Opinion: Are the landlords fleeing Bay of Plenty on to something?

Rentals BOP manager Gary Prentice says some landlords say renting to tenants has become too hard. Photo/file

Have the Government's efforts at making life a bit easier for people renting backfired? It seems to me it has.

This week the Bay of Plenty Times published an article in which Rentals BOP said it had lost more than 20 properties in the past 12 months after the Government released a raft of proposals to change tenancy laws.

Those changes include heating homes, taking away a landlord's right to say no to pets and axing letting fees.

Rentals BOP's Gary Prentice says owning a rental has become too hard for some. With landlords selling up, the Bay's rental shortage is only expected to get worse. In the past week in Auckland, the Herald reported that a landlord had faced a $42,000 bill to repair their damaged rental property.

Having flatted at rentals around New Zealand as a young adult, I became accustomed to the drafty, cold, damp conditions a typical Kiwi flat entailed - usually because these homes were old.

Sure, my landlords could have made things nicer with insulation and double glazing the windows, but some of those homes just weren't worth it. I think that's probably why they were being rented out in the first place - so it's nice to see the Government appearing to give a damn.

But I feel that Auckland landlord's pain.

I've seen the damage done by people who don't own the property so therefore, it would seem, they don't care about cleaning it, or that their dog has defecated on the carpet, or that the wallpaper and curtains have been ripped to shreds by the pet rats that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Surprise!

Even something as mundane as doing the lawns can add up to a big bill when ignored. And who pays in the end?

All the while the landlord has to sit by and wait for three months before the tenant moves out. Perhaps the fleeing landlords are on to something here.