[leachio]

Aaaarrrgggghhh:mad: :mad:

Ok so as u know we are off home, hooray! We are in a nice rental in Hamilton and we signed up to a 1yr contract in May 2007. So last wk I ring the letting agent and inform him of our decision to leave and ask what we can do to assist in makin this as easy for both us and the landlord as possible. His response......................... then ................................ yip he offered no support at all. I suggested I put it on trade me, he agreed to that, so I did at a cost of $50. Good job I did as he has made no effort to assist atall. Yes yes I know we signed a contract but he could at least have been polite enough to say 'don't worry we will try to work something out'.

Anyway it went on last fri and as yet has had over 700 hits, excellent yes! I have shown approx 14 viewers thru it since fri and on mon at 9am the agent had 3 diff people at the office to fill in an application. I rang him at 2.20pm he said 'oh i havent even looked at them yet'. Now the 3 people were, a mother of 6 with a husband and both of them work, an indian doctor who was a major in the army with wife and twins, and a chap who was 20yrs in the police then a lawyer and now a prison officer who is married and has older kids and a dog. So all of these people have the ability to pay the rent and having met them all of them very pleasant. All this and we fly on sunday come what may! So tues (this mornin) at 9am he rings me ans says I quote " Ive had a look at those applications and I don't want any of them" :eek: Whyever not I say again I quote "well she has 6 kids I dont want that, the Indian Doc Ive not had good experience with indians and the other guy has a dog" well OMG the tennants prior to us had a dog and 2 cats (the garden was a wreck). Tues morn I have another 2 viewings and both go and apply for it then the agent himself brings a family from the philipines who are here for 1yr and I have another viewing at 4pm. Phew with 2 kids and a full scale removal goin on. I asked the agent when he was here what was wrong with the tennants we have potentially provided him at no effort on his part, again he reiterated his dislike for each applicant type.

So with the clock ticking and everythin else fallin into place nicely we cannot get our heads round why this guy is being so obstructive. Dan rung him at 4.45pm today and asked for an update, again he dragged his heels so dan initially politely pointed out that we had done everythin poss to re let this house and actually could have 3x over at least but his personall predujices were preventing this. Dan stated that all we wish is to leave on sunday with all bills paid and loose ends tied up but the agent kept reminding him that he was doin us a favour, 'eh how so??????' Dan told him that he was being racist against the asian doctor and predujice against the mother of 6 but surprisingly he never had a response to that!

So at the moment we are or rather I am worried that he will ring or appear and there will be a 'scene' but on the other hand I do beleive that dan needed to say those things becuase the guy is out of order. He now says that the family from the philipines are goin into sign up tmrw but we will see! We are paying $80 for a company to clean the lounge carpet (thanks to a cranberry spill!) tmrw and the shippers will be off with our stuff by fri so I hope it all goes smoothly now. Failing that we will compose and email to the agents manager (even tho he says he doesnt have a manager?) and fly home regardless.

So anyone with any clever/witty/polite advice for him do share and I will keep it in mind!

Thanks Amanda

[Bruckner]

Well nothing that I can acutally post on the forum. Surely this guy is violating some discrimination law?

Emily

[sizzlingbadger]

Is this the landlord or the agent working for the landlord ?

If it's the agent working for the landlord contact the landlord personally, if it is the landlord :exit What a pain in the butt (put in the nicest possible way :D ).

I hope it all sorts itself out in time, seems everything has fallen into place for you guys so far, fingers crossed this eventually sorts out for you.

How's Dan's arm doing after his nasty accident ?

[Smiler]

Hi Amanda

I'm sure you don't need this stress right now. :wah

Just drop in it to the conversation you'll take it to the Tenants tribunal tomorrow, you are concerned that he is being obstructive (and/or racist, or leave that for later) while you have done everything to make sure he doesn't lose any rental income. http://www.dbh.govt.nz/tenancy-tribunal

We've dealt with them, they are excellent and ever so helpful on the phone too.

And make sure you get your bond back pronto, in cash if you can.

[Sam B]

Grrr, I'm seething for you. I'm sure he must be breaking some race relations act - well I HOPE he is. Close all NZ bank accounts to be sure he can't get another cent from you. My hunch is, he will wait until you've left, let it immediately but then try to extort money from you for the next 5 months on the premise that it is still empty.

[pinkpiggy]

Is this the landlord or the agent working for the landlord ?

If it's the agent working for the landlord contact the landlord personally, if it is the landlord :exit What a pain in the butt (put in the nicest possible way :D ).?

It's the agent, unfortunately Amanda doesn't have the Landlord's telephone number. :uhoh

At the end of the day Dan & Amanda have done everything possible to make sure the property is re-let and that's all they can do. It does make my blood boil though that the agent is behaving in this manner. To put it mildly he is an first class idiot.... enough said. :exit

[zardell]

And you're worrying about this ???????

