anitajade

Hello! Me and my partner are moving to New Plmouth in September and we are hoping to rent rather than buy initially. As we will have no credit history in NZ and we don't have tenant references (we own our home in the UK) I am concerned whether it will be difficult to rent somewhere.
I have heard that some people are asked to pay 6 months rent up front. Can anyone advise on this? Any info would be much appreciated.

desmondo84

we're in the same boat actually so I am interested in what answers you get. I am bringing a mortgage statement to show payment, bank account summaries, letter of NZ employment and some character references but I don't know if they will be acceptable.

Stormer999

We landed in Chch 2 and a bit years ago went to view a house with others looking just the two of us no pets and were accepted straight away. The renter said the house rented out in the UK was the main factor though I do not know why Lucky? I do not know it,s our only experience. We bought a house 1 year later in the same street...
References no, 1 month up front.

Woodlea

Like Storms says, a landlord can legally only ask for 4 weeks deposit, and no additional deposits can be asked for. Some ask for deposits for a pet, but this is illegal.
Good luck!

MrsFychan

Its called a Bond and legally be no more than 4 weeks rent. http://www.dbh.govt.nz/about-tenancy-bonds
Credit history isn't really a factor over here. as long as you can show you can cover the rent you should find somewhere. Please bear in mind that once you agree a rental term it is very difficult and costly to come out of it earlier. so try and get a 6mth or less which then transfers over to a rolling term. Know a few people that have fallen fowl. Also don't be quick to buy. We bought after 6mths as money from UK sale had come through and the rental was awful. moved within the same area but 18mths later hated it. Loved the house just the area was not right for us. Honeymoon period well and truly over.

Snap Shot

Turned up in NZ 2011. Neither of us had jobs. We had a old reference my husband had from his flatting (house sharing) days in NZ. We also had another reference.

We got a rental easily. Mostly as it was in Christchurch in March 2011 and most people were getting out of the city. The letting agent was only to pleased to see tenants.

We weren't asked about our financial position. The letting agent didn't even ask if we were employed. Didn't ask whether we had a mortgage in Britain which we did until we sold our house to come to NZ in 2011.

We did follow the advice to dress smartly (as if for a job interview) when house hunting.

As it turned out, we left Christchurch after about three months. We had signed a 6 month tenancy agreement which we could not break. We did what we agreed to do on vacating the property, i.e. have the windows and carpets cleaned professionally. The property was remarketed and re-let within three weeks. This ended our liability to pay rent after those three weeks, as a new tenant had moved in. 'We don't double dip' advised our agent i.e. she didn't have to tell us there was a new tenant. What was to stop them charging us rent and charging rent to the new tenant ? However, within three weeks the situation was resolved. Paying rent on two properties for that time was a drag but as we had gone from the unfashionable end of Christchurch to small town NZ, the rents were not that horrendous. Although, we were both unemployed and our savings had all gone. It would be a couple of weeks before my husband's first paycheque turned up.

The letting agent gave us a good reference when we rented a house in Wanganui. This was on a weekly rental basis, not a six month lease. We purchased our house about two months later. We were so ready to own our own home ! We had seen a few of the suburbs of this town when looking for a place to rent, so sort of knew where we did/didn't want to live. I realise, 'on the eye' is just that.

The 2nd September sees our third anniversary of living here.

moonie2011

We also rented when we arrived, we had a reference from a friend (in NZ) and hubby's new boss, although he had only been there a week. The rental agency just wanted to make sure it was a genuine job and he got paid

Assanah

We moved into a short term rental when we arrived. After my partner found a job we had no problems finding a rental without references and credit history.

chocolate cake

Yeah, like most I rented first when I came to NZ, infact it would be madness to look to buy before doing research on areas and housing (read leaky homes). Similarly I hadn't rented in the UK for years, so had no refs of that kind. IIRC I got a ref off my employer, though only been their a few days.
As most have said the most deposit a landlord can ask for is 4 weeks. Note rent is usually weekly rather than monthly so works out a tad dearer. Make sure you look around, as the rental housing stock isn't great either, plenty of unheated, uninsulated homes for sure. Coming in the tail end of summer with everything warm, I didn't realise that I'd rented a ice box, your typical weatherboard house, with as much insulation as a cricket pavillion back in the UK.

