On Wednesday 11:59 13th May New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2. Full details on what that means can be found here.
How does this affect work at Wendell Property?
We are (almost) back to business as usual just but with strict hygiene practises, contact tracing and following the Health & Safety Practices we have been provided.
- Maintenance & Repairs – We can resume non-urgent maintenance and support our tradesman to get back to work.
- Routine property inspections – These will resume as normal.
- Property Viewings – We can increase the amount of people at each viewing to help get more people through properties and therefore rent them faster.
- Our office is now open!
Routine inspections to resume at Level 2
Under Level 2 it is now safe to resume all routine inspections with additional levels of safe practices in place.
Any missed inspections (inspections which have a due date fallen in the last 7 weeks) are now in a 12 week working block along with inspections that are normally due over this same period.
Rent Increase Freeze – an update
From 26th March the government issued a nationwide rent increase freeze for 6 months. Rent increases that were issued (but that had not yet taken effect) were cancelled and no new rent increases can be issued for 6 months.
The government have clarified this and although rent increases cannot take effect during this period, they can be issued during this time to take effect on or after 27th September.
The government may nominate to extend this initial 6 month period.
Giving notice to end a tenancy
The ability to give tenants notice to vacate the property (either by ending the fixed term tenancy or by a 42 or 90 day notice) was removed on 26th March for an initial 3 month period. We are not able to issue any notices to leave the property until 26th June.
Tenants are still able to end their tenancy under the same rules prior to Covid-19 changes.
The government may nominate to extend this initial 3 month period.
Watercare are reading water meters.
Great news! We have been informed that Watercare have been able to read most water meters throughout Level 3 and will continue to operate in Level 2.
Auckland council and financial support for rates
Auckland Council are offering some flexibility with rates payments for those with evidence of financial hardship. More on this here.
It’s been a turbulent time to traverse but we’re standing strong and are luckier than most. Thanks for your ongoing support, we are looking forward to getting back to work and doing what we love.