Wellington Flat

Welcome!

Hi!

Welcome to your new flat, thanks for signing up with us. One of our goals is to try to ensure that our relationship with you is win-win; we hope to provide you somewhere nice to live and we hope you will respect our property and pay us promptly for the services we provide. If you ever have any issues with our policies or serious issues with your flatmates please feel free to contact us.

Contents

The date after each heading indicates when that section was last modified.

Contacts [2009-12-30]

Should you need to discuss something about the flat, Jonathan is your best bet. You can reach him on:

Should you be unable to get in touch with Jonathan, please try our Operations Manager, Nikki. She is available outside normal business hours on:

It is best to either text or call Nikki or Jonathan on their respective cell phone numbers in the first instance.

If you are unable to contact either Jonathan or Nikki, our other staff may be able to help you track them down. Note that their primary responsibility is not tenant liaison so they may not be able to help directly with more unusual issues. George is our network technician. His contact details are:

Graeme is responsible for maintaining the houses. He can be contacted at:

Denise is responsible for administration. If you have an administrative related issue you may contact her via email at moc.talFnotgnilleW|esineD#moc.talFnotgnilleW|esineD.

Monica and Trent are the owners of the flat. They currently live in Singapore. If you have an issue with the flat that nobody appears to be able to help with, feel free to send either of them an email outlining the problem.
Their addresses are moc.talFnotgnilleW|acinoM#moc.talFnotgnilleW|acinoM & moc.talFnotgnilleW|tnerT#moc.talFnotgnilleW|tnerT.

Key Tenant [2010-01-14]

We sometimes hire one of your flatmates as a "Key Tenant". The key tenant's main responsibility is to ensure smooth communication between the tenants in a house and the landlords. In general the key tenant works to ensure that the flat is a nice place to stay, and is kept in good order. The key tenant does this by, among other things:

• Helping to ensure smooth, timely communication between the tenants' and the landlord
• Arranging shared flat duties
• Ensuring that the landlords are aware of any damage to the flat
• Explaining flat policies
• Explaining how we manage the flat accounts, and your financial summary in particular
• Mediating disputes between your flatmates (if the flatmates involved agree)

In the interests of your privacy and security, the key tenant has no direct access to the financial information we store on your behalf. It is entirely up to you how much of this information you disclose to the key tenant.

A key tenant cannot receive money on the landlords' behalf.

Emergency Contact [2009-01-06]

If you need to contact somebody in a genuine flat related emergency, please call Jonathan or Nikki on their respective cellphones. We are more than happy to reimburse you for any call costs in these cases.

Email Contact [2009-01-06]

We provide the following email addresses for tenants. Note that these addresses only work if you email us from the email address you provided us for your contract.

• moc.talFnotgnilleW|nimdA#moc.talFnotgnilleW|nimdA
• moc.talFnotgnilleW|slliB#moc.talFnotgnilleW|slliB
• moc.talFnotgnilleW|tenretnI#moc.talFnotgnilleW|tenretnI
• moc.talFnotgnilleW|ecnanetniaM#moc.talFnotgnilleW|ecnanetniaM

Your email will be automatically forwarded to all of our staff and stored. If your email needs a human response, either Jonathan or Nikki will phone you at home. In either case, expect a response within four days. If you need a quicker response, please get in touch with Jonathan or Nikki by phone.

The email system will not recognise emails from any email account other than that recorded on your contract. If you send an email from a different account, there could be significant delays introduced - no matter what you write in the email. If you need to change your email address, please contact Jonathan or Nikki.

Use of email [2008-03-02]

We believe that email or TXT, though convenient, is an ineffective method of communicating. If you have never had unnecessary disagreements arising from this form of communication you've been a lot luckier than us. For this reason, we will endeavour to talk with you directly to sort out any issues. Where those issues are more important, we may even ask to visit you. We will save emails for the role that best suits them - keeping a record of a conversation that has already taken place or passing on data.

If you think that this policy arises from computer illiteracy in our staff - you obviously don't know our staff too well - let's have a talk!!

Money [2004-08-22]

Initial Payments [2009-12-30]

We have a policy (due to bad experiences in the past) that we must receive two weeks rent and two weeks bond before we provide you a key to the house or let you move in. We are sorry to implement this policy, but assure you that we apply it to every single person who signs up with us.

