'Outrageous demands': Property investors come out swinging against grass-roots tenancy advocate group

Wellington City. Photo / 123RF

The New Zealand Property Investors Federation (NZPIF) has come out swinging against what it says are "outrageous" demands from a grassroots tenancy advocate group.

Tenants Action Wellington (TAW) has a planned protest this afternoon beginning on Cuba St at 4pm and ending outside Quinovic's Kent Terrace office, armed with a list of 10 demands which it hopes Quinovic will adopt to set a precedent.

The demands include the abolition of bonds and rental references, minimum five-year leases which tenants can exit at any time, and an immediate rent reduction to 25 per cent of the lowest benefit.

NZPIF president Andrew King says the organisation is happy to support changes which improve the rental environment, such as compulsory insulation and "most" of the Healthy Homes but TAW's demands are "outrageous".

"Tenant groups like Tenants Action Wellington do not understand that housing in New Zealand is expensive to provide, and tax increases for rental property have not helped."

King says if private landlords do not supply housing, then the responsibility falls to the state.

"If the state needs to provide more rental accommodation because private providers are no longer able to, then we will have less money for spending on health, education and many other things on which taxpayers would prefer their tax dollars being spent."

TAW spokeswoman Anne Campbell says New Zealand's housing crisis has been worsening under both Labour and National governments and something has to give.

She says the 10 demands are something that any landlord could enact without needing governmental intervention.

"When we crafted our demands, we made them demands that technically speaking any landlord could enact right now if they so choose to. Everyone has been waiting for the Government to make changes to push them to doing the right thing but any landlord is capable of making these changes.

If Quinovic were to enact the list of demands, Campbell says it would be a significant gesture towards recognising its duty to "operate ethically in its position of power over tenants".

"I would say these demands they may seem kind of extreme or hard to achieve – they're less than what is required for a basic human right."