On Monday 11 January 2021 at too-early-oclock I was invited to join Tim Dower for a brief segment on the Summer Breakfast morning show on Newstalk ZB, discussing tenancy law reform that was passed by parliament shortly before the 2020 election, coming into effect next month on 11 February 2021. A recording of the discussion is available below:

Existing landlords should all be well aware of the recent/upcoming sweeping tenancy law reform changes. For anyone still in the dark there are a wide array of new and clarified responsibilities, and alterations to the way tenancies work. It is imperative that you urgently read and understand your obligations – check them out on the Tenancy website. Most significantly, the removal of the 90-day no-stated-reason tenancy termination, and the automatic rollover of fixed tenancies onto periodic terms at the expiry of their agreement.

Hiring the services of a professional property manager will go some way to ensuring your property is up to the required standard and remove most of the risk of committing an offense that may warrant one of the newly introduced significant fines for landlords who break the rules. If you’re disappointed with your current property manager, or you manage your own tenancies and would like a recommendation for a PM (or any other property-adjacent professional, for that matter) please get in touch – your favourite specialist property accountant has a great and growing network of high quality contacts.