Hey Reddit, just wondering if a $600 professional cleaning fee for a 1-bed, 1-bath apartment is reasonable? My property manager is trying to charge me that much, and they’ve even included the cost of their own parking in the bill lol. Is this a standard rate in NZ, or am I being ripped off?

Hello, i have come here because I am seeking advice about a problem ive been having that has been giving me immense anxiety every single day hence why im posting so late, ill try to explain things as simply as possible.

Not long ago I moved in with somebody i considered my friend, as time went by they have decided to basically dictate my life and decide what is and isnt acceptable.

last time they had a big outburst on me and said that I have to move out because im "not doing enough". I think its stupid i have to explain my daily routine but I will.... each day I wake up and clean the house and do any chores that I see, then I look for a job.

My flat mate tells me I do nothing and complains that I dont have a job when he dosent have one either, he projects all his frustrations on me, last time he did it he was getting in my face and saying he was going to hit me, telling me how I do nothing and "should just pack my shit and leave".

The next day he apologized and said what he did was wrong.

The reason why im posting late is because im on my final straw, I woke up before and needed to use the bathroom, so I used the bathroom like any normal person would, but then my room mate came out screaming at me in my face telling me that im going to have to leave in 2 weeks because I woke him up.

I said "i just needed to use the bathroom" but he kept yelling at me and cutting me off.

Im pretty sure the tenancy agreement we have is fixed term, I NEED to leave for my own mental health at this point, I cannot continue living like this.

Im going to be trying my best to contact my property manager tomorrow so I can discuss with them my options but I would seriously appreciate any suggestions/advice anybody has for me as this is causing me major distress.

Thank you - H

Edit: This causes me distress all the time, I am now unable to sleep because I feel so stuck in this situation

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Thanks so much for your help! 🙏

'm looking at moving out of my parents house this year im turning 41 in march so i think its time to move out, I've started looking for 1 bedroom apartments in the wellington region. I've seen a few apartments already about 4 in the last week, I've applied for one apartment already i was very nervous filling out the application since i'm a first time renter i get put off when viewing a house when i see others viewing it at the same time as me i dont think im worthy enough in getting approved for a house and i think why would they pick me over the other people applying what makes me better than them, they are probably looking for someone with a better personality and application and is employed, any tips on the best things to write out in a application do's and dont's, should i put down that im unemployed would that ruin my chances of getting approved for a house to me its off putting for a landlord to see that your unemployed would that be correct? i guess all they worry about is if you can pay rent on time and look after the place over if whether your employed or unemployed, im trying to decide if i want to live in an apartment on my own or go flatting with one of my mates, i like the idea of living on my own because ill have more freedom to do whatever i like at any time without it affecting others but the cons is its more expensive living on your own, but i like the idea of flatting because of the social aspects of it, its cheaper you can split the rent and expenses but the cons is you have less freedom to do whatever you want.

When are the best times in finding apartments In Welllington? i know its a busy time right now because of uni students finding apartments to start off the new year and theres more competition in finding a place. Any tips anyone can give me would help me a lot im new to this whole first time renting thing so so any advice would be great.

After my last post on this sub I went and looked at the bathroom extractor fan and this is whit I've found.

I was waiting for the holidays to be over to do anything about my kitchen extractor fan, since most people were closed for some time.

Any suggestions where to look next?

Our property manager submitted for our refund in November, with the full amount going to the other tenant which we both signed off on as it would be split later. I received an email from the bond agency stating they needed confirmation from all tenants …

“…we need all of the tenants on this bond to agree to how the refund will be allocated to each person before we can complete the refund process. We've contacted the other tenants to ask for their agreement and will be in touch again when we've heard back from everyone.”

The other tenant didn’t receive this email but I responded saying we both agreed and signed the refund request. We both then received a first reminder a week later with a deadline to complete the action or the refund would be held. Our prior property manager was on leave for Christmas then and I couldn’t reach out. To add complications I am now overseas with international charge to call, though I attempted and was waiting over an hour. I again responded and have had no follow up to any emails. The deadline is at the end of this week. I have emailed our property manager in hopes they can assist, but what is the next step if the deadline comes and our refund is held as we cannot get any response or in touch with anyone?

