Homeowners in Bay of Plenty top up income by renting spare rooms for cash

Andrea Howe with her roomies Santiago and his dad Sergio.

Savvy Kiwis are increasing their weekly budgets and forming lifetime connections by inviting strangers to share empty rooms in their own homes. The concept is not new, but as the cost of living skyrockets, the idea has become more appealing. But, as Carmen Hall discovers, it’s not all about the money.

When Andrea Howe’s children left home, she was “as lonely as hell and a bit broke”.

After several horrendous stints renting out parts of her Te Puke house and the sleepout to long-term workers, she decided to try seasonal kiwifruit workers instead.

Due to Covid, her first lot of Columbian renters ended up staying for 18 months in her sleepout.

“They were incredible and I loved them to bits. I still keep in touch with them every day over Facebook to send them a photo of my dog. I learned a different culture and how to cook different food.”

After the first lockdown, their friend Sergio moved into the spare room after getting a fulltime job at Comvita, and “he is still with me nearly three years later”.

Now, his 23-year-old son Santiago was living in another room as they waited for the rest of their family to arrive.

“Since then I’ve had lots of people from all sorts of countries in my sleepout. It’s been absolutely fabulous.”

Howe said her mortgage was $530 a week. She charged $130 a week for the inside rooms that included everything apart from food and $230 for the sleepout.

“It costs me $40 a week to live in my house. I’ve still got to pay the power and all that, but hopefully, I come out $250 a week better off.”

Setting boundaries and rules was important.

“Just have a conversation. I’ve only got one bathroom, and the biggest one was when we were all going to shower.”

Colene and Ian Baldwin from Rotorua have hosted international students in their home for more than 20 years. Those students have come from places all around the world, including Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Germany, Asia, Austria and the South Pacific.

“They are from all over, really ... have been aged from 10 to people in their 70s.”

Colene and Ian Baldwin with their homestay international student Miyu, who is from Japan.

The couple still keeps in touch with most of them and said while there were financial benefits, hosting students was rewarding.

“The money helps, but that is not the ultimate goal. It’s seeing them happy and achieving what they want to do with their English learning.”

Gwen Clouston had been renting out rooms to kiwifruit pickers for about five years. It started with pickers she was working with who were sleeping in their cars and needed somewhere to stay.

“I told them to come home for a shower and a feed.”

Clouston said her family was used to friends staying so it was an easy fit, and “you’ve just got to put up with the little things that bug you and [not] sweat the small stuff”.

She charged $150 a week per room and $50 a week if they wanted dinners. Two guys from Palmerston North stayed for about three months this year, and Clouston said it was beneficial financially and there was a huge demand for seasonal accommodation.

Debbie Atkin said hosting international students was just like having family over to stay, and that mindset made the transition easy.

“You have to be comfortable with having someone you know, like, supposedly a stranger in your home, and it’s just treating them as one of the family. That is what we do.”

The average stay was about a month, and Debbie said it was fantastic to learn about other cultures and countries.

“We find it quite fun. It’s always interesting to find out ... where they come from and how they live and stuff like that.”

She said they provided breakfast and dinner to the students who were part of the Rotorua English Language School and the average stay for them was about a month.

Currently, Debbie and her husband Ian were hosting Charles from New Calendonia, and she said while it was good to get a little bit of extra money, it wasn’t about that.

Rotorua English Language Academy director Chris Leckie said students speak much more English and they experience New Zealand culture and life first-hand when they were at homestays.

Homestays receive $280-$310 per week depending on the age of the student and cover all expenses except lunch on school days and transport.

Leckie said homestay parents were recommended through word of mouth. At the moment, it had 32 students from South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, French Polynesia, Taiwan, New Caledonia, Colombia, Chile, Spain and China.

Mount Maunganui Language Centre had posted on Facebook for homestay parents.

Director Geoff Butler said it had a great community response from all kinds of people and was still taking expressions of interest.

“Retirees, people who want to have their children experience another culture, single parents, people who live alone - we have no fixed definition of the make-up of a host family. People who are welcoming, friendly and interested in other cultures make great hosts.”

Butler said often students became friends for life, staying in touch with their families years after they returned home.

Prior to the pandemic, more than $500,000 went directly into host family accounts every year, and this year it was on target to reach $400,000.

“That’s without considering the multiplier effect of international students, who spend more in the local community than short-term tourists. Our students are regularly buying surfboards, renting cars on the weekend and frequenting local bars and cafes. It adds up to a considerable contribution to the local economy with a smaller carbon footprint than most other forms of travel.”

At the moment, there were about 40 students in the school from Switzerland, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Korea, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, Argentina, Uruguay, the Philippines and Tahiti.

Tauranga Financial Mentors manager Shirley McCombe said taking on a boarder was the only way some clients could make ends meet.

Beneficiaries can have up to two boarders but it might affect entitlements and insurance, and their tenancy agreement might not allow it.

“I have seen it be very successful for some and a disaster for others. Ultimately, it is about finding the right person and understanding the nature of the arrangement. If things go astray, you can try to sort it out together. If money or possessions are involved, you can pursue this with the Disputes Tribunal.”

Rotorua Budget Advice manager Pakanui Tuhura said a proportion of its clients had boarders or family living with them to offset the increasing cost of living, but he had also seen some situations go astray.

“They don’t pay their share or meet responsibilities and simply don’t move on and aggressively challenge any move to get them to move on. I know of one person who actually had to get a trespass order taken out on a family member who was not only causing her trouble, but the local neighbourhood as well.”

Tenancy Services acting head of tenancy Paul Coggan said a flatmate or boarder situation was not normally covered by the Residential Tenancies and a tenancy agreement was not required.

The relationship between flatmates was not covered by the Act and their rights depended on the agreement with the owner of the house.

Coggan suggested people record agreements with tenants in writing.