Common Types of Accommodation in New Zealand
Dorm (Student Accommodation)
Most schools offer on or off-campus student dormitories. This form of accommodation is popular and usually provides both male and female dormitories. Each student has his/her study room and bedroom but has to share the shower room and other facilities with other students.
Of course, there are also dormitories with bathrooms, which are much more expensive. However, only a few places are usually available in residence halls. So, you must apply in advance, and most schools only allow new undergraduates to move in. Most universities only allow new undergraduates to move in. Many universities’ student flats are highly sought after and difficult to apply for. The advantages of student accommodation are that it is safe and convenient, and you can be a student in peace. But it is more expensive than renting a room outside.
Studio (Single room or studio flat)
A studio is a single or studio flat with a kitchen, living room and bedroom all connected. It is suitable for individual living and has a kitchen and bathroom, making living more private and comfortable.
Apartment
Flats in New Zealand are mainly located in city centres and are generally small, ranging from 20 to 70 square metres. They are usually designed for busy groups like students and city centre workers and are not suitable for families. Some apartments do not have a washing machine, and you must go to the laundry room to use the public washing machine with coins.
Moreover, there are a lot of restrictions on renting flats. For example, most flats do not allow clothes to be hung up on the balcony (affecting the cityscape, so you can only hang your clothes indoors). Most flats do not allow pets, and you need to keep quiet in the apartments so as not to be noisy; the police will be called if you affect the neighbours, and so on.
House/Townhouse (Independent Villa/Townhouse)
Houses are the most luxurious type: villas, usually two storeys. It is usually shared with friends. The disadvantage is that it is generally unfurnished and inconvenient if you don’t have a car
because houses are generally far away from the city. There is also the possibility of needing to take care of the lawn.
When renting a house, you must consider that most homes have gardens or lawns. The tenants are obliged to tidy them up and weed them on a regular basis. So you need to be clear about this with the renter when you rent the house, or the rented house can hire a wedding company to take care of it. In some areas, the rubbish thrower pays the rubbish costs of this kind of house, and they are not included in the land tax that the landlord has to pay, which you need to pay attention to.
Homestay
Students who want to learn more about local life, customs, and culture can apply for a homestay through the school. Homestay is an excellent option for students who wish to practise their English and quickly integrate into the local culture, with meals provided by the landlord, who will prepare the student’s school lunch (usually sandwiches) in advance and dinner with the landlord’s family. The school and the judiciary vet homestay families so students can confidently choose.
You may need to adapt to and follow the rules and regulations of your host family. If you encounter any problems, you should communicate with your host to avoid misunderstandings. Family members usually share household chores; even if you are a tenant, you should still share the chores. If you choose to stay with a host family, you will be fortunate if you meet a lovely family. But if the host doesn’t get along with you, you should think about changing the house quickly.
New Zealand Rental Flats
Rental
Individuals, or with friends and family, rent a whole set of rooms suitable for those who value privacy and do not care about money. It is also possible to sub-let, but you need to ask the landlord’s permission.
Renting out an entire suite is naturally the best when finances allow. However, the whole house for rent in New Zealand is unfurnished. So, the tenant needs to prepare for it by himself and will have to move all of it when it is time to move out. In addition, we suggest you ask about the water and electricity network when you rent a whole house, whether you have to pay for it yourself or not. If you rent a house with a garden, discuss with the landlord whether the tenant will take care of the garden or the landlord will do it himself.
Shared Rent
Shared accommodation is where more than one person rents a whole house, sometimes even with the landlord. It is also divided into the following categories:
Renting only one bedroom and sharing common areas such as bathroom and kitchen, this type of room is suitable for international students who are alone.
Independent access to one-bedroom and two-bedroom, utterly separate from the co-tenant, do not interfere with each other; privacy is better.
You may need to share the kitchen, bathroom, etc., with your co-tenant or landlord for non-independent suites.
Generally speaking, the utilities in a shared house are shared equally. However, if you are a Chinese landlord, the rent usually includes electricity and water, which is very humane. However, most of the houses in New Zealand are made of wood. They are not even soundproof, so you may be able to feel the noise from upstairs to downstairs.
Homestay
The disadvantage of homestay is that many students feel very uncomfortable when they first move into a homestay because foreigners’ living habits and daily routines are different. For example, it is stipulated that the shower should not be more than 10 minutes per day, and the daily meals may not be in line with the taste of Taiwanese people.
However, homestay is an excellent solution for students new to New Zealand (e.g. bus pass, mobile phone card, bank card, etc.). They can ask homestay families for tips, and if they are in a foreign family, they can improve their English quickly.
