Some renters and landlords are under extra stress as the country prepares to go into lockdown.
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Sharon Cullwick of the New Zealand Property Investors’ Federation told Nine to Noon with the loss of jobs, some tenants are now unable to pay their rent.
“Even though landlords may be able to get a holiday on their mortgage, they still have to pay that mortgage back.”
Trying to get new tenants into a property is becoming difficult, she said.
Landlords are trying to eliminate contact by doing virtual tours, interviews over the internet and dropping off keys without any contact.
Landlords in places like Rotorua and Queenstown are taking their properties off Airbnb and putting them on the rental market, offering a cheaper alternative to renters, she said.
“I’ve heard of some landlords who are already pinching and they haven’t even started the lockdown period.”
With everyone needing to stay in their homes right now, Robert Whitaker from Renter’s United hopes that the government makes an announcement that helps to keep people there and to offer them security.
“I think in a lot of markets around the country, the majority of tenants are in fixed term tenancies and so what we’ll need to see when we talk about stopping those no cause evictions is whether that also includes rolling over those fixed-term tenancies so they can basically continue.”
Both Whitaker and Cullwick say the most important thing for renters to do is to talk to their landlord.