77% of slumlords threatening rent rises – Grant can’t do a Pontius Pilate to renters

40
1369

Newshub asked Landlords how many were going to punish renters for the speculator taxes and a staggering 77% gloated their intention to punish renters.

That makes them scumlords!

They are on social media gloating that they will punish renters and they should be immediately arrested for cartel behaviour!

Landlords could face jail if they form rent cartels

Landlords teaming up to raise rents en masse in response to the new tax rules could potentially end up behind bars.

A new law in effect from Thursday criminalises cartels, with anyone convicted facing up to seven years behind bars.

“Cartel conduct harms consumers through higher prices or reduced quality, and it harms other businesses which are trying to compete fairly,” said Commerce Commission chair Anna Rawlings.

“The introduction of possible imprisonment for cartel conduct underlines just how serious and harmful this offending is.”

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

This is a class war the scumlord property speculators are trying to start, this is a political attack on renters!

These scumlords have had massive Government subsidies with the accommodation allowance on top of tax free gains on top of tax loop holes, now they are having those tax loopholes closed, they are starting a class war against renters.

Grant can not shovel $60billion into the pockets of property speculators, have the house prices explode, frantically close tax loopholes, and then just wash his hands like Pontius Pilate and say, ‘it ain’t my fault’ when scumlords fulfilled their vengeance promises against renters…

Decisions on tenants lie with landlords – Robertson

Finance Minister Grant Robertson, the face of the Government’s housing changes last month, argues reforms to interest deductibility should not be causing any landlords to evict their tenants yet.

…and yet they are Grant!

You promised you would consider rent caps if the scumlords raise rents, well the scumlords are doing that now!

You have to protect renters because they sure as hell will blame Labour if rents go up!

Not all landlords are scum, there are great, kind landlords who deserve respect and support, but there are an enormous amount of scumlords and if Grant won’t protect us, then radical action against scumlords will be required!

Scumlords, once identified, should be open to a range of radical responses that will include breaking into any home once tenants have been kicked out and destroying the property so that scumlords are stuck with enormous cleaning costs every time they kick out a renter.

I’ve said it once, i’ll say it a million times more.

We need a Ministry of Works to build 50 000 green State Houses to remove the desperation in the rental market and crash Landlord privilege.

Grant either steps in to protect renters, or radical renters will arrange vigilante teams to fightback themselves.

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media

40 COMMENTS

  1. Trying to get this government to see there is a housing crisis is like trying to wake the dead.

    Grant senses it, Jacinda seems to just want to go on pretending everything is rainbows and unicorns but this is coming to a head rapidly.

    Put up rents by 77% and the model is broken. People out in the street, investors going broke but then try running for the door to sell up to find its nailed shut because the pool of tenants is gone, and the market panics, boom, housing crisis to housing collapse.

    It’s a housing emergency now, right now. Time to take emergency action Labour. No more fucking around.

    • Early morning mistake acknowledged. 77% of landlords. Still a cartel wanting to do what’s bad for the country.

  2. What we are witnessing now is pretty much what we expected to witness when the fraudulent banking system runs out of rope at the end of the industrial age, and there are cowardly nincompoops and self-serving (in the short term) liars in charge.

    The value of money always was degraded by the system, but now we are headed back into a 1980s-style runaway degrading of the value of money in our pockets and our bank accounts. And no one in government or banking circles knows what to do, other than print more of the stuff to pretend things are okay and pretend that the collapsing economic system has a future..

  3. Good grief, what are Labour doing. As the law stands now, you can’t raise rents 77%, because the market could not carry it and still be a market, therefore it is not a rise acceptable to the market. But we need a new law about cartels? I guess the whole thing goes away within a year, thanks to Labour opening the border to covid and basically putting the responsiblity for the future of NZ in the hands of people who cant see past a holiday in Queensland. They have had since last February to prepare for covid, that was the whole idea of early lockdowns, and from their point of view, the perfect excuse to do things unpopular with their wealthy supporters. What did they do? They place the responsiblity for leadership into the hands of fools, and onto people without power. Thank god this whole stupidity will soon be over.