You can hold a room - before you move in - by paying two weeks rent as a deposit.

Rent [2009-12-30]

Rent is two weeks in advance. This means that you pay two weeks rent, wait two weeks and then pay another two weeks. Note that this payment is required by your contract to be an Automatic Payment (not a bill payment, bank deposit or cash payment). Please note the comments on missed payments.

Utility Bills [2009-12-30]

There are five monthly bills. Three of them have a fixed monthly value so you will generally be charged the same amount each month. These bills only vary depending on the number of people in the flat who are sharing the cost. On average, you can expect to pay around $20 each week to cover all of these bills.

We recommend that you add $50 to your fortnightly rent payment to cover for the utility bills. This would usually be sufficient for each month's bill (we don't guarantee that it is). By paying this extra amount, you can be comfortable that you will not suddenly have a large bill to pay.

The utility bills you are liable for are explicitly stated on your contract. You may request that you no longer receive a particular service by writing to us. Your obligation will cease when we provide you with a written reply confirming acceptance of your request. You will be liable for all charges for the specified service up till the date on the confirmation.

As Internet services are provided over the phone line, you must pay for the phone if you wish to use the Internet. Grounds fees are not optional. You do not need to pay for power when you are not resident, but you may not opt out in general.

Internet Bill [2007-03-28]

If you wish to use the internet from a computer in your room you will need to use the flat's shared internet. This works out at about $12 per tenant each month. This gives you shared access to high bandwidth ( 8 Mb/s ) internet for less than the cost of most dial-up plans.

For more information on using the flat network, see below.

Power Bill [2008-03-02]

This bill is the most complicated, as it is the only bill that varies from month to month. It costs each tenant around $30 each month in the summer and $70 in the winter. To work out how much you have to pay, we calculate how many days of the month you were living at the flat and take off the days that you were away from the flat on holiday. The bill is then split up proportionally.

We count you as living in the flat for the same period as you were paying rent. A "holiday" is any period where you spend at least seven days continuously staying somewhere else. If you wish to claim holiday time, just email us with the dates you are away from the flat. Holiday time only applies to the power bill, as the other bills are not reduced when you do not use the services.

Power bills come in two forms - cheap and expensive. The cheap bills are based on estimates by the power company. The company makes estimates in order to avoid having to read the power meter every month. They always underestimate the bill - sometimes by as much as half again. This means that - in the winter especially - you can pay $100 or more less for the bill than the power actually cost. The downside with this is that the next - actual - bill will then be $200 or more larger than the previous - estimated - bill.

When faced with a bill that costs so much more than the previous bill, many tenants look to find what they used all that extra power for in the previous month. They don't find anything because it all came down to the way the bills were presented by the power company. We label all of the power bill emails as "Actual" or "Estimated" so that you are not surprised by a jump in prices. The way to avoid being caught with a large power bill is to pay a fixed amount to us each month irrespective of the bills. See "How you are charged", below, for more information.

Telephone Bill [2007-03-28]

The single flat phone line may only be used for voice calls - any other use ( notably the internet ) is inconsiderate to your flatmates. The phone line costs each tenant around $10 each month.

If you have a computer and wish to connect it to the internet, please refer to the section devoted to this topic later in this document.

Due to the management overhead of tracking down toll calls when the bill arrives, we no longer allow toll calls from the flats. We recommend that tenants make use of "calling cards" instead. These are sold in many places, including dairies and supermarkets. If you would like more information on these, please get in touch.

For those new to NZ, calls within the Wellington region or to numbers starting "0800" are free and can be made (directly) from the flat phone. Any other numbers starting with "0", such as "021 732953" or "09 7653923" are chargeable. These chargeable calls are described as toll calls and the flat phone will not connect the call.

If you will never use the flat phone line you can let us know not to charge you for it. We can only do this if you also don't use the shared flat internet, as the flat network uses the flat phone line to connect to the outside world.

Digital television [2009-01-06]

We provide you with access to free digital satellite TV in the lounge. See http://www.freeviewnz.tv/ for more information.

It is possible for the television in the lounge to be hooked up to Sky Digital (http://www.skytv.co.nz/). Sky's charges amount to a monthly cost for each tenant of around $13. This includes both the movies and sports channels. If you wish to do this, please get in touch (you may not organise this yourself directly).

