Editorial: Get Behind the Rental Warrant of Fitness

Posted 9:54pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Nina Brown

Cars can be dangerous to your wellbeing. If they have a dodgy wheel bearing, thin tyres, a cracked windscreen or a dying battery, they don’t pass their warrant of fitness. It’s too dangerous to drive. Before you’re allowed to have your car on the road, you have to fix the Read more...

Critical Tribune: Fresher Gets Quick Lesson In Tenancy Law After Falling Out With Friend Group They Signed With In January

Posted 10:59pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Anna Marrs

Critical Tribune has received several news tips over the past couple of weeks complaining about the “absolute state” of tenancy law. Turns out, signing a contract with your mates halfway through first sem isn’t a committed display of the fact you’ll love each other forever, Read more...

Editorial: Surviving North D With Your Crew

Posted 4:30pm Saturday 19th July 2025 by Nina Brown

Like many University of Otago students, when I moved into my first flat in second-year, I went in blind. All I knew going into flat hunting was my sister telling me to chase sunshine, my mum’s tip to test the shower pressure at viewings, and that if you don’t sign by August you’ll Read more...

Fresher Beware

Posted 4:38pm Saturday 19th July 2025 by Hanna Varrs

Disclaimer: Based on true stories. Identifying details have been changed. It’s that time of year. You and a few friends (or randoms from Facebook) band together to form a flat. The hunt begins: endless viewings, frantically handing in applications, long debates about whether a dishwasher is Read more...

Mould-Mapping North D

Posted 4:52pm Sunday 25th May 2025 by Hunter Jolly

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 Read more...

Critic’s ‘Cigarette Butt’ Cover’s LJ Hooker Feature

Posted 9:02pm Sunday 23rd March 2025 by Gryffin Blockley

A former Frederick Street flattie has let Critic Te Ārohi in on an inside secret. The scoop? LJ Hooker’s ad for their former flat is giving Critic free advertising. It began as the historic student tradition of plastering Critic covers on their flat wall. Jessie described the collaging Read more...

Unexpected UniFlats Maintenance Visits “An Accident Waiting to Happen”

Posted 4:40am Monday 16th September 2024 by Jodie Evans

UniFlats residents caught off-guard by unanticipated visits from staff and maintenance crew have been left feeling “a bit weird”, to say the least. One Clyde Street resident told Critic Te Ārohi that she was suffering from a severe bout of food poisoning when maintenance staff Read more...

Castle St Courtyard Set to Split

Posted 3:37am Monday 16th September 2024 by Hugh Askerud

‘Courtyard’, the infamous intersection of breathadom between three Castle St flats, will allegedly soon be split with a fence. Breathas and sheathas alike are biting their nails at the impact the change may have on their beloved stomping ground for all manner of occasions: parties and Read more...

Uni Flats Unplugged

Posted 10:58pm Saturday 10th August 2024 by Jodie Evans

A number of Uni Flat residents are feeling left in the dark after a series of evening power outages occurred without explanation in the peak of Dunner's winter. In an effort to stay warm, residents went to bed early and “piled on blankets” all the while feeling miffed. However, an Read more...

Big Red May Become Just ‘Big’

Posted 3:01pm Sunday 4th August 2024 by Hugh Askerud

A makeover is on the cards for the iconic Big Red Castle Street flat. In a recent Trade Me listing which put the flat up for rent in 2025, DNA Property Management described big plans to make the dingy den “into a nice place to call home [...] rather than how it looks now.” To Read more...