    • The Government is borrowing hundreds of billions to compensate for low credit scores.

      Beneficiaries do have the lowest credit scores.

      There fore beneficiaries must be compensated.

      So make your fucken model fit the data, Robo.

  4. Edit: ah right yes, not rents going up 77%, but 77% of surveyed landlords said they would get together to game the market. Hmm well, that just exposes the true natural of “the invisible hand” – as if no one ever knew all along. Which just points to the fact that Labour can’t continue to occupy the political perspective/terrain that they do, and they know it, so they hope either the election or covid will releive them from having to act. Jaysus, what a bunch. Thanks Labour, but we’ll take it from here.

  5. It will take direct action to get the Labour Caucus to pay any serious attention to the housing needs of the NZ working class. Whinging and rehashing the unfairness of it all will not suffice.

    • as our Editor says–deal to individual properties as required to punish the worst scumlords
    • and…have a more strategic plan too, selecting appropriate empty commercial and residential properties for entry and occupation, but in as non destructive a way as possible, set up small business locations and accomodation for those in desperate need.

    Rent freeze now–Public housing mega build now–Emergency housing portacoms, not Motels, now–Raise benefit levels now–Implement WEAG Report in full

  6. breaking into any home once tenants have been kicked out and destroying the property

    There are so many things wrong with that suggestion that I don’t have time to go into it.
    Landlords are covered to the shine on their scalps with insurance ++++s.
    What you’re suggesting would hurt other people, NOT the landlords.

    Sounding a bit wonkey-donkey, seriously.

    • Yes, probably not a good idea to appear to be inciting mayhem in a post accusing others of technically breaking the law.

  7. A bold move would be to declare the accomodation supplement is in effect become a direct subsidy to landlords and abolish it completely.

    So all of a sudden lots of tenants cannot pay today’s rentals. What are the landlords going to do – kick them out and try to find another tenant who can’t afford to pay the rent without the accommodation supplement?

    There would be a lot of disruption for a while but rentals overall would decrease because they could not be paid without the government paid accomodation supplement/subsidy.

    The money the government saved annually could be pledged for the ten years to go to fund in-ground infrastructure that delays building houses. The government recognised that with its $3.8B fund it announced (without details).

  8. I would be interested to understand why this government with it’s never seen before single party majority, it’s alleged commitment to solving child poverty and the housing crisis doesn’t just start building houses like Bomber suggests? There’s enough land in NZ to house 10’s of millions and plenty of material to build these houses.

    Labour have got the power, the money and I’d wager the general support of wider NZ so what’s stopping them?

    I don’t believe it’s the so called neo-lib bureaucracy – Wellington is a left wing town so that theory just doesn’t stack.

    The only thing I can think of is that Labour is just full of empty headed career politicians who really are clueless about getting shit done as they’ve absolutely no experience of life in the ‘real world’. All they seem to be able to do is make announcements about announcements. Other than pulling up the drawbridge in March last year what have they actually been able to deliver?

    If Labour can’t break the vicious cycle of endless house price increases now with a massive state led building program then it never will.

    • Labour have got the power, the money and I’d wager the general support of wider NZ so what’s stopping them?

      It’s incredible, it really is.
      Robertson revealed his absolute ignorance of the situation for renters when he said that renters, “can just move elsewhere”.

      WHERE????????????
      Where is he talking about, that renters can “just move” to??

      He was suggesting that renters actually control the prices – It was beyond bizarre!
      As out of touch as if he’s from another planet, certainly another country.
      He just did NOT make sense!!!

      And then there is the crippling cost of moving, even if by some miracle one did find somewhere else. Try that a few times in succession and you’re on the street.

      His comments were completely out of touch with the day to day, on the ground REALITY for many people.

