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Renting Out Your Property With Trust Property Management

Thursday 19 October 2017, 4:27PM

By Beckie Wright

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If you have recently bought an investment property or you are thinking of becoming a landlord, you will need to know all about the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA), including recent updates.

Trust Property Management’s fact sheet will help you learn more about a landlord’s obligations when leaving New Zealand for more than 21 days, requirements for smoke alarms and heating and insulation requirements for residential rental properties.

Regarding offshore landlords, the RTA requires that if a landlord is out of New Zealand for longer than 21 consecutive days, they must ensure that they have an agent in New Zealand. This means that if you manage your own rental property and you intend to travel for 21 days or more you need a local representative on the ground, in New Zealand. This needs to be sorted out before you leave New Zealand. In other words, if you are a landlord who is currently out of New Zealand, and you don’t have an agent, the law requires that you appoint one, promptly!

Secondly, regarding smoke alarms, from July 2016 all residential rental properties must be fitted with working smoke alarms. It’s easy to be caught out by the detail, because not any old smoke alarm will do. New smoke alarms must have long-life batteries, of at least eight years.  Tenants are responsible for reporting defects and replacing worn out batteries. Each residential rental property must have at least one working smoke alarm in each bedroom, or within three metres of a bedroom door. Further, in multi-level homes there must be at least one smoke alarm on each level, regardless of whether there is a boarding room on that level.

The great news is that for all new clients in 2017, Trust Property Management is offering FREE 10-year-life smoke alarms, including installation, valued at over $140 +GST.

For more information on residential property management or full house management, and rental managers in Wellington please go to http://www.trustproperties.co.nz .