e4ebs

We're going to be renting our house out in the near future and are weighing up whether we do it all ourselves as private landlords - have downloaded all the templates & forms from Tenancy information for Landlords - Department of Building and Housing... or whether it would be less hassle to do it through a rental agent and swallow their fees.

We're in a desirable area (near great high school), its a warm house, and I don't think it would be a challenge to find a good tenant, but...

Any thoughts/experiences to share? :-)

scrubbedexpat094

I'm interested in this as we are looking at living elsewhere in the world (Dubai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi or Australia) & depending on where we end up will determine if we decide to sell or rent. Obviously we wouldn't be able to be around to check on the property but were wondering about asking a trusted friend to vet people & check on the property.

Have heard some scary stories so would like to know it can be worthwhile doing.

Woodlea

Don't use a rental agency, they don't care about your property. Don't advertise on Trademe to avoid being swamped by people, use the local paper, when you interview prospective tenants use your gut instinct to judge them. Then check their references and their bank. (Use that form on the website that prospective tenants need to fill in to get their details, if they are a bit shy then don't bother with them.) Don't gouge on rents and once you get a good tenant don't keep increasing the rent on them (even if it is justified) - a good tenant is worth a $20 a week increase in rents. I've never had a problem with tenants that I have interviewed myself, but plenty of problems when I had an agent. Don't forget to get your home and contents insurance to include the rental options.
Good luck!

moonie2011

Landlords who are out of the country for more than 21 days must appoint an agent in nz

This was taken off the dbh.govt.nz website Landlords | Getting started | Tenancy bond - Department of Building and Housing
"Landlord leaving the country for 21 consecutive days

If the landlord is going out of New Zealand for more than 21 consecutive days they must appoint an agent in New Zealand. The landlord must also advise the tenant (including MBIE if a bond is held) of the agent’s details."

Friends of mine are going through a tribunal with their landlords (who are in Oz) at the moment and the panel have ordered the landlords to appoint a nz based agent

jmh

I can't comment on the NZ experience but I don't know what I would have done without an agent when I let my house in the UK. The agent did credit checks, had 6 monthly inspections and found new tenants when the first ones left. They managed the bond refund and withheld some of it to do remedial work. When pipes flooded at the weekend they got in the right people and it was fixed promptly. I couldn't have done all of this from the other side of the world.

Unless it's for a short period of time, or you have friends who can step in for you, then I'd get an agent. I was happy with mine, but you do hear negative stories.

I didn't know about the 21 days issue - it might take the decision from your hands.

Edit to add: Just noticed that you didn't say you were going abroad. If you are nearby, I probably wouldn't use an agent. Do all you homework though. Only use gut instinct if it has consistently proved you right in the past. I can think of a few people who seem pretty poor at it.

Persephone

I didn't know about the 21 day rule either but we have used an agent anyway.

We were going to be living outside NZ for two years so it seemed unrealistic to try and run the rental from overseas given that we couldn't physically check on the house. We would probably have considered it if we were remaining in the area.

We have had no problems with our agents, we told them we wanted contacting before any work was done [excluding emergency stuff] and they have always asked us prior to doing anything that will cost us money.
Agent's fees and expenses are tax deductible which takes a bit of the sting out of the tail.

It depends on where you're going. If you're staying locally and could check the house regularly then it comes down to whether you feel it's something you can do. If not local, personally I would prefer to have someone who could check on the house-our agent does regular inspections. A house is too big an investment to trust tenants you don't know if you're running the rental from afar. That probably sounds worse than I actually mean it to Our tenants have been great and probably could be trusted to be 'left alone', they seem sensible and are looking after the place. However you don't know that until they've moved in.

e4ebs

Moving from Southland to Canterbury - so not out of the country, but still not easy to pop down the road to check on things or deal with any issues as they occur.

I didn't know that agents fees were tax deductible - thanks for that info :-)

Gill and Rob

Have sent you a PM.

Cheers Gill

scrubbedexpat094

Thanks for all the useful info. TBH I'd just like to sell up & buy in Australia if we move there or buy somewhere in the UK & be mortgage free rent out there & live/work in Dubai or wherever we can get jobs.

I'm well & truly over NZ. We have NZ passports so could always return in the future if we wished.

E4ebs - apologies to you for tagging onto your thread.

Persephone

As is insurance, rates, mortgage interest, repairs and maintenance and depreciation [chattels only, not on the actual building].
I do the tax return myself, not worth paying for an accountant if your affairs are relatively simple and you're happy to do it

Oh and accountants fees are tax deductible as well!

Persephone

Chin up VBS Hope you get your life sorted out soon x