So OK, you'll loose your bond, but YOU'RE GOING HOME......:laugh


:exit



Julie

xxx

[pinkpiggy]

Grrr, I'm seething for you. I'm sure he must be breaking some race relations act - well I HOPE he is. Close all NZ bank accounts to be sure he can't get another cent from you. My hunch is, he will wait until you've left, let it immediately but then try to extort money from you for the next 5 months on the premise that it is still empty.

Well i'll be able to have a drive by over the weekend/next week and see whether it has. He won't be getting away with that one!

[red]

My hunch is, he will wait until you've left, let it immediately but then try to extort money from you for the next 5 months on the premise that it is still empty.[/QUOTE]

Just what I was thinking Sam............

[kellyfamily]

Ive signed for 2 houses here in Tauranga and both times on agreements where if i want to leave i only have to give 21 days notice and if they want me out they have to give 42 days notice , i thought this was commonplace now and its certainly been easier for me , i know it doesnt help in this case but for anyone needing to rent it seems a damn good option if you dont know how long you will need it.
my inlaws are here at the mo for another 3 months so i said rent under these terms and give notice after 2 months (will save a fortune in motel charges) not so nice for the vendor i suppose ah well.

[barryp]

Just do what you can to document the state of the property and all of your attempts to work with the landlord. Be as polite as you can be for a few days (calling someone racist isn't polite, however true it may be). Keep quiet about your anger/frustration and hope the Php family works out. Not much else to be done.

I'm sorry your landlord hasn't been more accommodating, sigh. But the Tenancy Tribunal is not going to be of help to you for a number of reasons:
(1) You'll be gone by the time your hearing is scheduled, with no vested interest in NZ. (You hope!)
(2) Unless your landlord's racism has denied housing to you or negatively affected your tenancy, you would have no claim w/ TT because you have suffered no damage. TT doesn't do criminal prosecution for racist action, only civil remediation if one party suffers as a result of it.
(3) The landlord's - or designated agent's - inability or lack of desire to find another tenant also does not cause you damage because you signed a fixed-term lease. (In fact, if you close your accounts and refuse to pay the remainder of your term, *you* would be in violation of the law and your landlord could go to TT for damages. The agent is in fact doing you a favour by considering other tenants at all prior to the end of your lease term.

[zardell]

(3) The landlord's - or designated agent's - inability or lack of desire to find another tenant also does not cause you damage because you signed a fixed-term lease. (In fact, if you close your accounts and refuse to pay the remainder of your term, *you* would be in violation of the law and your landlord could go to TT for damages. The agent is in fact doing you a favour by considering other tenants at all prior to the end of your lease term.



The landlord IS NOT doing you a favour by considering other potential clients - the law states that he is obliged to do so.

I only know this because I took our agent (who by the way is lawfully termed as the landlord. The owner of the property is just that - the owner) to tribunal and won.

I also had a brilliant lawyer that was given to be by The Citizens Advice Bureau and he refused to take payment from me.......how good was that ??

Julie

xx

[barryp]

What law? Nothing in Residential Tenancies Act 1986 says anything about such an obligation, for fixed-term leases. The general rule is very clear, in Section 2.66, and in plain English here:

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/faqs-ending-tenancies#ending3

Sign a fixed-term lease as a tenant and you're on the hook, unless the landlord violates the lease provisions or there is something in the specific agreement you signed stating otherwise.

Also, the term 'landlord' applies to the property owner as well as designated agents, per RTA 1986.

I only know this stuff because every single TT order for the past four years has crossed my desk recently. The database will be searchable by the public very soon (was supposed to be tomorrow).

[CityBlue]

The landlord IS NOT doing you a favour by considering other potential clients - the law states that he is obliged to do so.

I only know this because I took our agent (who by the way is lawfully termed as the landlord. The owner of the property is just that - the owner) to tribunal and won.

I also had a brilliant lawyer that was given to be by The Citizens Advice Bureau and he refused to take payment from me.......how good was that ??

Julie

xx

I wanted to reply to the last point too but couldnt put it as well as Julie:clap :clap :clap

[zardell]

What law? Nothing in Residential Tenancies Act 1986 says anything about such an obligation, for fixed-term leases. I only know this stuff because every single TT order for the past four years has crossed my desk recently. The database will be searchable by the public very soon (was supposed to be tomorrow).



Well Barry, I'm not in a qualified postion to disagree and I don't want to argue with you.

All I know is what my solicitor told me and how he described the landlords obligations and other relevant matters in a letter that was accepted by the TT.

Julie

xx

[Oregonkiwi]

It sounds like the agent is in breach of the Real Estate Institute's rules:

A Member, when acting as a residential property manager or letting agent (Manager) shall:

4.1 A Manager shall give every prospective tenant a fair and reasonable opportunity to apply for a tenancy, and consider each application on its merit.
http://www.reinz.co.nz/reinz/public/advice/property-managers-code-of-practice.cfm

[Oregonkiwi]

Link that works:
http://www.reinz.co.nz/reinz/public/advice/property-managers-code-of-practice.cfm