Answer: Never!
I read an article today about a management company in Wellington advertising a 4 bedroom property for $1040/week. This sounds expensive even for Wellington. But when the unsuspecting tenants who signed for the property unseen, as they were all working outside of the city before resuming studies, when they arrived there they found a queen sized bed in the lounge. Clearly the management company had misrepresented the listing, shame on them. When challenged on the matter of the ad being misleading by the tenants, the company said it wasn’t but allowed the tenants to break their lease and they returned their bond.
If the property management company had a legally binding lease agreement and they felt the advert was ethical there is absolutely no reason to allow the tenants to break their lease. Clearly the company thought they were in violation of the law and because they experienced push back from savvy tenants, thought they should untangle themselves from a situation of their own making ASAP. Further evidence of admission of guilt is the fact the company altered the ad to 3 bedrooms for $900/week.
This has of course reignited the discussion around property management regulation for companies and for private landlords. This would add another level of complexity to the business of property management and would be welcomed by Lanwayke Property Management and by just about every other ethically run property management company, which is the majority. If regulation helps eliminate practices like this, I’m all for it.
Regards Wayne.
Lanwayke Property Management.