In what could be a boost for tenants, landlords are reporting an increase in the number of vacant rental properties.

Property Investors’ Federation vice-president Andrew King says tenants are becoming harder to find, and estate agents say rents are coming under pressure.

Mr King has noted big rises in the number of North Island city houses for rent in the past fortnight.

“If you are seeking a new tenant for a rental property in Auckland or Wellington then promote it as widely as possible because competition could be strong,” he said.

“While listings of property for sale were expected to increase in the lead up to summer, there has been an unexpected rise in the number of rental properties being promoted to let in the past few weeks.”

Mr King found big increases in vacancy numbers in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton and Wellington.

People who might have become tenants were instead buying houses, aided by low interest rates, he said.

“The bright light on the scene is the number of people moving to New Zealand. Often they rent a property, at least initially, so will, hopefully, provide more demand for the increasing number of available rental properties.

“Further good news for rental property owners is that rental prices have not been affected by lower-than-expected demand for rental property.”

Crockers Property Services’ latest research showed Auckland rents dropping and house sale figures rising.

“While sales figures start threatening to deliver new market highs, the rental market remains challenging with average rentals in both the two and three-bedroom markets in Auckland continuing to deliver below the long-term trend line,” the company’s report said.

Average levels fell by a few dollars on the previous month to $332 a week for a two-bedroom property and $434 for a three-bedroom one, said Crockers.

EMPTY NESTS

Rental listing increases:

• Auckland Central 18.6%
• Waitakere 17.7%
• Hamilton 14.5%
• Tauranga 14.6%
• Manukau 10.9%
• Franklin 9.8%
• Porirua 19.9%
• Upper Hutt 16.5%
• Wellington Central 10.7%

Source: Andrew King Property Management, data for last fortnight

Sunday Star Times

1 January 2009

Property expert Andrew King believes he may have created an entirely new financial industry: property management broking.

King, former president of the Auckland Property Investors Association, is yet to fully launch the business, Andrew King Property Management Broking, on to the world.

But he believes that, just as mortgage brokers aim to find the best home loan for clients, there’s a place for professionals to introduce residential property investors to the best property managers.

And as with mortgage brokers, the service is free.

Users of the service will pay no fees, but the property managers to which King refers clients will pay a commission in exactly the same way mortgage brokers pocket commissions from the likes of the banks and non-bank lenders. King is coy on the level of commission, but says it won’t add anything.

Commissions will be level from all property managers so there will be no bias in his recommendations, he says.

King says there’s a place for the service because so many property managers aren’t doing a good job, and that is costing landlords money.

Property managers are subjected to a 60-question grilling which takes about two hours, says King. He then interviews a random sample of 10-15 of the property manager’s clients.

Additional benefits will be that King will monitor the continuing service provided by the managers he recommends , and will act as a mediator should the client have complaints about the way their property is being handled.

He hopes the service, should it catch on, will play a part in raising standards by helping people ditch their old shonky managers. “There are quite a lot of cowboys out there,” King says. “If I can make it easier for people to move to a good property manager, it could have a positive effect on the industry.”

King intends to publicise his business in the new year. An online service he is developing will allow investors anywhere to plug in the details of their rental properties to get an estimate of whether they are getting enough rent.

“I don’t think many investors charge high enough rents.”

Maggots and piles of rubbish leave home owner with big bill

Bay of Plenty Times

Martin Tiffany

Maggots in the kitchen, rubbish overflowing out of the garden shed, and graffiti on the outside wall are just a few of the things that  greeted a Tauranga property owner when she returned to inspect her house.

Former Tauranga woman Donna Bullock, who now lives in Wellington, said she was shocked to find her Welcome Bay rental property in such a terrible state, especially as she had engaged a property manager to look after it.

She said the tenant had moved out on Wednesday and they had come up at the weekend to get the house ready to rent again. They have been left with a repair and cleaning bill that is going to run into thousands of dollars and a house that can’t be rented until the work is done.

A skip load of rubbish left by the previous tenants was cleared out of the house on Friday. This included furniture and personal belongings – including toothbrushes and clothes – that have been left behind.
The catalogue of rubbish and damage included rubbish bags and cartons of beers bottles lining the side of the house and filling a shed, holes in the walls, damage to the walls patched but painted a different colour, damaged blinds and curtains that had to be thrown away, and stained and burnt carpets.

Bags of food scraps left in the kitchen were infested with maggots and ants covered the benches.

The tenants also removed a security system by cutting its wires and leaving it in a cupboard, and the laundry floor has buckled after being flooded. It has to be replaced.

The  oven door had also been damaged and can’t shut so the appliance  has to be replaced. Slats from the deck railing have also been removed.

Mrs Bullock said when she bought the house in March 2007 it had been in immaculate condition. The first tenant had not looked after the house and been asked to leave.

She said the Tauranga property management company had been given a second chance as they promised the situation wouldn’t arise again. “Obviously the property manager wasn’t doing their job. The amount of rubbish in the shed alone shows it has been there for a long time.”

Mrs Bullock said she wanted to warn other landlords not to be complacent just because they had a property manager.

She said she was alerting the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand about the property manager and wanted the management fees they had paid for the past two years reimbursed.

Mrs Bullock said she didn’t really have the finances to do the repairs and cleaning and was going to struggle to get it all done. To make matters worse she said the tenant left without paying over $700 in rent and all she was left with from the bond was $100.

A spokeswoman for the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand  confirmed that the property management company and the  manager were REINZ members. She said while there was a REINZ Property Managers Code of Practice there were no specific guidelines as there were too many possibilities and it was  treated on a case-by-case basis.

She said they could  take disciplinary action against the firm but  liability had to be pursued through civil channels.

Source