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ScuL

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#173418 22-May-2015 11:44
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So we found a place to live in Auckland (yes it was hard) and have managed to secure it by jumping in quickly.
Just one thing I'd like to check, as coming from the UK this seems very weird.

The lettings agent suggested bringing forward our moving date in order to secure the property, even though it still takes 2 weeks for the container with our belongings to arrive. We would basically be paying rent for an empty house. Now I don't have a problem with that seeing the Auckland market is hellishly competitive.

However, the house still has some of the landlord's stuff in it and it still needs professional cleaning.
In the UK, the house would become available when the house is ready to be "delivered" to the new tenants; in other words: empty and clean.

It seems that the expectation here is that we start paying even though his stuff is still in there and the house hasn't been cleaned.
Is this normal?

Can I pressurise them to push the "moving date" forward to the day that the house will be ready for "delivery" or will I then risk losing it?

Advice welcome :) - meeting the agents this afternoon so hoping for quick response :D




Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.


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dan

dan
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  #1309819 22-May-2015 11:49
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have you signed a tenancy agreement? do you have a signed copy of it?

what date is on the agreement for commencing of the tenancy? 


EDIT, and no its far from normal the house should be empty, should be clean, and you shouldn't have to move in any sooner than what you agreed to when you signed the tenancy agreement (it should be on the agreement this move in date)




ScuL

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  #1309821 22-May-2015 11:52
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dan: have you signed a tenancy agreement? do you have a signed copy of it?

what date is on the agreement for commencing of the tenancy? 


EDIT, and no its far from normal the house should be empty, should be clean, and you shouldn't have to move in any sooner than what you agreed to when you signed the tenancy agreement (it should be on the agreement this move in date)



Nope, the intention is that this should be signed this afternoon.
We put the "moving in date" as today in order to secure the place.
As said, no chance the place would be physically in a state of readiness for us to move in (if we did have our belongings here and were ready to go).





Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.


scheduler
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  #1309823 22-May-2015 11:55
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As a landlord I would take the view that once you start playing rent the place is yours to enjoy. I don't see how you can fully enjoy the house if the landlords stuff is still on site. The reality is that you might not want to wait till the container gets here and purchase new furniture that your right. With regard to cleaning that's a subjective judgement and hard to comment on. The only thing I would say if you don't feel it is clean take photos so you have a record of the condition of the House when you move in. Also make sure that any issues are noted on the Agents pre moving in inspection as this will be taken as evidence in any future dispute.



dan

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  #1309825 22-May-2015 11:59
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not sure why you would tell them you wanted it from today if you really wanted it in several weeks, as a landlord myself that would kinda piss me off.

Obviously you have seen the property and its not ready let, so i would tell the Agent its not empty/cleaned yet and make a date when it will be, make sure the date of move in is on 
the tenancy agreement, and you have a copy of it.



trig42
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  #1309826 22-May-2015 12:02
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See if you can change the moving in date to the date the Landlord has it emptied and cleaned. That is a sort of compromise between what they want (a house paying it's way straight away) and want you want (a house). Unfortunately Auckland is a landlord's market. If you think you can find another within the two weeks before your container arrives, tell them you want it on your terms on no terms.

ScuL

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  #1309828 22-May-2015 12:05
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dan: not sure why you would tell them you wanted it from today if you really wanted it in several weeks, as a landlord myself that would kinda piss me off.

Obviously you have seen the property and its not ready let, so i would tell the Agent its not empty/cleaned yet and make a date when it will be, make sure the date of move in is on 
the tenancy agreement, and you have a copy of it.


Our physical moving date is very hard to predict. 1) the shipping container will arrive within 5 days. 2) it will then take however long customs MAF/MPI take to clear the thing.
On the other hand I have the moving company having a go with me for failure to supply a physical address in New Zealand, as this is required for the customs clearance which is imminent.. So yeah, tough.. Also we had 3 other people pushing for the same place.

I've seen the place yesterday and indeed some work still needs to be done. I think I should just ask if we can set the date on the tenancy agreement to the date the landlord can have the property ready.




Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.


Wade
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  #1309829 22-May-2015 12:09
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ScuL: 

I've seen the place yesterday and indeed some work still needs to be done. I think I should just ask if we can set the date on the tenancy agreement to the date the landlord can have the property ready.


That sounds like the fairest approach for both parties and any reasonable landlord should welcome the flexibility especially if they are still technically using the property

 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
ScuL

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  #1309831 22-May-2015 12:12
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Yay. Cheers guys. I will update you on the outcome.

Also, if I understood correctly, there is no obligation for a tenant to pay council tax / rates ?
This is a big difference in rental pricing as in the UK they are about $300 monthly - and the tenant pays.

The best thing is the place has a Chorus UFB box pre-fitted cool Happy days





Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.


Sideface
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  #1309832 22-May-2015 12:13
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trig42: See if you can change the moving in date to the date the Landlord has it emptied and cleaned. That is a sort of compromise between what they want (a house paying it's way straight away) and want you want (a house). Unfortunately Auckland is a landlord's market. If you think you can find another within the two weeks before your container arrives, tell them you want it on your terms on no terms.


+1

Auckland truly is a landlord's market - ignore that at your peril  undecided




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rp1790
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  #1309834 22-May-2015 12:18
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Landlord pays council tax/rates.  The only thing you pay is the weekly rent.

Yay for UFB being installed already, I'd recommend bigpipe.co.nz for a provider.  They have plans (all unlimited) up to 200 down and 200mb up.

P.S.  Welcome to (or back to) NZ.

lucky015
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  #1309840 22-May-2015 12:27
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rp1790: Landlord pays council tax/rates.  The only thing you pay is the weekly rent.

Yay for UFB being installed already, I'd recommend bigpipe.co.nz for a provider.  They have plans (all unlimited) up to 200 down and 200mb up.

P.S.  Welcome to (or back to) NZ.


Dont forget water rates, That is typically (although not always) paid by the tenant now it seems.

Also, With the UFB install, You want to be requesting that to be installed the day after you take possession of the property if you can otherwise ASAP.

It may happen on time but there is still a possibility of even with the internal stuff being ready of being stuffed round by the provider provisioning the service, so dont take the risk if you can avoid it.

ScuL

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  #1309843 22-May-2015 12:33
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Dont forget water rates, That is typically (although not always) paid by the tenant now it seems.

Also, With the UFB install, You want to be requesting that to be installed the day after you take possession of the property if you can otherwise ASAP.

It may happen on time but there is still a possibility of even with the internal stuff being ready of being stuffed round by the provider provisioning the service, so dont take the risk if you can avoid it.


Not concerned about the water, I automatically included all of this stuff in my budgetary calculations prior to moving. With the council tax not being charged to the tenant the monthly rent is far closer to what we paid monthly  in the UK (a price difference of maybe $400/month more) but in return we get a far bigger place (UK houses are tiny) 20 minutes from the city with beautiful views :)

Regarding UFB, I was planning to submit the application today (pretty much after the tenancy agreement was signed) as I know these processes can be lengthy and I want it to be in place when we move in :) Also, my intention was to go for BigPipe (naked, fast and simple).

-edit-
Also, for me it is a welcome to, for my wife a welcome back.. she dragged me along :)




Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.


Lias
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  #1309894 22-May-2015 13:41
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rp1790: Landlord pays council tax/rates.  


Not true. The property owner pays them, legally the landlord is the property manager.




I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.


ludez
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  #1309941 22-May-2015 14:37
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Trouble is the landlord wants money asap.And the other prospective might need that house asap so would put up with the mess thats there.Had this happen to us when we tried moving back to auckland.We gave up not going to pay $450 for a run down 3 bedroom dump 

keewee01
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  #1309967 22-May-2015 15:36
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Welcome to New Zealand.

As someone else said - take photos; take heaps of photos of the place before you shift in. You might need them now if the landlord doesn't get their stuff out to prove it; you might want them when you shift out if there is any dispute about the condition of the property.


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