There is more information on using a television in your room below.

Care of the grounds [2009-12-30]

You share the responsibility of caring for the grounds with the other tenants in the house. We have arranged contractors to maintain the grounds for you. The contractors charge around $50 per visit. They will need to visit approximately every three weeks. This fee will be shared amongst all tenants.

How you are charged [2009-12-30]

We maintain a virtual account for each tenant. This account offsets the total amount of payments you have made to us against your rent and utility bills.

We calculate the utility bills monthly and add your portion for each to your virtual account. We process all flat bills near the end of each month. We then send you an email summary of your virtual account by email early in the next month.

If your account balance becomes too large (either because you owe us or we owe you - but most often the former ;) we will get in touch with you.

The monthly email summary only contains summary information. We provide a full account statement when your tenancy ends. If you would like to check our calculations before then, an interim statement is available upon request.

Your virtual account does not include your bond. We have no access to this money - it is held by the Department of Building and Housing. Bond monies are only dealt with when your tenancy ends. See the department's web page for more information.

Ownership of the bills [2009-12-30]

The utility bills are in our names. They are delivered to us, and we are responsible for calculating how much each person owes. They are set up this way as it would be hard to find a tenant to take on the risk of bills totalling between $500 and $1,000 each month. There would also be significant hassle in managing these bills by our staff and then transferring them each time the tenant who owned them moved out. There would be a noticeable risk of inconstant services for you through payment failures and tenant transitions.

In the past we have trialled having the tenants manage payments of the bills. Unfortunately, money was misused and the services went unpaid. Several utility companies threatened disconnection. As the bills were in our name, this was doing nasty things to our credit rating.

At the end of the day, our tenants generally prefer a seamless provision of these services with the least practicable impact on them. This approach is the best way we know of providing this.

Very occasionally (once every few years) one of our tenants has asked to view the actual bills we receive from the utility company. These requests were made not because any fraud was expected but rather because these tenants happened to be particularly careful with their finances. In general they were mainly interested in the power bill as that is the only bill that varies over time. Our processes for dealing with the bills have multiple check points. We have occasionally split the bill up incorrectly - we have yet to charge the incorrect total amount. If you would like a copy of the bills during your tenancy we can arrange this.

When it comes time for you to move out, we will provide any supporting documentation you request.

Payments to our bank account [2004-08-22]

Please ensure that your name is somehow attached to any payments made into our account! We have income from many sources - tenants, jobs, sports club members, shares, repayments of personal loans etc. It can be very difficult to decide where something like:

(which is a real example) comes from. Often, like in this case, we are left trying to guess who paid by the amount. This of course is not the most reliable way to ensure that we record the fact that you have paid us.

Monica and I have recently taken on a policy that we do not assign such payments to a person. Instead, we maintain a list of the unallocated payments. When somebody tells us that they really did pay us three months ago, we have a look at the list.

There are several ways of ensuring that your name is on your payment, depending on how you are making the payment:

1. Rent Payments. Your contract is quite explicit about how rent payments should be made (partially to avoid the problems described above). They need to be made by Automatic Payment with details in this form: RENT, 810S4, PETER. Please let us know if you have trouble setting up your payments in this manner.
2. Electronic Payments (Automatic Payments / Bill Payments / Funds Transfers / One Off Payments). In this case your source account name will appear on our statement. So long as it is obvious from this who you are, there should be no problem.
3. Deposits in a bank. In this case you must request that the teller put your name in the details field on the transaction before you give the teller your money. Often a teller won't be able to put a note on the transaction after they have entered the transaction.

Payments to the key tenant [2010-01-14]

The key tenant is not authorised to receive money on the landlords' behalf.

Contract [2007-03-28]

Fixed Term [2007-03-28]

The vast majority of our contracts are fixed term. If your contract is periodic, this section does not apply to you.

As your contract is fixed term, neither of us may terminate the contract until the contract end date - generally in January. The only exceptions to this involve mutual consent or breaking the law. This means that - even if you move out - you are still liable for all rent charges until the point that we find somebody to occupy your room.

That being said, we are willing to let you replace your contract with somebody else's. For example, one of our tenants - T - wished to leave after their studies finished in June. They found a replacement tenant - M - who took a fixed term contract from June through to January. We were happy to consider T's contract terminated. T had to take on the time and hassle of finding and arranging M however. We got involved at the point that M was ready to sign a contract.