  9. It’s hard to make a man understand your point if his salary depends on him not understanding it…Upton Sinclair

  10. Couple of points:

    1). 50 000 green State Houses – This can’t be done unless the government throws in the land; imports slave Labour from North Korea and otherwise subsidizes/reduces building material costs. It’s a pipedream. Wait till material supply inflation starts biting in the next couple of months. Costs alone will likely increase 10% this year. Remember Grant pissed all the money up against the wall helping corporate business and zombie companies. Want to import 10,000 builders from China and India right now – didn’t think so.
    2). Rents will increase as a function of increasing costs on investors. It is the same concept of a business whose cost of goods sold increase. Cost increases are passed on to the end consumers. Otherwise the business runs at a loss. Unless you want to convert to Communism this is how this will work for ad nauseam.

    I repeat my previous comment on another blog – don’t blame the players if the game is already fucked.

    • Well Frank, if your pessimism is correct then we are going to end up by default with the equivalent of Mid East style Refugee camps dotted all around the country. The supply of Motels will run out soon, and the Govt. does not seem disposed to even a mass rollout of say port-a-coms for emergency housing and homeless.

      Rents can increase all the scumlords like, but unless people’s ability to pay increases–and surely tax payer subsidies for ’lords are nearly maxed out too–then that is not viable.

      A solution will be found–but a lot of middle class, property owning people are not going to like it one little bit.

  11. Great idea, advocating trashing housing will keep more rentals in circulation in our housing shortage (sarcasm).

    Invercargill house trashed in ‘vile betrayal of trust’
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/114908210/invercargill-house-trashed-in-vile-betrayal-of-trust

    Waikato landlords’ ‘worst tenant’ leaves $25k worth of damage after trashing property
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116502669/waikato-landlords-worst-tenant-leaves-25k-worth-of-damage-after-trashing-property

    ‘Disastrous tenants’ wreak havoc in homes
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/101599314/disastrous-tenants-wreck-havoc-in-homes

    Up to $140k damage to Auckland P house: landlord says property trashed, contaminated
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11804526

    Now there seems to be violence on the table which we didn’t use to have, by politicians and media hyperbole.

    Northland shooting: Mother and daughter die as repair visit turns to tragedy
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11895553

    Man sentenced to life in prison for Taranaki landlord’s murder
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/110376310/man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-taranaki-murder

    https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/russell-john-tully-in-court-over-shooting-rampage-at-jobs-office-in-ashburton-nz/news-story/a25b78e04114a10e4a15a5e18bc4f84b

    Housing is part of a complex break down of society under neoliberalism. While I hated my landlords while renting (and luckily did NOT take the lefties darlings advice not to buy a house, and bought when pro business Bernard Hickey, Shamubeel Eaqub etc, told renters not to buy because there was about to be a housing crash for 10 years), I at least understood to get away from them as soon as possible, and actually had some good landlords when I think back (and some bad ones, mostly through rental agents).

  12. ” I don’t believe it’s the so called neo-lib bureaucracy – Wellington is a left wing town so that theory just doesn’t stack ”

    No there is NO LEFT WING it is just the same protectors of the system who change their allegiance to depending which way the wind is blowing.

    This whole rent extortion problem is an attack on human rights and i am sure under a principled Labour government that is not looking out for their own mercenary advantage would act and quickly to assist the many people who gave them a majority in the parliament.

    Until we escape the hell of the market and the greed of its many recipients and start creating policy and delivering for the many as we once were famous for the status quo will dominate.

  13. The ‘Mel’s’ are gunnah have to take one for the team and take the hit, paying it forward, now.

    Grant & Adrian have ear-marked another $100b of QE. We’ve got $38b left of the first tranche.

    Spend $50b on a State Housing Construction Building programme for however long it takes and train as many traddies as possible too so that we do not have this problem again!

    • An additional $100m of QE will only supercharge the property market along with making Stagflation a near certainty.

