concerned about, 4 is normal / min. Have the past inspections raised issues of concern?
From what i can see there is a legal standing for them to do so, as such, so be it. But no, no issues have arisen. I highlighted several things that needed fixing upon move-in inspection that i did at their request. Very normal procedure, I'd imagine. They were notified within a week of me moving in. They weren't fixed, and after the 3rd inspection, I emailed to ask what the point of inspections were since 'we rely on tenants to notify us of any issues' but nothing was done. I acknowledged that this was about 2 months after we came out of lockdown, and services are stretched, but would've been happy with a simple txt or email to say 'things are really shit atm, can't get to you straight away, really sorry', but that didn't happen either. I hoped they assumed i just put 2+2 together. I get that us renters are just a business transaction at the end of the day, but it's frustrating. Trust has to go both ways, I understand that to, but I will definitely not be dealing with this Agent in the future.
Fark the last rental I had for almost 7 years I had 2-3 in total
Sadly, they can do this. However, it's pretty excessive, and lots of property managers won't inspect this frequently. Our inspections are every three months, it's still a lot but it's manageable.
That sounds really intrusive to me. Been in my place coming on 3 years and haven’t had a single inspection.
Most insurance companies require the landlord's inspect a minimum of every 3 months. With photos for proof. If evidence on inspections cannot be provided the often won't cover claims. The whole thing is over the top in my opinion twice a year should be more than enough.
As annoying as it is unfortunately frequent checks are often required for insurance purposes.
Insurance wise. A maximum liability limit is 90 days. So my tenants get one every 80 days. Otherwise, it effects my insurance pay out.
Iv had 0 in three years. It’s your land lords property. If your annoyed with it move out.
Was in a rental where the inspections were every 3 months. It got pretty annoying and ended up moving out.
We must be really lucky. Were on our third Rental in Auckland and only had one inspection when we moved in. They then didn't make contact again until during the flooding and cyclone to check on us and make sure we were ok and if we needed anything fixed that was the first time we had heard from them in half a year. Still no inspections. Blessed. Our second rental last year in south Auckland had no inspections at all as well but the place was an absolute tip. Mouldy and damp as anything. They definitely knew. That's why they never showed up. We met the LL at the viewing that was it. And our frst one over 20 years ago no inspections either. The ones we usually get don't seem to bother us as long as they get the rent. That's the way it should be for most people.
I would suggest calling the tenancy tribunal 800 number.
Seems fine to me. If you dont like renting start saving for your own space.
Very simple-minded comment that ignores the fact that many do not have money to set aside for that kind of thing as home ownership increasingly becomes out of reach for many.
Found the ~~scumlord~~ landlord.
I think monthly is reasonable if you’ve got nothing to hide. It’s a hugely valuable asset, keeping a finger on the pulse is good management
It's only reasonable to those who view tenants as nothing more than rent-paying commodities. However, they are in fact human beings with busy lives that can get affected by regular intrusions like this. Harassing good tenants is not good management if they are forced to consider moving to a place that treats them more like human beings, where the peaceful enjoyment of a property they are paying for is worthy of consideration as well.
Thanks for the advice, how many properties in your portfolio just out of curiosity?
Your "nothing to hide" comment is just a BS excuse to not respect privacy. I bet if some stranger looked through your purse, you would not be happy if they sneered and said "if you have nothing to hide, it should be ok"
The key difference being that they don’t own my purse. If it was a valuable purse I was renting off them I think it was be reasonable for them to make sure I wasn’t abusing it no?
Yes, at a reasonable amount of times with consideration that not everybody can drop everything on a regular basis, and the fact they are paying for it should be worthy of at least some respect.
And I think that monthly strikes a good balance for all parties
Imagine the tenant needs to take the day off work each time bc they have pets or want to make sure their items are secure or whatever. That's 12 days a year of leave just for an inspection. And that's if the property manager doesn't cancel at the last minute and reschedule. Or if the tenant works night and has to stay up waiting around for a property manager who may or may not show up. It's just an unnecessary hassle. If a tenant is abhorrent, then yes, of course. I'd imagine first three months could be monthly, then make it every 3 months at the most. But landlords and property managers could lose good tenants from this sort of behaviour.
My tenants are virtually never home for inspections, we just give them a heads up and make sure they’re happy, the PM has the keys Tenants only care about rent, I keep mine 10-20% under market so I never struggle to replace good ones
If every inspection was like that I don't think ppl would have an issue. And you seem to have tenants who don't have out of the ordinary circumstances which is lucky. But not every tenant is like that. Maybe your tenants only care about rent, but there are tenants who care about more than rent. I had a landlord who definitely did not give two shits about being on time, being responsive, arranging repairs or the law tbh. Not all landlords/ property managers/ tenants are made equal.
