Law change favours unruly tenants

Removing the ''90-day notice'' tenancy provision would make it harder for rental property owners to deal with unruly tenants, the New Zealand Property Investors' Federation (NZPIF) says.

Under current rules, landlords can end a tenancy with 90 days' notice to the tenant, without having to provide a reason.

The Government is now considering changing tenancy laws to provide ''security of tenure,'' for tenants, the federation said.

The NZPIF believes its removal has the potential to turn neighbourhoods into ''domestic war zones''.

NZPIF executive officer Andrew King said there was a perception in the market that tenants were being kicked out of their rental properties for ''no reason''.

''This is never the case. We want good tenants to stay in our properties as long as possible so ending a tenancy is not done lightly.''

A federation survey of its members showed the notice is rarely used and is usually done only as a ''last resort'' when proof of a tenant's poor behaviour, necessary at the Tenancy Tribunal, is difficult or impossible to obtain.

Click Property Management Dunedin director Ashley Stevenson agreed.

''Our property owners would rarely have any reason to use the notice, particularly as the majority of tenancies are on fixed term, rather than periodic tenancies.

''There is also generally not much benefit in using the 90-day provision for short term rentals - for example with student flats,'' she said.

The survey showed that of those notices that did go out, around 77% were for poor tenant behaviour.

Other reaons included sale of the property or undertaking significant repairs or renovations.

Mr King said the main reasons for issuing the notices were antisocial behaviour and disturbing neighbours, which accounted for 42% of all notices.

''Respondents said that it was difficult to prove the antisocial behaviour because either it occurred randomly or because other affected tenants and neighbours were unwilling to put their concerns in writing.''

Under the Government's ''Sustaining Tenancies'' policy, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) has been instructed not to use the 90-day notice.

The NZPIF claims that since the removal, the number of HNZ tenants causing problems for their neighbours and communities has increased.

Mr King said the Government also does not know how many 90-day notices are issued to tenants, according to a recent official information request.

''However, the NZPIF survey had found that only 3.1% of tenants are issued a 90-day notice each year, meaning nearly 97% of tenants are unaffected by these notices.

''So rather than providing tenants with security of tenure, removing the 90-day notice provisions would prevent landlords from effectively managing the 3% of poorly behaving tenants to the detriment of other tenants and neighbours,'' he said.