      As for your last comment. Commendable and well intentioned although we don’t have the land, infrastructure nor the builders unless this is over a 20-25yr timeframe. It’s like being thirty in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

  14. Its not rocket science Bomber, you seem ‘shocked’ that rents will increase!
    But happily KNOW that when the cost pertol spikes the cost of goods transported get an increase to cover the additional cost.
    WHY should a landlord take thousands of dollars of costs and not pass on the costs to his ‘consumer’ the tenant?
    Labour has caused this situation by making laws at the headwaters without looking downstream at the inevitable end result.
    This was clearly shown when Grant said, when suggested rents will increase, “they can move, and look for a rental elsewhere”.
    No one to blame here but Labour, their ‘9 years of neglect’ will not wash with this clusterfuck, even treasury warned this would happen but Grant ignored the advice.

    • BULLSHIT,yet again! If your theory is correct then if Labour decreased the costs for landlords, they would decrease the rent for the tenant, take your hand off it and never post again!

      • No, landlords will charge what the market will pay. If costs drop, there is no need to drop rents.

        The only reason to drop rents is if tenants have a choice and can go find a cheaper rental from a desperate landlord. It is the lack of alternatives for renters that means rents don’t need to decrease.

        The point about increasing the regulatory costs for all landlords is they know they can increase rents in response because so many other landlords will do the same, and the tenants have no choice but to pay more. Landlords talk amongst themselves, read the TradeMe ads – they know what they can charge very desperate people.

        • MPs from outside the Wellington region are allowed to claim a capped accommodation allowance to cover their living costs in the city. Most use it to rent flats or hotel rooms, but more than a dozen MPs purchase Wellington accommodation and claim the allowance – meaning they get an allowance from Parliament to cover the cost of living in their own home.

          Lu

  15. The problem will supply as a production/business concept with regards to capital items such as houses is you need to ramp up capacity before you can ramp up supply. Therein lies the problem – not enough builders, not enough land and not enough materials. This will be made worse when building material supply and inflation start hitting in the next couple of months.

    Joes average new house builders work on a 10-12% margin at present; below this there isn’t an economic rationale to build especially if house renovations are lower risk, higher margin. This is why new builds are now usually done by larger house build companies as opposed to sole traders. So costs will go up on new house builds soon. People will pay as it’s still a seller’s market.

    Your prophesy above – while being exaggerated does have an element of truth in it. The Blairite has boxed herself into a corner here – keep the homelessness in motels = crime rates soar in middle class neighborhoods. Kick them out = pimp the homelessness stories begin. The economic response to Covid has championed the ‘haves’ and shit kicked the ‘have-nots’. The consequences of cynical economic government policy will be far reaching and long lasting. There is no fix that won’t take less than 20 years and 20 billion dollars. Robertson used our borrowing capacity to piss it up against the wall in an indulgent – geez aren’t I a wonderful finance minister and much better than anyone in National in a political pride display in election year. That was our once in a generation chance to fix our infrastructural (including housing) deficit. We bottled it.

    In the words of Ramsay Bolton “If you think there is a happy ending to the story then you haven’t been listening”.

  16. Robertson was trying to achieve parity between landlords and home-owners. The only way to achieve that would be make rental income tax free. So, as Jacinda would say, let’s do it.

  17. Disgusting article by Martyn Bradbury , a professional liar.
    Question to Martyn Bradbury: who is paying you ?

    As a small time landlord I object to being labelled “scumlord” when none of my properties are slums – the houses are all good and proper for normal people.
    There are ever increasing costs imposed on all owners of houses in NZ – the city councils have gone crazy in spending ratepayers money, the insurance companies are increasing premiums all the time and the Lebour / Greens politicians are imposing more and more rules/costs on everyone (mainly on landlords naturally).
    Being a landlord can be hard and unfair, especially when the Tenancy Tribunal is staffed by biased people like Martyn Bradbury who automatically pre-judge any dispute.
    At this time I am lucky in having normal, decent tenants with who I cooperate well… but if / when they leave I may sell up as I do not want the hassle / nightmare of bad tenants.

