Explanation of the RTA Amendment Bill
As you probably know by now the Labour Government has a bill before parliament that will make some rather meaningful changes to residential tenancy law.
Word on the street is that these reforms are being pushed through as fast as possible. I can only assume that after election promises around housing, immigration and tax amounted to not much, the government feels under pressure to show that they are doing something before the next election.
By far the two changes that have caused the most concern and discussion are:
- The removal of the no-cause 90-day termination of tenancies.
- Mandating that fixed term tenancies will revert to periodic at the end of the fixed term.
I recorded a conversation that explores what these and the other changes mean and how you can take some action with Sarina Gibbon from the Auckland Property Investors Association (APIA). Sarina has done a lot of research on this topic so that you don't have to and APIA have generously offered to share these resources with non-members on a publicly available web page. This includes a quick guide to the changes if you don't want to watch the entire video.
Please take some time out of your day to have a watch/listen and then take action by making a submission. Submissions close at midnight on March 25.
Video (link)
Audio (link):
APIA Resources including a guide to submissions:
What am I doing?
A number of people have asked me what I plan to do. I'm making a submission, telling friends and family (who aren't investors) about what this could mean for their own lives, and continuing to buy rental properties to grow my portfolio. These changes will make some things more difficult, however I still believe property is the best investment option for New Zealanders and if the government wants to bring in rules that discourages some from investing in the face of increasing rental demand then that is surely going to be good for my business.