[Tony&Kat]

Hi all,

We've been offered a house to rent for when we arrive on 25th October but the landlord has said that we need to start paying from the 10th. He said that this is due to his old tennants moving out on that date and also that letting agents usually charge approx 2 weeks rent as a charge for sorting the rental out. As he isnt using letting agents he said that he normally just charges the tennants that anyway - seems a bit unfair to me! Has anyone had an similar experiences or has any knowledge if this sounds accurate.

One other thing, is a bond the same as a deposit?

Thanks

Tony

[TheNaylors]

Hi,

I have never heard of that, but then again, I have never rented over in NZ so don't know if it is normal practice! Having looked on a lot of sites though I have normally seen the request for a bond and then a weeks rent (or so) in advance. Perhaps someone will be on later that can help.

A bond is technically the same as a deposit, it is normally returnable at the end of your tenancy, but the landlord may take out any fees they see fit for any damage caused by a tenant that they have to repair when tenants move out.

Jules

[beth&rich]

That sounds almightily dubious to me.

[CJ22]

Very dodgy. I wouldn't pay it. Tell him he can rent it out for the couple of weeks before you get there :)

Seriously, he's trying it on. If he's like that now, then don't hold out much hope for him being a decent landlord.

[dusk]

sounds like the landlord is being a bit cheeky - are you planning on moving in for a fixed period or ongoing?

[Caroline and Dave]

You may find this helpful.

http://www.virtualrealty.co.nz/rentlaw.html

There are several differences in renting here as opposed to UK. One of these is that the tenant can be charged a letting fee. In UK the landlord pays this.This is under review and should change .The landlord still pays the agent a commission but at the moment does not pay the letting fee.
If you download the governments guide to renting from the link this will give you a good guide.
Have you seen this property as IMHO a lot of rentals in NZ are very basic and should be seen before renting unless you are happy that it is ok.
The landlord is in effect holding this property for you wheras he could let it to someone else already in NZ who could move in right away. This is a normal practice .
We have a managing agent here who lets a property for us and he charged our new tenants from the start of the month as the place was vacated but they could not move in for 2 weeks.Very good rentals are sort after and a Landlord could easily rent to someone else.This is why you need to check it is a desirable rental.

Hope this helps

[KerryS]

What C&D said. It is normal practice to charge a letting fee, usually a week's rent plus GST, so if the landlord isn't using an agent then you are saving this fee.
A bond is the same as a deposit, and it is lodged with a Govt agency, rather than the landlord keeping it himself.

Personally I wouldn't rent anywhere without seeing it first - agents and landlords often advertise properties with very old photos showing them at their prime, whereas the reality is that they can be old and not particularly nice places.

[Tony&Kat]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice on this. The house we are looking at renting is next door to my relatives so thay have checked it out and said it is fine, they are also using the same landlord too. I can understand that the landlord is charging us for the 2 weeks we ar not there as she could have extra tennants in for that period but still feel a little cheated by the whole thing. We are looking at signing up for a 12 month period with her too. I guess we may have to just bite the bullet on this one!!

Thanks

Tony

[eternalkiwi]

If you are signing a 1 year lease I would try to negotiate a 2 week delay in beginning your rent payments.
While landlords like to think their rentals will always have tenants, this is not always the case, and if they only have to loose 1 or 2 weeks rent to guarantee a 1 year + lease with a reliable tenant then I think thats the least they can do.

Also only licensed real estate agents can charge a letting fee, property managers and private landlords cannot charge tenants a letting fee. So this is not really a 'saving' for you.

Shawn

[Tony&Kat]

Thanks Eternalkiwi,

I will go back to her again and try to negotiate. We did think the same thing really, there is no guarantee that she'll have a tenant in for the exact time that the other tenants leave. Our main problem is that we really want this house as its close to family and in an ideal location - I guess there is always some sort of catch hey!

Cheers

Tony