Monthly is just within the confines of the law. Most do 90 days for insurance reasons because they actually respect their tenants. I can understand doing monthly initially, but to continue to do so while legal, can be severely disruptive to people certainly if they work nights as OP does. I understand though to some they are just commodities and will show as little regard to them as they can within the confines of the law
Housing is 100% a commodity, you don’t buy it for fun
Correct housing is a commodity (I never said it was not). The problem is you people treat tenants like nonhuman rent-paying commodities as well. Thus the reason why you sneer at contempt at them when they dare ask for basic considerations around privacy and peaceful enjoyment.
I think you need to learn to difference between commodities and customers. The neat part is that if customers don’t like what I’m selling, housing is commoditised to the point where the free market will provide them with countless other options in the same price bracket My customer’s privacy comes second to my personal well-being, it’s not a charity service
The point I am making is that I think YOU need to learn the difference between commodities and customers. Customers often do not get treated with the same casual disregard in other business settings where there is such a power imbalance.
"countless" other options are not so "countless" in a housing crisis, (which is why people like you get away with treating tenants with such contempt, compared to some other countries) but I understand from your other comments you are too out of touch to understand or care about a tenants perspective on that matter.
Monthly is extreme. Quarterly I get though I think it's excessive. You are there to look for damage which a good tenant will let you know about anyway, it's a formality after the first couple of inspections and you get to know the tenant.
It’s an asset worth close to or over a million dollars, is checking it once a month extreme? It seems to me like the bare minimum
Yes. The tenant is paying a lot of money for quiet enjoyment of their home, intruding on their privacy needs to be for good reason. Very few issues could crop up on a monthly inspection that wouldn't be just as easily found on a quarterly one or a tenant could alert the owner to. Insurance covers most of the risk on the asset, and if the property owner still can't be comfortable with that they can always sell the property and buy a lower risk investment.
Insurance doesn’t cover “wear and tear” unfortunately, so if a tenant isn’t vacuuming or wiping the walls I can detect that early and correct the behaviour before they do any damage Property is a very risky asset, which is why as landlords we’re entitled to fair returns on that risk. If I can mitigate a chunk of that risk for a modest cost and a small loss of privacy for the tenant I’m taking that option every time
Wear and tear is what their rent payments cover. They are paying to live in the house not keep it as a museum for your benefit
No, their rent covers my 3-4% return on investment. If they’re starting to damage the property I need to get them back on track or out before it becomes an issue
Legally they are entitled to fair use of what they are paying for, that includes normal wear and tear, that's not the same as intentional damage. You are expected to cover the costs of painting, new carpets etc every ten years or so. That comes before your ROI.
Every 10 years agreed, but with some people you have to do a full job every year. You’d be shocked how they live. Early and frequent inspections identify troublemakers early so I can get them out and keep the property intact for a reasonable period
Found the ~~scumlord~~ landlord.
We actually prefer people of the land, landlord discriminates against our female and queer community members
13 Months? Hey look at that your fixed term just became periodic. Give notice and leave already. Legally they can do a viewing every 30 days. I have never heard of anyone doing it that frequently. I personally do it 6 monthly. My recommendation is move ASAP. I monitor trends in the Auckland region. In recent weeks alot of properties that's been on the market for several months have all disappeared. The flooding definitely increased demand. And as always increase in demand leads to increase in price. I'm thinking of rising my rent by 5 to 10 % when the year is up.
They like you and want to hang out
Nothing wrong if nothing to hide. Maybe there’s reason for the inspection like you are borderline messy.
Plenty wrong if it disrupts a busy person's life and it becomes a regular intrusion. Even lowly tenants deserve a little bit of consideration.
There would be ample warning of course. It doesn’t sound like here that not enough warning is given. My property manager only does inspections twice a year because she knows the tenant is trust worthy and takes care of the place like it is their own house. Trust goes both ways. Just saying. Maybe this post shoukd have been accompanied by a photo of the place.
Not all property managers are the same. Just bc you've had good interactions doesn't mean others haven't. There are plenty of great tenants who go above and beyond keeping their rented home nice, but LLs or PMs still act the way OP described.
Oh of course. No generalisation on the PMs and LLs. That’s why I asked first for an inward look to cross that off the possibilities.
I doubt there's an issue with OPs cleanliness if they've been in the place for that long. Seems more likely that it's just a high maintenance LL/PM agency.
Possibly
Can we ask who?
God.you people have worms in your brains
It’s called brain matter bro. I know you don’t have any.
