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Rent Week

The mouldiest rental properties in Aotearoa, ranked and reviewed

The mouldiest rental properties in Aotearoa, ranked and reviewed

Spores, spores everywhere.
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By Alex Casey | 30th September, 2022
Senior writer
The default position most for rental properties in New Zealand is to prohibit pets. (Image: Archi Banal)
Opinion

The absence of rights for renters with pets is just cruel

The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 offered hope for renters with pets – but nothing has changed.
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By Charlotte Muru-Lanning | 28th September, 2022
Contributing writer
Image by Archi Banal

Cursed rentals of New Zealand: Freaky artwork edition

The first of many challenging photo essays as part of Rent Week 2022.
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By Alex Casey | 27th September, 2022
Senior writer
The special horror of fixed term rentals

The special horror of fixed term rentals

Being forced to move again and again doesn't just take an enormous emotional toll, but a financial one too.
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By Ben Bradford | 27th September, 2022
Guest writer
The Facebook chatbot here to solve your renting woes

The Facebook chatbot here to solve your renting woes

Don Rowe speaks to the founder of a new chatbot connecting tenants with the rental information they need. 
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By Don Rowe | 9th July, 2019
Contributing writer
Photo: Ethan Donnell

Mould, sweet mould: inside New Zealand’s damp housing crisis

The reality of how people are living in New Zealand in 2018.
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By Ethan Donnell | 22nd August, 2018
Guest writer
Photo: Getty Images

The big problem with the ‘KFC test’ for tenants

The MP who rumbled property managers talking about the so-called 'KFC test' for tenants writes about why they need to be stopped.
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By Darroch Ball | 9th August, 2018
Guest writer
Hayden Hohaia outside his home at Te Aro Pā. Image: supplied.

Finding a place to stand in a new landscape

With 84% of Māori now living in urban areas, away from ancestral lands, it has become difficult for many of us to maintain a sense of tūrangawaewae.
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By Meriana Johnsen | 5th April, 2018
Guest writer
Phil Twyford pointing in the direction of income thresholds for Kiwibuild houses. Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images.

‘One of the great tasks for our generation’: Phil Twyford talks housing

After nine years of carping about National's failure to address the housing crisis, Labour now faces the titanic task of actually making something happen. Don Rowe speaks to Minister of Housing Phil Twyford about what he has planned.
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By Don Rowe | 4th March, 2018
Contributing writer
Does this look like your ideal flat?

The official Spinoff property survey of the Shortland Street suburb of Ferndale

Shortland Street expert Tara Ward finds the best – and worst – places to live in the mythical Auckland suburb of Ferndale.
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By Tara Ward | 3rd March, 2018
Staff writer
Photo: Getty Images

Why property managers are terrible – for everyone

Property managers. Two words to make the blood run cold, whether you are a tenant or a landlord. Rebecca Stevenson weighs up the data and anecdotal evidence, and her ruling is final: property managers suck.
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By Rebecca Stevenson | 2nd March, 2018
BusinessDesk
Photo: Getty Images

How many property managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Madeleine Chapman spends a long, soul-sucking day at an Auckland tenancy tribunal.
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By Madeleine Chapman | 1st March, 2018
Editor
Children’s asthma is dramatically exacerbated by air pollution (Image: Getty)

Housing is a health issue too

Māori and Pacific kids are sick of cold, damp, crowded houses. So when are we going to start treating poor quality housing as the health crisis it is, asks general practitioner Bryn Jones.
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By Bryn Jones | 1st March, 2018
Guest writer
Photo: Rebecca Stevenson

Pushing landlords out will only make renting more expensive

With legislative changes set to increase costs for landlords, some smaller players may be forced out of the market. Property Investors' Federation head Andrew King warns this won't be good news for tenants.
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By Andrew King | 1st March, 2018
Guest writer
Sumner, Christchurch, on February 27, 2011. Photo: Martin Hunter/Getty Images

Christchurch’s rollercoaster rental market

Earthquakes knocked houses down and rents went up. But it's a different story now in the garden city, Jamie Small finds.
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By Jamie Small | 1st March, 2018
Guest writer
Homeless van Christchurch house housing business

I lived in a van for two years

His friend did it, so he thought he would try it too and save some money. In his last year at university he started living in a van. Now, two years later, he's moving on.
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By Anonymous | 28th February, 2018
Guest writer
renting housing house

Speculators hate him! One weird trick to end rental bidding wars

Last month we reported landlords in Wellington were actively encouraging rental bidding wars. Here a tenancy lawyer outlines a simple legislative change that would make the concept obsolete.
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By Joseph Nunweek | 28th February, 2018
Contributing writer
Nichole and Emmy

My daughter and I lived in 17 different homes last year

Pushed to desperate measures by the high costs of renting with a small child, single parent Nichole Brown made a dramatic decision to reduce her housing costs.
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By Nichole Brown | 27th February, 2018
Contributing Writer
Photo: Getty Images

Renting 101: A complete guide to living as a tenant in New Zealand

With the permission of Reddit user and tenancy expert Chelsea S, we present Renting 101 - everything you need to know about being a tenant in New Zealand.
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By Chelsea S | 27th February, 2018
Guest writer
homeless boy holding a cardboard house, dirty hand

What it’s like to be a solo mum searching for a rental

Rent Week 2018: Two tales from Tauranga, which now outranks Auckland as New Zealand's least affordable housing, illustrates the challenges solo mums face in the renting market.
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By Graham Cameron | 26th February, 2018
Contributing writer

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