Landlords - Legal stuff you need to know

As a landlord there are some legal obligations that you have to your tenants (and some that they have to you). Here is some legal 'stuff' that as a landlord you should know.

Notice periods

You've got to give tenants fair warning about any changes you're planning on making or actions you're planning on taking such as:

• Increase in rent - for a periodic tenancy you must give 60 days' written notice before increasing rent and rent cannot be increased more than once every 180 days.
• Property inspection - you must give a tenant at least 48 hours notice before conducting an inspection. You can only inspect once in any four week period and inspections must take place between 8am - 7pm
• End of tenancy - you must give 90 days written notice in most cases however in certain instances this may be reduced to 42 days notice (eg premises needed for owner or owners family to live in, property has been sold with vacant possession)

Resolving issues

Rent arrears - if tenant is 21 days or less in arrears you must issue a 14 day Notice to Remedy which gives them 14 days to remedy the situation. If no action is taken on this notice or the rent is more than 21 days in arrears you can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal for the arrears to be paid.

Other issues - if there are other issues that cannot / have not been resolved through open communication between landlord and tenant you can also issue a 14 day Notice to Remedy for other tenancy breaches.

It's important to note that your tenant can also issue you with a 14 day Notice to Remedy if you have fallen short of any of your responsibilities as landlord.

Naturally there is much more to know about being a landlord than just this. A great place to start for any tenancy related questions for both landlords and tenants is the Tenancy Services website

The information contained in this article is of a general nature and should not be taken as advice. It reflects the opinions of the writer only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of New Zealand Home Loans.