Housing

In defence of landlords

13:25 pm on 30 January 2018

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With more and more people renting, there are a lot of discussions about the relationship between landlords and tenants. 

Often tenants are portrayed as untidy, landlords as trolls taking advantage of the overheated market.

But there are many people who manage to make to it work. Wellington resident Jen McArthur has been so impressed with her landlords, she's speaking out to highlight how great landlords can totally change the renting experience. 

Photo: 123rf

"I just wanted to shine the spotlight on them really because they haven't put up the rent the whole time that I was there, it was very cheap, which was $400 [a week] for five or six people. 

She said they lived there for 11 years. 

"And it just allowed us the time to be able to spend lots of time working on what we all do which is in the fields of art and activism, so they've helped create lots of goodness in the world."

Jen herself works at the hospital doing physical theatre as a clown doctor. 

"They were covering their costs and they ... said that they really wanted to come at it with an attitude that seems fair and not exploitative.