mattandlaura

Hello all,

My wife and I are preparing a move to christchurch this year and are currently looking at rental properties, but are unsure about the local areas, I've done a search on here but many of the threads are pre quake which makes them a little outdated now. My wife would like to live east chch to be near the coast however I'm sure I've read this was hardest hit by the quake, are these areas still inhospitable or are they on the way back now?

I anticipate to be on around $60k a year initially and my wife will find work when over there so we're not going to be earning a fortune, although we've no children. We've seen a few nice places in Fendalton and also St. Albans, are these affluent areas?

Also, from what I believe the council tax is included in the rental price?
Is anything else included that wouldn't usually be in the UK? Every little helps and all that!

One positive we have noticed is that most properties have some sort of garage which will be helpful because we're planning to bring as much furniture as possible and didn't really want to pay for storage whilst we look for a more suitable house!

Thanks for reading!

Matt

Mark Smith

Hi Matt, We've been here for 14 months and rented in St Albans. We really enjoyed living close to the amenities in Merivale and Papanui. Our little rental was cheap but was poorly maintained compared to what we were used to in the UK. Before you sign up make sure there is some sort of heating, watch out for signs of damp and mould and check the garage is dry and lockable if you want it for storage. There seems to be a trend at the moment, unscrupulous landlords evicting perfectly good tennants under the guise of moving their relatives in. When in reality they are looking for higher rents from other tennants.
Lots of 'professional' agencies out there: Harcourts, first avenue, kennards etc. We had some references from our UK landlord which came in useful, although NZ refs are better. Tennants are usually exempt from paying rates - we were. Not looking forward to the 6.5% increase for the next 3 years now we've bought.
Huge amounts of roadworks ramping up at the moment, a good route to work one week could be a nightmare the next.
Plenty of other expats here in Chch will be able to tell you more.
Good luck.

chippy64

Hi Matt,
We live in Parklands which is on the coast. The eastern suburbs were badly affected in the Feb quake leaving some homes ruined and others with no toilets for 9 months or so. However Parklands seems to be not as bad as some. Personally, I love it here even with cracks etc in the walls. We have a great bus service, a FreshChoice supermarket, post office, library, chemist plus a range of restaurants, cafes etc within walking distance. I can walk to the beach in 10 mins and drive to work in Papanui in 10 mins too.
The houses can be cold, even the newer ones and condensation is a problem in the winter months in most too. Have a look round - pitbulls chained in the yard, along with lounge furniture in the garden would put me off living next door. .
The roads mean that you can feel as though you are on a roller coaster ride. With the ground continuing to move and settle, dips and bumps come and go. As Mark says, there are lots of road works so it's handy to have alternative routes ready. However, the volume of traffic in ChCh is nothing like in the UK, so I don't get too worked up .
Fendalton is a pricey area - it is in the catchment area for the best schools, so that pushes prices up (no difference there then!).
Take a look at the Christchurch thread on here - it was started in Apr last year so should still be useful.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...tchurch+thread

Tom1983

Matt

First word of advice

Seek a property from a registered agent. Do not look at rentals if you can that are not managed a Harcourts, Raywhite or letting agency etc.

Second word of advice

Tie yourself down to a fixed tenancy of 6 moths with an agreement of no rental increases if you renew. Before I was advising people not to do that but given the shortage of rentals around, a fixed tenancy would be a pain in the arse for a landlord to get you out of. Given the shortage of places and the tons of europeans coming for the rebuild, its best to get somewhere tied down if not purchasing

With the sort of income coming in, look at properties up to $500pw. Don't go any higher than that. Do you have to make payments to UK accounts?

Other things to note

Make sure you check that the place is insured and EQC checks have been completed satisfactory

Check for cracks in and out of the property. Make sure you get them pictured so that no disputes can happen when moving out day takes place

Get contents insurance for the place if the landlords furnishings aren't insured. Otherwise you could be left with a huge bill to pay.

Errrr in terms of areas, where will you be working? Look somewhere where you won't have too far commute. Riccarton is a lovely area or Spreydon - easy to get to where you need to go

Woodlea

Good on ya Matt - as above. Most places are unfurnished so you'll need your furniture in the house not the garage! Stay clear of the east by the coast - it's cold! We're still advertising for cable jointers by the way...

Kiwikaye

Hi Matt, good luck with the move! We're in Oz now but used to live in Christchurch and still have (what's left!) of our house there. Fendalton is a lovely area, but as PP have said its in the catchment area for some of the best schools so prices are high. St Albans is also nice, I have a brother in that area. Just be careful though as some areas can be boggy and a bit damp, but some bits are lovely - if you want to know about particular streets, feel free to ask. We lived in Huntsbury which is on the edge of the hills. St Martins which is at the base of the hills is a lovely area as is Beckenham which is right next door. Only about 10 mins to the CBD. Merivale which is next to St Albans is lovely - not quite as pricey as Fendalton, but generally better quality than St Albans - you need to check properties carefully for heating, etc. though - that can be a bit of a lucky dip in NZ.

With regard to letting agents - not all private landlords are dodgy. There are some who in the wake of the quakes are taking the mickey, but some of the agents are just as bad, frankly. Steer well clear of the Harcourts office in Bealey Avenue. We have rented through the Bishopdale office of Harcourts and they were great.

As mentioned above most rentals are unfurnished, although there are more furnished properties around now since the quakes than there used to be, however they tend to be let on a short-term basis and are pretty pricey so you're probably better off getting an unfurnished if you're bringing furniture anyway.

Best of luck -feel free to ask you want to know more.

ETA: Yes, rates (Council tax) is paid by the landlord. In most cases you will still need to pay phone, electric, etc. I have seem some furnished rentals which include these, but again you will pay extra for all that.

Snap Shot

First Avenue letting agents were good for us when we lived in Christchurch. Google them for their details. We got a 2 bed link detached house in Linwood, in the east of Christchurch for the equivalent of 520GBP per month. Rents in NZ are charged weekly. It was listed as a flat so go and have a look at properties anyway - what's in a name ?

The east of Christchurch suffered the worst of the earthquake damage but most of Linwood was ok and only a ten minute bus ride from New Brighton. Go to Salt on the Pier at New Brighton for Happy Hour on a Friday.

We left our rental halfway through our six month's agreement which meant we had to continue to pay the rent after vacating. Fortunately the property was re-let within three weeks so that got us out of our obligation.

mattandlaura

Hi all,

Just wanted to say a massive thanks to all who have replied! Please keep them coming! (positive and/or constructive only please!)

Some real good info, hopefully will be useful to many other 'lurkers & searchers' too. (which is generally what I do!)

To tom1983, we were looking to budget around $250-$350 per wk for rental, and to be honest on trademe it appears there are some half decent places for that (although if I see one more 1970s white cast iron cooker I may go mad!).
And as others have said, nice pictures can only tell you so much... So if you're saying budget for $500 I'm hoping we may be ok money wise. My wife is a medical secretary over here so may do that again in chch, there seems to be a few hospitals around so hopefully that won't be too difficult to find something...

Woodlea, I've been trying to base my budgets on a cable jointers wage, although going back, 'on the tools' so to speak would be somewhat of a last resort, if there are no vacancies elsewhere I may have to! Still owe you them beers...

It definitely seems north/east areas seem ideal, we stayed in riccarton when we came a while ago and thought it was nice, although that also was pre-quake!

Thanks again for all the replies, I've got another few question off topic so I'll go start other threads for them, I'm almost getting the hang of this posting lark!

Matt