More cowboy behaviour in Wild West rental market

green-party

Wed May 31 2017 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

More cowboy behaviour in Wild West rental market

Wednesday, 31 May 2017, 10:25 am
Press Release: Green Party

31 May 2017

People who rent are being ripped off by cowboy rental agencies hiking rents by five percent a week, every week, in times of high demand, the Green Party said today.

“The rental market is becoming a Wild West with cowboys taking advantage of people who are desperately looking for a decent place to live,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

“Hiking rents by five percent a week, every week, is price gouging. It’s outrageous and unfair.

“The standard one-year lease term creates annual pinch points when everyone is looking for a new home at the same time, and rental agencies are clearly taking advantage of that by raising prices.

“National’s failure to fix or even understand the housing crisis has whipped the Auckland rental market into a perfect storm, with first home buyers buying up apartments and banks not lending to developers to build enough new ones.

“The scales are tilted in favour of landlords in New Zealand. The Green Party will ensure that that there is more transparency around when rent rises can happen and by how much, and promote longer leases so renting families can put down roots in their communities and aren’t competing with students for a new place to live every February.

“Renting doesn’t need to be a second rate option; we can modernise the rules to bring them into line with other countries where people who rent have more rights and security,” Mrs Turei said.

ends

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