New Zealand Rental Pathway
School Forum
You can also log into the school forum to check the information. This is an excellent choice. Generally, the information posted on it is all the rentals near the school, including those posted by landlords and students seeking to share a room; first of all, this can ensure that the geographical location of the room is more suitable (close to the school). However, we need to be more careful; the appearance of fraudulent advertisements is not impossible.
Local Newspapers
Many landlords advertise their properties through newspapers, free supermarket noticeboards and the internet. You can check the rental section of the newspaper and get in touch with the renter. The advantage of this method is that you do not need to pay the agent’s fee. But it takes more time and effort.
Housing Agents
In the current rental market, for example, in Parnell and Ponsonby districts in Auckland City, most good houses are represented by agents. Therefore, most agents will represent the good houses during the peak season. Although the licensed agents charge a week’s rent + GST, they can also provide a fair deal between buyers and sellers. Although licensed housing agents charge a weekly rent + GST service fee, they can also offer a fair deal for both buyers and sellers, as they provide services to protect the interests of tenants and landlords.
Housing Management Companies
This type of housing is usually a flat type of house; the owner is usually abroad, entrusted to the housing management company to rent and the same management of the house. The advantage for the tenant is that the property with a management company has a front desk and room service. This kind of serviced flats are managed in an orderly manner, which can save the renter a lot of things.
Rental Websites/Apps
Nowadays, more and more people are looking for apartments through rental websites, which are simple and convenient. And you can check the properties you want just by moving your hands. In Spain, many websites provide services for renting apartments. The listings on these platforms are either posted by the landlords themselves or by agents, but of course, the existence of scammers cannot be ruled out.
The search function of these websites is generally complete; in addition to providing listings, each platform has unique features. You may wish to think about what you need before renting a room or take some time to look at a few platforms. After all, these features are not used for nothing! However, the size of each rental website varies, and the quality of the listings on the site is mixed, so you must be careful when screening.
Recommended Rental Websites/Apps in New Zealand
Uhomes
Website Address: https://en.uhomes.com/
Site Description:
Uhomes, founded in 2015, is a global rental platform for international students. We have 3 million properties for rent and sale in 900 major cities around the world, near 2700 universities and colleges. We provide one-stop services such as branded flats, boutique B&Bs, and new houses overseas. Hometown Habitat has helped nearly 50,000 international students find the right place to live around the world. We provide overseas rentals, overseas pick-up and drop-off, customised services, and guides to study abroad life. With study abroad property and cross-border room rental as the main business, Hometown Haoju closes the whole industry chain of international study abroad.
New Zealand’s Super Detailed Rental Process
Step 1: Finding a Property
The first step is to find a suitable house, flat or room according to your needs. You can look for properties online on major rental websites to pick the best choice within your budget. You can also review various agents’ websites to check each company’s listings. In short, look around, pick out a few favourites and then go and look around.
Whether you rent a house on a website or with an agent, make sure you find out if the location of the house is safe or not and how much the rent is per month. And if it includes utilities, heating and miscellaneous expenses. The distance of the house from the school, whether the traffic is convenient, and whether there is a supermarket nearby are all points to consider.
Traffic: If you can not be near the school or workplace, the best way to control the drive is within half an hour.
Security: The first thing to consider when choosing a location is security. Look at the security situation in the neighbourhood and find out which crimes are the most common to increase your awareness of self-protection.
Amenities: Whether the neighbourhood is well equipped with basic amenities. For example, supermarkets, banks, gyms, etc., must be considered; later in life, it will be highly inconvenient.
Rent: You must have a psychological price for rent, what your budget is, and how much money you are prepared to spend to rent the house.
Step 2: Site Visit
Be sure to see the house on the spot! With the selected housing, you can contact the landlord or agent through the mailbox or phone to make an appointment to see the house. The home photos exposed on the internet may be fake. So you must see the real thing in person; otherwise, you should never blindly believe, hastily sign the contract, and pay the rent. It is not uncommon to see scams where fake listings are registered online. As a result, kind and innocent international students pay the money and are ready to move in, only to realise that they have been duped.
Apart from determining the reliability and general appearance of the property, when you go to the site, you also need to make sure that the water pipes are intact, there are no leaks, there are no cracks in the walls and floors, the air-conditioner, water heater, refrigerator, etc. are working correctly. There are no snakes, insects, rats or ants infestation, and so on.
If you have friends or relatives in New Zealand, please ask them to help you look at the properties, or to be on the safe side, choose a more expensive short-term rental (1-3 months) after you arrive and then look for a more suitable and affordable location after you have stayed there.
About Roommates
There is also the need to pay more attention to roommates if you share a room. When you are sharing a room with unfamiliar pals, make sure you pay attention to their behaviour and habits in advance. If you are living with a homeowner, keep an eye on the details of his demeanour when looking at the room.
