[Joolzr]

Hi All

We're hopefully about three weeks from our move and I'm wondering what paperwork we will need to get a rental property in Auckland?

In the Uk we've just requested employment references and last landlord references from the people rentig our house from us. But we wont be able to provide an old landlord...

Also, looking on trademe lots of houses seem to require a 1 to 2 week agent fee. It seems like a lot! (we picked the agent with the lowest tenant fee here which is £75).

Is this standard? I'd love to know what experince you guys have had.


Thanks

JoolzR

[dusk]

theres a mixture of people privately renting out their own property and rental agencies... if you happen to find a house you like that's with an agency then you're going to end up paying the fee - which seems to be whatever figure they pluck out of the air.

Also in both cases you will need a deposit (1-3 weeks) plus a number of weeks rent in advance (no more than 2 I would think) so be preapred to have to pay out quite a large wodge initially.

what will be acceptable as references (if required and they don't just go on whther they like you or not!) will vary, but you could try and get a letter from your bank or mortgage compnay to say you always paid your mortgage on time?

also there's a mixture of 'running tenany' and fixed period renting (6 or 12 month) which have different rights and responsibilities...

[IanW99]

Hi All

We're hopefully about three weeks from our move and I'm wondering what paperwork we will need to get a rental property in Auckland?

In the Uk we've just requested employment references and last landlord references from the people rentig our house from us. But we wont be able to provide an old landlord...

Also, looking on trademe lots of houses seem to require a 1 to 2 week agent fee. It seems like a lot! (we picked the agent with the lowest tenant fee here which is £75).

Is this standard? I'd love to know what experince you guys have had.


Thanks

JoolzR

Good place to read up if you haven't already is Housing (http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/settlementpack/Housing/) on the immigration website.

When we were renting, we paid the agent one weeks rent as payment and also lodged two weeks rent as the bond (normally returned at the end of the rental if there were no problems e.g. damage).

We never had any references, or were asked for them.

Ian

[cappuccino]

My landlord contacted my new employer and also a friend of mine who I gave as referees. Some landlords do take references, some don't.

[Familyofmonkeys]

We are in process of applying for new rental (old one on market...so we have to move our :( ) and they want:
Employer references
2 x old landlord references (or reference from selling agent who sold your property....even though in UK)
3 personal references (not relatives)

A bit overkill....

You can be charged up to 4 weeks rent as a bond and most agencies charge about one weeks rent plus GST as a fee too. Even private landlords often charge some sort of admin fee to set up your contact. Most places ask for up to 2 weeks rent in advance.

[peebles16]

Different all over I suppose - we didn't get asked for references at all and just as well as hadn't rented in the Uk for donkeys years!! We paid an extra week on the bond as they couldn't check our credit rating here (we don't have one :( ) and that was that :yes

Karenx

[Joolzr]

Sounds like things vary a lot- we'll have to be on our best behaviour!

Thnaks for the advice. I'll bring as much paperwork as I can. Last place I rented from was my college 6 years ago... Now that makes me feel old!

JoolzR

[nickydwuk]

We have never rented so can't provide any references regarding that. Will evidence of my job be enough do you think?

[James 1077]

We weren't asked for references; which was lucky as we had never rented before so didn't have any!

We did however have to pay 1 week of rent +GST as an agent fee, 2 weeks of rent as a bond and 2 weeks of rent in advance.

I guess references etc depend on the landlords.

[urban78]

Hi All

We're hopefully about three weeks from our move and I'm wondering what paperwork we will need to get a rental property in Auckland?

In the Uk we've just requested employment references and last landlord references from the people rentig our house from us. But we wont be able to provide an old landlord...

Also, looking on trademe lots of houses seem to require a 1 to 2 week agent fee. It seems like a lot! (we picked the agent with the lowest tenant fee here which is £75).

Is this standard? I'd love to know what experince you guys have had.


Thanks

JoolzR

It does seem quite different from place to place, as well as with agents.

We weren't asked for references either, even for our 1st place when coming from the UK (although we were prepared to give the agency some, just in case). The letting agent charged 3 weeks' bond, plus 1 week's rent in advance, as well as 1 week's rent + GST :roll

We moved out about 2 months ago and renting from an independent agent. The fees there were 2 weeks' bond and 1 week's rent in advance, no agency fees. He didn't even asked for references, my OH just went to see the place a few days after we saw the rental advertised on Trade Me and the agent was very happy with our application (although again we were happy to provide work details and refs) :) This was for an apartment so I'm not sure if this would be different for a house, and it's just the 2 of us.

I'd definitely recommend reading through the link Ian gave as it prepared us well for the move out and move in, especially in regards to tenant/landlord rights and obligations.

Good luck,

Jen :)