    • Cry me a river. Notice anything stupid in your comment? The property market is trash. Everyone is going to end up with 2 or more investment properties and with only 1 or 2 of them tenanted. Fuck your bubble mentality there are very harsh Demographic headwind coming for you. Just a question of time. Deal with it scum.

    • If you don’t like being a landlord then stop whinging and sell. Seriously, no one feels sorry for you. Bradbury is just telling it like it is and of course your ilk dont like it, there’s too much money to be made in property (or was)

  18. Not everyone, dont presume to speak for me.
    We have rented for the last 25 years, always had a great relationship with our landlords.
    What do you know about Mike’s circumstances and how he became a landlord, that gives you the right to call him scum?

    • Thanks Pedro. You are right – the above “kind” remarks are typical of envious, mentally retarded people who expect handouts

      • It is Mike’s comments that would block supply of housing to New Zealand’s most vulnerable why landlords are purw scum. Happy to wreck anyone on supply and demand. Bring you a phd in economics for support. Let’s go.

  19. Grant is, ipso facto (what does that mean?), for capital. Everything has been for capital since it began , the social improvements had to fold in, as per the butter into the sugar when creaming prior to baking.

  20. Don’t worry renters, the 1 million ‘new builds’ are coming to save you, only make sure you have somewhere else to rent because many of NZ’s housing needs remedial work within a short period of time upon being built!

    Cash, construction, corruption, sub contractor models using increasingly mostly foreign construction labour, work so well!

    Fletcher/Todd block at Stonefields, Auckland had defects: Six-year-old Altera Apartments under repair
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fletchertodd-block-at-stonefields-auckland-had-defects-six-year-old-altera-apartments-under-repair/UUNJDTOXFQIM474TYWZMH7WE5Q/

    ‘Whacked’ with huge costs: $16.3m estimated to fix defective Auckland apartments
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/whacked-with-huge-costs-163m-estimated-to-fix-defective-auckland-apartments/IZPBJLVZDTFZU5ZQOEPIBP7BKY/

    Government has just had 15 years to work out that investing in the ‘investors’ and construction companies (post the Rogernomics leaky building where clearly no lessons learned) isn’t working, because as fast as they build them, they tend to have the people move out for significant remedial work. Sadly government policy also it also increases the demand side, as more cheaper foreign workers and their families are also bought in to work on the houses and need housing by more and more companies operating in NZ, to build housing that quickly falls apart and can’t be lived in. Kiwi construction workers whistle blow and can’t be relied on to keep mum about all the cover ups and scams during the builds so corruption is not halted.

    Now the engineers and staff working at council are also a problem. What a fuck up.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113226624/new-engineer-spotted-alleged-defects-in-christchurch-highrise-from-the-street

    Cash workers and suppliers where profit is more important than quality in all aspects, labour and materials, is surely a mistake? https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124715502/sacked-for-speaking-out-chinese-migrant-worker-fired-by-concrete-company

    Concrete safety investigator ‘surprised nobody had been killed’
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402908/concrete-safety-investigator-surprised-nobody-had-been-killed

    Multi-storey building flaws ‘almost the norm’
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/340396/multi-storey-building-flaws-almost-the-norm

    Apartment complex hit with $32.8m repair bill
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/331505/apartment-complex-hit-with-32-point-8m-repair-bill

    Council unable to identify possible defective buildings in capital
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/403417/council-unable-to-identify-possible-defective-buildings-in-capital

    Standards to live by, where corruption and fraud operate so do massive failures. Why does NZ want this?
    Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses, trapping 70
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/03/coronavirus-quarantine-hotel-collapses-trapping-70.html?fbclid=IwAR3keDUeES_JIX2BwpHqhEBIHoek2OLPNSQsBOQBEkA6dJ7y-LLHaiJPhyg

    Italy’s crumbling infrastructure under scrutiny after bridge collapse
    Construction boom of 1960s led to mafia involvement and use of cheap materials to boost profits
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/17/italys-crumbling-infrastructure-under-scrutiny-after-bridge-collapse

Comments are closed.