The online recruitment sharing room will generally leave contact information for other strangers to share a room. You can add a contact in chatting from each other’s tone of voice and a rough understanding of each other’s qualities. It is essential to spread out some of the requirements of both sides to say it clearly, to see if they can coexist peacefully – for example, can you keep pets? What pets are unacceptable? Will it not happen? What pets can not accept will not occur in more noisy situations (playing the piano and so on), public area health how arranged and so on. You can only avoid disputes with your roommate to the greatest extent possible by talking clearly. If you can’t get along with your roommate, find another room before it’s too late!
Step 3: Sign the Rental Contract
You should sign a rental agreement once you’ve found your favourite apartment. This can be done either with the landlord or the landlord’s agent, the real estate company. Usually, the standard rental agreement provided by the government’s Ministry of Housing is used.
Whether it’s a long or short-term rental, a rental contract is a must, and even if the contract looks a bit difficult in English, make sure you read it word for word! Because most of the pitfalls of renting are in the contract. Don’t be in a hurry to sign it, or you won’t have anywhere to cry when you get screwed over! Some of the things that must be on a formal rental contract include:
Full name, contact address, email and mobile phone number of the landlord and tenant
The address of the rental property
Date of signing the agreement
The date the tenancy starts
The address that the landlord and tenant have agreed to deliver the contract to
Whether the tenant is over 18 years old
The amount of the deposit
The amount of the rent and how often it will be paid
How the rent is to be paid
The exact amount of the expenses involved
A list of supplies in the rental property
The expiry date of the lease
One separate agreement on the insulation of the house
One separate agreement on healthy housing
Follow the Rules to Avoid Disputes
In order to avoid disputes and have a safe and comfortable renting experience, whether you are a tenant or a landlord, it is essential to be clear about your responsibilities and obligations as well as those of the other party. So, what are the duties of the landlord and the tenant in a housing lease?
Lessor (Landlord) Obligations:
- Not to disturb the tenant’s life during the tenancy agreement.
- Ensure that the property is in a habitable condition and that any damage to the property is repaired in a timely manner.
- Pay the housing tax.
- Pay insurance for the property.
- And give tenants 24 hours’ notice of any inspections or repairs required by the landlord.
- If the landlord is away from New Zealand for more than 21 days, he/she must appoint an agent to manage the property.
- The landlord must not ask for any of the tenant’s belongings.
Tenant Obligations
- The landlord will return one month’s rent as a deposit if the property is in good condition at the end of the tenancy.
- The tenant is required to pay the rent on time according to the time agreed in the lease.
- The tenant is liable to pay for any damage to the property during the tenancy period.
- In some towns, the tenant will have to pay for electricity, gas, water and internet.
- The tenant should inform the landlord of any repairs to the property.
- Insure your property against unforeseen damage.
- Tenants should return all keys to their rooms at the end of the tenancy.
- Not to disturb neighbours or other tenants.
- The tenant is not allowed to change the internal structure of the property without the landlord’s written consent.
- Prohibit the use of the premises for illegal purposes
- The number of people living in the property must not exceed those stipulated in the tenancy agreement.
The primary tenancy laws in New Zealand are the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996, which set out in detail the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in relation to the legal provisions relating to the conclusion and termination of tenancy agreements.
Types of Tenancy Agreements
Periodic tenancy: There is no end date. It lasts until the tenant or landlord gives written notice to terminate the agreement.
Fixed-term tenancy: lasts for a certain period—for example, one year. Fixed-term tenancies do not have a maximum duration; they need to be stated in the tenancy agreement and cannot normally be terminated by giving notice. Once the Fixed-term tenancy ends, the tenancy will automatically become a Periodic tenancy unless you or the landlord give the correct notice and agree to renew the tenancy together or otherwise (if applicable). So you must ensure that the Fixed-term tenancy suits you before you sign the agreement!
Short fixed-term tenancy: If the fixed-term is 90 days or less, it is a Short fixed-term tenancy. At the end of the term, it does not become a Periodic tenancy, and the Short fixed-term tenancy cannot be used as a trial period for renting.
Step 4: Payment of Rent and Related Charges
After signing the tenancy agreement, you need to pay the following fees:
- Rental fee (no fee if you contact the landlord yourself)
- Rent deposit (up to four weeks’ rent, usually can be two weeks’ rent, need to discuss with the landlord
- Two weeks of prepaid rent (after the start of the two weeks of rent, every fortnight, pay the rent for the next two weeks; the payment method is usually through the bank automatic transfer)
Sign the contract and take the keys at the same time you pay the deposit and rent. At this point, you have successfully rented the apartment! Then you can choose a good day to move.
