Mediation 'better way' to fix tenancy issues

Unpaid rent has triggered hundreds of formal tenancy disputes between Wanganui landlords and wayward tenants, figures show.

Last year, 308 complaints were filed with the tenancy tribunal at Wanganui District Court, with landlords making 283 and tenants lodging 25. Most complaints related to unpaid rent or termination breaches. All complaints were resolved through tribunal orders.

Meanwhile, new Trade Me Property data shows median weekly rent in Wanganui increased by $15 year-on-year to $185 in April.

Action Property Management director Teena Lawrence said it was clear some tenants struggled to keep up with rent.

"I had a few issues last year with people having their benefits cut," she said. "It takes about six weeks to get the benefit renewed.

"We generally ride that time out and then set a temporary price they can afford because, by that time, they'll have mounting bills and might have had to get things on hire purchase and that sort of thing."

Ms Lawrence said she mostly went through mediation, rather than the tribunal. "Mediation generally works the issue out. I only had tenants turn up once in the last year for a tribunal hearing."

Checks needed to be done to find good tenants, she said. "If they're a first time renter and are going to be relying on help from their parents, I'll want to meet their parents as well.

"If they've lied, it's a straight 'no'. I'll also offer to do a credit check for a fee."

Nationwide, landlords and tenants made 32,097 complaints to the tenancy tribunal in the last year - 29,436 by landlords and 2661 by tenants - a decrease on previous years.

Tenants Protection Association manager Helen Gatonyi expected the national decrease in complaints was due to more cases being fast tracked through mediation. "If the issues are being resolved that way, it's a good thing," she said. "If a tenant does get behind on rent and ends up at the tribunal, it goes on their record and they find it hard to get into the rental market again."