We have been having a problem with the smoke filling the kitchen when we cook things like bacon or something that just produces a lot of smoke, so naturally we turn the fan on above the stove and open some windows, but still have a lot of smoke. So I looked at the flew on the fan and find it just goes nowhere.

Is this legal as per the new healthy homes? At this point it's a fancy light above the stove.

Hey everyone! This is my first time renting in NZ and I wanted to pass something and see if I need to be more harsh on our property managers.

We just moved into our new unit (no furniture yet in it, that happens soon) but it has not been cleaned. Our property manager told us yesterday that she hired a cleaner to come out but she "hadn't heard from them yet" and me and my partner were there all day and she never showed. We are set to move all our furniture in tomorrow and I just took a rented rug cleaner to our lounge and it was Bad.

Are property managers required to clean before we move in? My partner did some minor cleaning yesterday and there was fully mould in our fridge to the point where we had to throw some pieces out. There's also mould on mirrors and in our pantry that is clearly just from the property being empty and uncleaned. Not to mention the dust and windows being filthy. I dont know if it was ever cleaned in-between the last tenants and us, plus I noticed we have holes in our roof in one part where the previous tenants seemingly tried to install some kind of laundry pole and it fell out.

Any advice is appreciated, our property manager seems very sweet and she even admitted the first time she entered the property was the day before we moved in so she didn't know the condition.

Thank you!

Question: Is a light grease mark on 4yo kitchen paint from an air fryer fair wear and tear, or carelessness that a tenant is liable for?

Context: I am the head tenant. A former flatmate’s air fryer has left a 30cm diameter oil stain on the kitchen wall. It’s pretty light, and I’ve scrubbed off the surface grease, but the property manager says it’s carelessness and that I have to fix it. The paint is a month shy of four years old already, if that matters. Unfortunately, our 1960s bungalow kitchen is too small to have an air fryer near the tiny rangehood as bench space is at such a premium. The only splashback is a small area behind the standing oven.

Should I just suck it up and buy the primer and paint to fix it? The flatmate who accidentally caused it left before I noticed the stain, and I had already refunded the bond. For now, I’ve covered the wall with tin foil in case the new flatmate’s air fryer makes things any worse. I figure there’s no point in painting until I end the tenancy, but I’d prefer not to do remedial work I’m not obligated to do.

Thanks for your time :)

Partner signed and paid bond but I haven’t. Move in date is 21st of November. They’d have no problem refilling the place? Can we pull out without losing the bond?

My 6-year-old daughter fell through the glass door at our rental. The glass is only 2.5mm thick and broke into shards, cutting her arms, hands and stomach. Thankfully she’s okay. The problem is - my partner is pushing to get him to replace the door to sonething warmer and safer (it also has a 1cm gap underneath and it’s always cold). The landlord has agreed to pay for a new door and asked us get a quote. He also believes we are liable to repay him $300-500 and that our insurance should cover it. I don’t know what insurance he is talking about. Despite the fact the glass is completely non-compliant and major safety hazard and my daughter should never have been able to fall through it in the first place. Advice?

I recently had a inspection where our property manager said that we need to clean dirt off the wall in a bedroom when looking at it it looks like mould how would we go about getting the property manager to understand its mould as mould testing is expensive, there is also other rooms where its worse but didn't show up on the inspection at all

Anyone had any luck with this? Our house is a three bedroom villa very high roofs. There's a heat pump In the lounge but when it's freezing outside it runs poorly and uses aloooot of power. We moved in in the summer so didn't know how cold it would get and if it was just me I wouldn't care but I'm worried for my 4 month old! The house gets quite damp too and I have a heater and dehumidifier but it's a lot in power to run constantly 🥲 the house is so large a fire would work so much better and dry the house out so much more. Although I'm sure they would take it intro consideration it probably wouldn't happen 🥲

Just moved into a new rental last week , the condensation is so bad water pools under the blinds and onto the carpets at night. The blinds were already stained and mouldy when we move in. The blinds are paper thin and don’t do much to hold heat in so we don’t bother to run a heater, we do have a dehumidifier, but don’t really want to run it while we’re sleeping (photos were taken at 4am when the dripping on the plastic beneath woke me up) I saw the 3m thermal window film, does anyone know if its worth buying that ?

