"On TradeMe there were three listings or something, and you'd see something ridiculous like 157 people had it saved on their watchlist," she said.
"It was really scary. We got so close to the point where we were thinking about going back to Nelson to live at my mother's house, in her bedroom. It was very, very stressful."
Remax Elite real estate agent Zoe Godfrey-Payne also discovered what it was like to find a rental in Westport in February.
She said even some of the 4600 locals who know the town inside and out were becoming extremely stressed when they tried to find new rental properties.
"There are a lot of tenants looking for properties. They're having to do emergency accommodation because they've got nowhere else to go, and emergency accommodation is quite short as well. I know of a couple of tenants who are living wherever they can, whether it's on the street or on the doorstep of a friend. It's not that great right now."
Godfrey-Payne said over the past year, she'd observed an influx of out-of towners, many of retirement age, looking to buy properties on the West Coast.
She said some landlords had been all too keen to sell, claiming they were unhappy about upgrading their properties to meet new government standards such as insulation, and the proposed ban on no-cause tenancy terminations.
Other rentals that aren't yet for sale or up to code stand empty, or have been converted into Airbnbs.
On a 10-minute drive around the centre of the town, Laulau said it would be difficult not to notice the empty houses with overgrown lawns.
