A working mother of two who asked to pitch a tent at campsites while hunting for a rental. A father who has moved in with his sister in Hamilton and commutes to Tauranga after being denied rentals because of his children's ages. And a Rotorua mother who says it took
Rental crisis: Families struggle to find homes as landlords tighten tenant criteria
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Phillipa Taurima (centre) with her husband, Hamiora and their children. Photo / Supplied
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"As soon as I've mentioned that I've got kids, some places are like, 'nah, I'm not going to deal with you'."
He said one landlord "downright told me no ... just because we have two children under 5".
According to Trade Me's latest rental figures, Tauranga's median weekly rent has soared while supply has plummeted.
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As of January, the median was $620, up 29 per cent from January 2018's median of $480.
Rental market supply was down 29 per cent year-on-year,
In Rotorua the median was up 40 per cent from $350 in January 2018 to $490 in January this year while supply was down 33 per cent.
Nicholson and his family are feeling the pinch. They live in Hamilton with family and pay $600 a fortnight in rent. His commute to work costs $150 a fortnight in fuel and $434 in accommodation and they are living on one income after his wife quite her Tauranga job to look after the children in Hamilton.
Nicholson said they started looking after being given a 90-day notice so their landlord could sell and since then, listings had dropped from 300 a week to 100 in a month.
Tauranga's Philippa Taurima and her family secured a rental less than three weeks before they were ready to call it quits and move back to the South Island.
She, her husband and their two children aged 3 and 5 applied for between 60 and 65 rentals since mid-December and just managed to find a home this week.
Taurima said she had been told their application looked great but they were one of 220 applicants.
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"I feel like we're being spat out ... we don't have a choice. We're not being kicked out [of Tauranga], but we're out of options," she said days before securing a home.
In her hunt, Taurima went to campsites to ask if she could stay in a tent or cabin with her children while she worked and house-hunted but none of the campsites were offering long-term stays.
It took Marina Kirk-Osman two months to find a suitable rental in Rotorua for her family.
The South African ex-pats were asked to leave previous their rental after three and a half years because the landlord wanted to sell and in her hunt for a home, she found "rundown", "damp" and "mouldy" houses.
She said many properties they viewed were "not up to scratch" while the rent was $500 a week.
"Landlords are asking too much for rentals ... Most available now are way out of one's budget."
Tauranga Salvation Army corps officer Kylie Overbye said physical appearance and the number of children and their ages were barriers for some people to get housing.
Credit ratings, a history with the Tenancy Tribunal, employment status, criminal record and parental status were some of the reasons clients could not get rentals.
"It's very difficult for whānau to be in this kind of situation and feels very unfair, particularly when discrimination may be involved," she said.
She said people deserved a reasonable chance to get stable, safe accommodation and constant knock-backs left people "hopeless".
The Salvation Army ran Tino Pai Terrific Tenancies, which educated people about the market and gave them skills to find a place.
This included dressing appropriately, budgeting, how to apply for houses and what kind of information was needed to be seriously considered.
The other side of the crisis
Rental agents and investors have said changes to the Residential Tenancy Act have made it difficult to evict problem tenants so they are being strict.
Landlords can no longer end a periodic tenancy without cause, and fixed-term tenancy agreements automatically convert to periodic tenancy agreements, meaning landlords need to go through disputes resolution or the tenancy tribunal to get rid of a troublesome tenant.
Property investor Lindsay Richards had "a number" of properties in Rotorua and Tauranga and said he previously took on "less than perfect tenants" but had stopped.
At one point he took a risk on a bankrupted woman who was a "brilliant" tenant, developed a good rental history and ended up buying a home.
On another occasion, he accepted two mums in their 20s with a limited rental history but they did not pay rent on time and he got complaints from neighbours about parties.
After they left, fixing holes in falls, cleaning floors, 1m-high lawns and disposal of two van and trailers' worth of rubbish cost him more than $1000.
He said there was usually an even split of good versus "tenants from hell" but it was no longer worth taking the risk so he only took people with an "excellent history".
He said law changes made landlords reluctant to take on any risky tenants.
"If they don't have a good history or don't have a history because they're new to the renting game, I'm not going to touch them because that could turn into tears for me.
"Why bother trying to help someone who's a potential risk when there are 100 others?
"That's sad for these genuine ones out there."
Tauranga Property Investors Association president Juli Tolley said some landlords had left the market either through selling, renting to relatives or leaving the home empty, meaning supply had reduced in an already-pressured market.
Houses for families were the most sought-after, drawing between 40 and 60 inquiries each, while two-bedroom units attracted 20 to 30 inquiries.
She said there had been the "frustrating" issue of people not showing up or calling to cancel scheduled viewings, which was a trend across North Island.
Rotorua rentals director Pauline Evans said denying rentals based on children was discrimination, and she believed it may be a case of misunderstanding.
She said there were properties that weren't suitable for children - like where there was a stream down the back without a fence, or the size of the house.
Evans said people were "so desperate", "asking for anything" and not reading the advertisements.
She said the new legislation made the selection process "more stringent than it's ever been before".
"Now you look at people and think, do I want to take a chance where once upon a time you might have ... it's really sad."
Evans explained reliability, character and rental history were what they looked into to find tenants.
Evans said some people came in and lied about themselves or said things they believed the agents wanted to hear.
This included smelling like cigarettes and claiming to be a non-smoker, leaving the meeting to a car-full of patched gang members or dogs in the car despite saying no pets.
She said they had a duty of care to house owners, neighbours and other tenants.
