President's October Report

14 Oct 2009

NZPIF in the media

An increasing number of NZPIF and PIA representatives are being contacted by journalists about the many issues relating to property investment in the media recently.  For example, some of the subjects I have been asked for comment on have included a new ‘P’ laboratory detection kit for rental properties, the Government insulation subsidy, LAQCs and the proposed RTA amendments.  NZPIF Executive Committee members, Andrew King and Cliff Seque, have also been quoted a number of times and I have seen comments from Sue Tierney, Alistair Gillespie and Usha Ganda-Wilson in an article discussing the right time to buy.  Read more here.  It is very pleasing to see this development and we ask other PIA Presidents to seek these opportunities whenever these are available.

Select Committee report on RTA Amendments

When the select committee report was released recently, we were very pleased to see that it contained recommendations to change or delete a number of clauses about which we had been particularly concerned.  On behalf of all the property investors we represent, we had lobbied vigorously to have the limit of tenant liability of four weeks rent changed. Another clause we wanted deleted was the proposal that landlords would be required to continue to disclose to future tenants that a property had been cleansed following drug activity, even though the property had been judged fit for human habitation.  The select committee agrees with us on these issues. They also have recommended a limit of 35 days for the storage of abandoned goods, following which a landlord can sell or dispose of these. We were very pleased to see another recommendation that all involved in letting properties (property managers in real estate firms, solicitors, and independent property managers) should be called “letting agents” and all should have the right to charge a letting fee.  This corrects a long standing anomaly which allowed only property managers employed by real estate firms and solicitors to charge such a fee.  There are a number of other changes about which we will need to be aware when the Bill finally becomes law.  The NZPIF plans to have a team ready to analyze these changes and to implement a communication campaign to ensure that members of all PIAs will be fully informed.

HNZ stand on 90 day notices

The NZPIF has been fully supportive of the decisions by the Tenancy Tribunal and then by the District Court that HNZ has the right to issue 90 day notices in situations where tenants have been threatening and disturbing the peace of neighbours. Our press release  confirms our view that a 90 day notice is a fair and essential tool for rental property owners.

Watching brief on Taxation Working Group

The Tax Working Group (TWG) is currently considering the medium-term direction of the current tax system and working through the pros and cons of a variety of policy options. Through a series of regular meetings between June and November 2009, and papers prepared by officials or commissioned from tax experts, the TWG has continued to provide a forum for informed discussion of the issues. Much discussion has gone on in the media as well.  Andrew King and I have both been asked to comment on issues related to property investment and we have circulated a press release  on the misinformation relating to capital gains tax in particular.  However, the media continues to highlight the fact that residential property investment has always been a political football, as Martin Hawes said recently in a NZ HERALD article. His view is that this football game is now being played with urgency and investors should expect moves against property. We are therefore are maintaining a watching brief on statements relating to the broadening the tax base to include a variety of property taxes so that we are ready to represent the views of property investors whenever there is an opportunity to do so. 

The TWG presents its final report at a public conference on December 1 and we are planning to be present in order to be fully informed and pass this on to members.

Completion of NZPIF Budget

The NZPIF Executive Committee has done a lot of work on the development of the 2009/2010 budget and meets on the 17th of October to complete the process. Your Regional Representatives will then be circulating this budget and answering questions.

Martin Evans

President