The Rent Centre has been held up officials as a reminder to all landlords to be compliant under the Residential Tenancies Act.
The Rent Centre has been held up officials as a reminder to all landlords to be compliant under the Residential Tenancies Act.
The Rent Centre has been ordered to pay more than $34,000 for failing to lodge tenants' bonds and provide evidence of insulation.
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's team that investigates compliance of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) found The Rent Centre had breached the law more than 100times.
"There is no excuse for this behaviour, the company should have known better," said the National Manager of the Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT), Steve Watson.
"The fact that TCIT had discovered 116 breaches of the RTA over a period of four years shows a massive failing in the way this business was operating.
"Tenants need to trust and believe that when they are dealing with a landlord, particularly a property management company that has been in business for over 20 years, that the landlord is fulfilling their legal obligations."
The Tenancy Tribunal ordered The Rent Centre or its client landlords to pay $28,750 for the 115 times the company failed to pass on the bond a tenant paid to the Tenancy Bond Centre.
There were a further 33 cases where The Rent Centre didn't provide evidence of insulation as part of the tenancy agreement.
"Compliant insulation statements give tenants piece of mind when it comes to knowing the state of the insulation in their rental home when they start a tenancy," said Mr Watson.
"These orders serve as a timely reminder that time is running out for landlords who have not checked to make sure that they have physical insulation installed in accordance with the regulations by 1 July 2019."