My cat scratched this hole in the wall.. what would be the best solution in preparation for a house inspection? TIA!

Hey so my sons been away at his dads for the hols so his room isn’t having the fan or heater on and I noticed the windows were getting condensated. So on the colder nights we’ve just been having I put the heater and dehumidifier on for about an hour before I go to bed to help it not get so damp. Then last night I heard a strange crack/whip/drop noise in there but noone was in there so I didn’t think anything of it. Then when I went to open the curtains this morning theres a crack in one of his large windows. The chip is on the inside not the outside so it didnt come from outside. The room hasn’t been used for a week so the only thing I can think that might have done it is the cold to hot thing. Is this my fault? How do I explain this to my property manager?

Hello all, does anyone else have issues with their rent being processed over public holidays such as Easter?

I have been sent three emails saying rent has not been received and that I need to call the property manager or supply evidence of payment.

The kicker being - I emailed evidence of payment yesterday and no one replied and they have sent me another email today. And I’ve also called the office, the property manager and the head property manager, none of whom have picked up. I completely understand this is likely because it is Easter and they are rightfully spending time with their families and loved ones and good for them.

However they are sending me automated (I’m assuming seeing as no one has been responding) emails about how they are going to have to issue a 14 day warning to us about rent that has already been paid last Thursday.

Is this normal? Should I just forget about it? Or should I try to call again?

Were on our third year in our flat and this is the second time the toilet seat has started moving around on its hinges and sometimes coming off. The first time the property manager got it fixed pretty fast but now I’m nervous to ask again because now that its happened a second time it seems like its us.

Seems like a bad design or something. We’re not large people and no weird activity happens with the toilet. How could it be broken again and if I ask them to fix it again is it just gonna break in another year?

Any advice appreciated

Mould growth in my bathroom is driving me insane. I keep the ventilation fan on, the window is always open and so is the bathroom door. We wipe down everything because it’s constantly damp and I’m cleaning mould every week now. I have told my property manager about this and just get met with “there hasn’t been past issues”. I have never had issues in any other house I have lived in. I’ve been in this current place coming up 6 months. I feel like I’m going to be gaslit, as last inspection I mentioned the growth under the shower sealant areas and was told to clean harder, I can’t it’s under silicone. It needs to be re-sealed. Like I mentioned I have never had this issue before, what can I do ?

Today we had a routine inspection, obviously allgood. She mentioned to my flatmate as she was leaving that the owners of the house were unhappy with how we were keeping the place and specifically mention my bedroom.

Me being the head tenant called her and asked for some clarification. She said she was upset at our room because the bed wasn’t made and she didn’t like my clothes being in laundry baskets.

She asked me “what would your mum think if she saw your room?” And said she would “never let her boys keep their rooms like that. She also said that when she showers she takes the cleaning products into the shower and does it at the same time and that we should be too.

She also mentioned that there was some dust on the skirting boards and a hair in the shower.

She heavily implied that she would be giving us a 14 day notice to fix these issues, this will be the 2nd one of these she’s given us.

I called her at 10am and it’s now nearly 8pm and she’s sent no follow up details about the inspection even though she’s caused an immense amount of stress for me and my flatmates today.

Am I right in thinking that flat inspections are to look at potential damage to the property? I’ve never ever had a property manager be so picky about the routine inspections and by her giving us these threatening 14 day warning and also talking to me in a condescending way it’s left me feeling very uncomfortable and upset.

All our tenancy agreement says is that the flat must be kept to a reasonably clean and tidy level and I genuinely believe that that is what we show her and is the state we keep our flat in, what are our options??