Rental Costs in New Zealand
Rent
Unlike in China, rent in New Zealand is usually priced and settled on a weekly basis and is paid monthly or half-yearly. Rent is closely related to the location of the property, with the city centre and good school districts (which means affluent areas) being more expensive than ordinary areas.
Deposit
In addition to the rent, the landlord can ask the tenant to pay a deposit of up to four weeks’ rent. This deposit must be handed over to the government-run Tenancy Services department to prevent the landlord from unreasonably withholding the tenant’s deposit when they check out of the property.
The deposit will be refunded when both the landlord and tenant sign a deposit return form (the name must be the same as on the deposit payment form. So Tenancy Services must be notified of any change of tenant/landlord). If the landlord decides that the tenant is in arrears with the rent or has damaged the property, he/she will need to submit an application and evidence to the government in order to withhold all or part of the deposit.
Utility and Network Charges
These are classified as all-inclusive or shared or included in the rent by the landlord, depending on how the landlord calculates them. In the case of shared, the landlord will be responsible for the connection and installation fee for the electricity and gas service. At the same time, the tenant will need to arrange and pay for the other costs, which means the tenant will pay for the electricity and gas.
Key deposit
There are many good flats, especially villas of the whole block type, where a key deposit is required, depending on the circumstances.
Agency Fee
New Zealand has now abolished the agency fee, so there is no more agency fee. However, because of the abolition of the agent fee, many agents put this fee on the landlord, so some landlords increase the property’s price.
How do you Deal with Rental Disputes?
You don’t need to be anxious if you dispute with your landlord during the rental period. The New Zealand government provides a standardised process for tenants to resolve disputes appropriately. There are four common ways to resolve conflicts; tenants can choose the right way to protect their rights and interests.
Self-directed Dispute Resolution
Self-determination means choosing a dialogue with the landlord to solve the problem, taking the initiative to negotiate and communicate with the landlord, and creating a good tenancy relationship during the rental period. Use FastTrack Resolution, a service by Tenancy Services New Zealand that specialises in helping landlords and tenants reach formal agreements and resolve disputes. They offer various services, including advice, information and mediation services for landlords or tenants. If necessary, you can consider choosing such third-party services to resolve disputes.
Mediation
If your dispute is complex, you can also contact a specialised mediation service called The Tenancy Tribunal to resolve your dispute.
Alternatively, you can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal for arbitration. The Tenancy Tribunal will hear both parties and issue a legally binding decision.
Things to Consider When Renting in New Zealand
Be sure to sign a contract and carefully confirm the contract details.
If you are looking for an agent, you must go through the Credit Check process and sign the contract. If you look for an agent, the agent can’t charge a brokerage fee! At the end of 2018, New Zealand forbade charging agency fees for renting an apartment. So if you are looking for an agent, remember to pay attention to this, and try to find a foreign agent who has been doing this for a long time or a regular big agent.
Avoid the peak season. February and July are the peak seasons for universities and colleges to start their studies and buy and sell houses, including before Christmas. These are the peak rental seasons. At this time of year, a queue of tenants is waiting to be interviewed by landlords or agents. It is advisable to prepare early in the year and look for information on all aspects of finding a property.
FAQ
How Do I Terminate My Tenancy?
If you want to move out of your home, you must give your landlord 21 days’ written notice before you move out unless the landlord reduces the time by the same amount. If the landlord wants you to move out, he must give you 90 days’ written notice. This time can be shortened to 42 days if the following happens.
(1) The home is sold, and the new owner wants to vacate.
2) The landlord or his family needs to live in the house.
3) The landlord’s employees need to live in the house.
What If the Landlord Evicts You?
A landlord who wants to evict a tenant must give two weeks’ notice if there is a contract in place, and it is a severe offence for a landlord to leave a tenant’s belongings outside the house. So, if you encounter such an unreasonable landlord, as long as you have a contract, you don’t have to be afraid!
What Information Do I Need to Prepare to Apply for a Whole Tenancy?
Generally speaking, you must fill in your personal information and show your passport, driving licence, income proof, bank deposit proof and other documents to the landlord or rental manager. Suppose you have previous rental records in New Zealand. In that case, the rental manager will also retrieve the applicant’s personal credit information from the tenant database or contact the previous landlord to determine the eligibility of the rental.
How Much Does it Cost to Rent an Apartment in New Zealand?
Here is a rough idea of how much it would cost to rent an apartment in New Zealand~ Living in a school dormitory costs between NZD 250-550 per week, while a homestay with meals would cost around NZD 250-350 per week (total of NZD 1,100-1,600).
