Mike Atkinson, Aspire’s Managing Director, was invited to the One Roof Radio Show on NewstalkZB. He discusses the recent law changes and the most common issues between tenants and landlords, plus he fields some calls from the public about rental properties and property management.
What Was Covered
- 90-day no-cause notices are back. The early-2025 changes restored a landlord’s ability to end a periodic tenancy with 90 days’ notice without giving a reason, with a tenant able to challenge a notice they believe is retaliatory.
- More listings, more tenant power. Auckland listings had swung from a December peak of well over 6,000 back towards 5,500 and were still well above the year before, so tenants could negotiate and landlords were competing on condition and rent.
- Where disputes actually happen. Ending a tenancy is now the easy part. Damage and rent arrears are the hard part: Tribunal hearings take weeks, intentional damage is hard to prove, and Mike’s advice was landlord insurance, which costs a few hundred dollars a year against a bond that rarely covers a serious claim.
- What a property manager is for. Listener questions on what managers charge and how many properties one person looks after, and Mike’s view that automation and AI will take on much of the admin so a manager’s time goes on the property and the people.
What It Means for Landlords
Know your rights before you need them: a landlord’s rights sets out what the Act allows, and tenant communication and conflict resolution is about keeping a disagreement out of the Tribunal in the first place. For what a manager costs and covers, see the property management fee page, and for where the automation Mike described has got to since, what changes when your property manager has AI working alongside them.
Listen to the Full Segment
The interview aired on Saturday 8 March 2025 on The Weekend Collective, Newstalk ZB, and runs about 40 minutes. If the player above does not load, listen on the Newstalk ZB website.
