Recent Law Changes Don’t Work for Students
The Otago Daily Times (“ODT”) has reported that new laws introduced in November last year don’t fit the Dunedin flatting culture.
Sections 60A and B of the Residential Tenancies Act, now state that tenants living under a fixed-term tenancy are only required to give landlords 28 days' notice about their intention to stay or go before their tenancy ends. Normally Dunedin student landlords would be asking their tenants if they wanted to commit to a further tenancy in the first half of the year, otherwise the flat would be advertised as being available for the following year. As a general rule, Dunedin students don’t tend to stay put in the same flat for more than a year. Organising flats for the following year around July and August was ideal because it gave students time to find flats before the pressure of end-of-year-exams and before students left the city for the summer.
Our very own Rebecca Harris, who owns Propertyscouts Dunedin with her husband Brad, commented in the ODT article saying the “student flatting culture was indeed a different market.” All we ask she said is that students let us know as soon as possible what their plans are. Otago Property Investors Association president Kathryn Seque said if flat-hunting season began in December, many students would not be in town for viewings. "They want to be able to see the property and touch the property, and make sure it doesn’t have a hole in the roof." These very issues were raised at the time the Government announced that they were looking at making changes to the RTA but, predictably, were not taken into account. So just as a reminder – tenants on a fixed term tenancy do not have to advise the landlord of their plans for the tenancy until 28 days out from the tenancy ending. If they advise that they wish to stay on, unless otherwise agreed with the landlord, the tenancy reverts to a periodic tenancy once the fixed term expires.
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