Kiwicouliscat

Hi I went into my UK bank about three days ago and they said that if your UK bank banks in NZ you can open an account here in the UK before you leave for over there and your credit will be transferred. Worth looking perhaps..
Good luck

Justcol

dont worry it wont be an issue.
if someone tries that trick tell em f*** off and look elsewhere.

exwigan

I live in Auckland and have been here for 24 years (Ex UK)I have been both a tenant and landlord. the normal arrangement here is and has been since I can remember. you pay one week in advance, plus pay two to three weeks Bond (refundable upon leaving the tenancy) And if you use an agency they charge a fee of two weeks rent ( sometimes only one) If you leave your tenancy then you can transfer the bond to the next home. ( assuming you take care of the property) In New Zealand the term long term tenancy can be as short as six months, so be very careful if you plan on staying in one house for several years. If you have no credit record here then it pays to obtain references from the UK prior to coming.

moonie2011

Also be aware that these are fixed term contracts, the agent failed to explain all this to us, a week after we got off the plane, and we signed a 7 mth agreement. This basically means you cannot leave that house unless the landlord agrees.
The agency was very hostile to the idea but WE managed to find another tenant who was willing to take over our contract, despite finding the new tenants and doing all the leg work the agents still wanted to charge us $500 for the new contracts, property inventory etc

Friends of ours signed a 1yr contract then needed to leave, the landlords have flatly refused and it is currently being heard at a tenancy tribunal. They have provided evidence that the house is damp and is affecting their daughters health, it was said in court it's normal for damp houses in NZ and that is not a reason to break the contract the case continues

So get as short agreement as possible (in case you want to leave) but get a written agreement that after that period you can rent it for a longer period (in case you want to stay) You just can't predict emotions, we love NZ but hated renting

Good luck x

escapedtonz

In my experience you'll have to pay 4 weeks bond, a 1 week letting fee + GST to the agent and then rent at least 1 week in advance depending on how often you pay the rent. In general people are paid fortnightly so if you pay the rent fortnightly then you'll need to pay 2 weeks in advance.
Be careful with the rental contract. There are only 2 types, fixed term and periodic. Fixed term is as it states and you can only exit from a fixed term contract if all parties agree otherwise you are liable to pay the rent whether you are living there or not. Periodic rental is on a month by month basis and both parties can give 1 month notice.
Generally an initial rental contract will be for minimum 6 months, maybe 12 months and then at the end of this period the contract naturally changes to a periodic one.
We've been in both types.
Periodic is great but there's always the risk of a landlord serving you notice!
We've generally gone for fixed term so at least we know we have a home for a fixed period. In both of our last fixed term tenancies we have asked to come out of them early and done so.
The first time we got out 6 months early by finding someone to sublet, however due to the length of time the new tenant wanted to stay the landlord was happy to end our contract and start a new one with the new tenant.....sweet!
The one we are in now was only ever a 12 month fixed term contract with no option to extend. The owner wants to sell. We approached them a couple of weeks ago to leave 4 weeks early. They have agreed since it means they can advertise the house for sale 4 weeks earlier than planned.
A bit of give and take works wonders.

exwigan

The agent we currently use to handle our house charged our tenant 4 weeks bond one week letting fee, and one week advance rent. The house we are in, was to be 2 weeks bond and one week in advance and one week letting fee, but since our business landord is also our house landlord they waived everything except the one weeks rent in advance. I just wish our own house was in the city so we would A/ Not need to rent it out and B/ Not need to rent a house ourselves.