Tenancy Tribunal Working Against Renters In Need

Sad news from RNZ a few weeks ago, showing Kāinga Ora is taking between 5000 and 6000 cases a year to the Tenancy Tribunal. 

You might not be aware, but the Tenancy Tribunal is funded through interest generated from bonds paid by renters. Yet the vast majority of cases (over 80%!) are brought to the tribunal by landlords. 

Renters, this is our tribunal. We pay for it with the interest we don’t get from our bonds. Why should renters shoulder the cost of our own evictions and attacks on some of our most vulnerable tenants?

A fairer system would avoid the tribunal altogether. Most issues between renters and their landlords can and should be resolved outside of the tribunal system. The tribunal should be a system of last resort – funded by the government rather than renters – and redesigned to level the playing field for renters.

This interest from our bonds should instead be put towards renter-led advocacy services (to support renters and help them understand and uphold their rights), as well as mediation services, to prevent issues from being escalated to the tribunal. 

Stories like this show why renting in Aotearoa needs a reset. Shortly we will be releasing the results from the Aotearoa Renters Survey and setting out the steps needed to fix renting in Aotearoa. The results show the abysmal state of renting in Aotearoa, and our vision for a better, fairer rental system.

Keep an eye out on our socials for details of the launch, we’d love to have you there!

About the author:

Quintin Jane

In: News, The Plan to Fix Renting, Uncategorized. .