Last week, the Tenancy Compliance and Investigation Team (TCIT) did the rounds of North-D flats. The government-run team sieged (door-knocked) flats to check that they are complying with the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. In other words, to check whether students have been slumming it in reasonably-managed flats or festering mould hives.
Student rental properties along Union, Leith, Castle, George, and Dundas Street were inspected. OUSA President Liam White accompanied the TCIT on their rounds, clipboard tightly gripped in hand. “The main trend was that people are paying so much more than thought you could even justify,” said Liam. “So many flats were in such a horrid state with botched repair jobs and basic things like heat pumps and ovens that didn’t work.”
Some inspected flats were in pretty decent shape, beating allegations that all Dunners flats are full of mice, mould, and mushrooms. Liam also wanted to stress the positive outcomes of some of these inspections, saying, “It was really good to hear about the positive relationship that some students had with their landlords, but it was pretty clear that a bad landlord makes for a really bad flatting experience.”
The inspections come at an important time for Studentville, as the beginning of winter rapidly approaches. Damp flats that can’t hold heat just pile onto seasonal depression, exam stress, and flatting dramas. There’s nothing worse than having to be cold while begging your flatmate to have sex just a little bit quieter at 2am.
Naturally, many students are rather chuffed with the inspections (once vibrators, weed grinders, and bongs were hidden from sight). Yarning with Critic Te Ārohi, one student said about the inspections, “It sounds good. I want that. My flat is dingy as hell. I don’t know much about it, but I would like my landlord to keep my house warm.”
Despite this being something of a W for Otago students, the checks proved contentious when news of them broke on the boomer-ridden Dunedin News Facebook page. Many local keyboard warriors in the comments viewed the inspections as unfortunate inconveniences for landlords and property managers, claiming that it’ll only raise the cost of living further.
Other remarks suggest these uncomplying properties shouldn’t be required to meet the 1986 Act as students can “simply toughen up and endure”. President White disagrees: “I totally accept that it was a part of the Otago experience, but this is a new generation of students who have a really clear and simple demand: quality housing, which is looked after, keeps you warm and dry, should be the bare minimum, and not a luxury.”
A media release from the TCIT Acting National Manager said that this can be achieved by providing “a rental home that complies with all building, health and safety requirements in addition to tenancy law”. While it may have been daunting for flatting students to see people arrive at their door, wearing stab-proof vests and body-cams, it wasn’t them who were at risk of being in trouble for once!
As well as having to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act, rental properties have until July 1st to meet Healthy Homes standards. If you feel that your flat is not meeting the requirements of the Residential Tenancies Act and Healthy Homes standards, resources can be accessed on the tenancy.govt.nz website. Dunk on your landlord before the mould stink does this winter.