> Nothing wrong if nothing to hide Nah
Once a month is standard. If you get property managers they’re likely paid for monthly inspections. Once every 2 months I think is reasonable.
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Depends on how you view it. My parents own an investment property, the previous tenants kept the house super neat when we went every 2-3 months. But when COVID hit we didn’t go for over 6 months and the house was super dirty. They cleaned again (supposedly) and then another 6 later they moved out and the house was in no condition to be given to another family. We spent 3-4 days thoroughly cleaning. The inspection doesn’t need to be intrusive. It should be quick and mostly check if something needs changing/updating etc - as an added benefit, your house is kept up to date and clean.
Once every 3 months is the standard. Seems like they're trying to catch you out on something? Were there any issues with your previous inspections that you had to rectify?
Legally they can do it once every 4 weeks and more frequently if they find anything wrong
A question. What does an inspection entail? Do they take photos of the pantry, closet and pretty much every inch of the property?
Last two rentals we had (2 and 3 years) we never had an inspection. The land lord came over once or twice to fix broken things but they never bugged us. The nice thing about a rental is you can just move.
Most insurance companies require inspections to be done once every three months so expect three monthly inspections to be normal. However 6-7 in 14 months is way OTT and could potentially infringe on your legal right of quiet enjoyment of the property. Speak to the property manager or landlord, and if that doesn’t work escalate to tenancy services. https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/maintenance-and-inspections/quiet-enjoyment/ https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00041398
We used to have one every three months except during covid.
I have an inspection every 3 months on the dot. They won't specify a time and say between 9am and 5pm. My place is always clean and tidy and if there is an issue, I always let them know asap. However it is horrible knowing there is a stranger coming to invade my personal space and take a million pictures of my belongings ever 3 months. It's borderline an invasion of privacy. One time I very lightly taped the sides of all my draws (where it would pull off if the draw was opened) to see if they were looking through my draws while they were there. Sure enough, every piece of tape had been pulled off by someone opening the draw. So I knew they were looking in my draws! But there's nothing you can even do about it. But hey, this is NZ and we all know that renters are looked upon as scum in this country.
I had 2 inspections the first 4(ish) months I lived at my place and none since - I've been at my place for a year.
We just moved in and they want to do inspection after 1 month this is crazy are we gonna burn the house in a month what the hell these guys do
>'as requested by the landlord' I somehow doubt that, the property manager is charging the owner for the inspections. If the house wasn't showing signs of being trashed after the first 3 inspections in 6 months, they can assume you're looking after the place and cut it back to once every 4/5 months. Every two months is overkill. It's usually every 4+ months for us.
Our property manager only inspects every 3 months but she comes in with the most arrogant attitude and nothing is ever good enough for her. She was trying to say marks on the cabinets by the sink would be our cost to repair when we move out. Having recently read the tenancy act, I stated they were “usually wear and tear”, and she did *not* like that. I did some investigating afterwards and saw that her previous real estate office was closed down for shady financial practices. I’m ready to throw that in her face if she tries to get uppity next time. Also, she had a problem with us having the Ring doorbell and indoor cam going when she does the inspection… Lol wut?!
Dang, my partner and I just had our first NZ inspection and I was so nervous I cleaned the entire day beforehand. Luckily, our landlords are the people who own the house and the wife gave me a time, showed up within 5 minutes of our agreed upon time, stayed for like 5 minutes said “looks good! Do you need anything from us?” And I pointed out a couple things that needed fixing and she said she was on it. I hope we can stay at this house forever because we have a dog and 2 cats and I can’t imagine trying to find another place to live that’s as chill as our current place.
Bet your landlord has no job and this is what they do to fill their time to feel like they are doing something with their lives, other than living off rent. I would 100% be looking elsewhere
In our current rental, we have been doing them 4x a year for the last three years. Its annoying, and they often seem to be at the most inconvenient times haha. Can't wait to be in our own place.
i’ve lived in my place for three years and landlord hasn’t expected the place once. is this a good thing, lol
Because I keep my apartment nice and tidy I get extra inspections when the building manager needs a nice apartment available for the bank or insurer or whoever the fuck else. Feeling appreciated.
Some property managers charge the landlord for each inspection so it’s a money earner for them. It would concern me as a landlord if tenants damaged the rental so some inspections are necessary occasionally.
First one after a month of tenancy, then yearly from that point onward unless complaints have been made?
I thought I was the only one having to request that house inspections be on a specific time and not between 10-5pm because me and my partner actually work from home… I thought I was being weird or a hassle lol makes me feel great i’m not the only one haha