Services [2009-01-06]

We provide several services to you - phone, television, internet, gardening, computer assistance and power. In the case of most of these, we make use of a utility company to provide the actual service, and we "add value" before providing it to you.

One value we always add is to manage the bills for you - you will not need to worry about whether the power company is paid. You will also not have to chase up money from other tenants to make those payments. Your sole responsibility is to ensure that you pay us for your share of the bills. We do not charge you anything for managing the bills for you.

We ensure that you have access to each of these services in your room. Most rooms now have several power points. Each room has an access point for internet, telephone and satellite television. The provision of these access points requires some management and wiring on our part. The internet, as well as needing wiring, also requires three dedicated pieces of computer hardware. Satellite TV requires a dish, amplifier and splitter hardware. We also employ a network technician to ensure that the provision of internet is as hassle free for our tenants as possible.

No tenant is authorised to modify the wiring for these services, nor the associated hardware. If a tenant causes an interruption to any of these services we will pass on the repair costs to that tenant. If the tenant cannot be identified, the charges will be shared amongst the flat as a whole.

Most network maintenance will be carried out by George. George and Graeme may also carry out reallocation and maintenance work on the telephone and television wiring from time to time.
If you need extra services to those we currently provided, please let us know what you need. We will try and help out.

Note that it is illegal for you to directly arrange to have anything installed in or on the house. This includes, for example, extra phone lines or Sky dishes. We will charge you for the removal of these devices and all costs in returning the house to its previous appearance.

Internet [2009-01-06]

The flat internet we provide is high quality - true broadband.

Each room has a network connection point. If you have a computer and would like to connect it to the internet, let us know. George (our network technician) will hook your computer up to the internet for you. This process generally takes less than 10 minutes. If you have an old computer, there may be some additional requirements; George will explain these to you.

The internet connection is shared, so be considerate in your use of it. In particular, if the flat as a whole downloads too much data our ISP will significantly reduce the quality of our connection. We will generally ask the errant tenant to pay to raise our limit if we exceed it. If you file share, ensure that you limit the download and upload rates.

We have had tenants with Windows PCs who have had their computers taken over by hackers. The software the hackers installed ran up over $1,500 worth of excess fees. Luckily our provider at that time came to the party when they saw the cause and removed the charges. With our current set-up you will not incur excess fees, but you could be responsible for slowing down the internet to a crawl for the rest of the flat.

If you are using a Windows based PC, we therefore strongly encourage you to ensure you have continuously updated anti-spy-ware and anti-virus software. We advise against personal firewalls however. The internet at the flat is behind a true (hardware) firewall. We have had several issues with personal firewalls causing internet connection problems for our tenants.

We only hook your computer up to the flat internet for free when you first move in. If your computer needs to be reconfigured after this you will need to pay for this service (refer Computer Servicing, below). If you have a computer savvy friend, all of the information they would need to organise this for you is listed in the technical details section, below.

You may already have an account with an ISP (Internet Service Provider - Paradise, XTRA etc.) that you do not wish to close. One reason to keep an account open is in order to keep your favourite email address. Another would be if you needed to use your computer somewhere other than at the flat.

It is possible to keep your account open and not be charged too much. If your account is a dial up account, you can generally change these to an "email only" or "pay as you use" plans. These only charge you for the amount of time you are logged in with a dial up modem. As you no longer need to use a modem, your charges could be $0! Some ISPs charge a small fixed monthly fee for these plans.

Modems [2007-03-28]

You may not connect to the internet using the flat phone line. We strongly recommend you use the shared flat internet, which provides a high quality service at the price of a dial up modem connection. If you decide you must use a modem, you will need to arrange a separate phone line. Please refer to the section on the telephone service below.

Connection Details [2009-01-06]

This section is optional reading - if you are interested in what our internet plan is. The information here may change without notice.

Our connection plan is currently provided via http://www.snap.net.nz. The flat is probably on the Pro plan, which provides a 60Gb transfer cap. This plan may be changed following consultation with George.

The network hardware we maintain shares this amongst all tenants who opt to use it. This means that the bandwidth you actually get at your computer depends on who else in the flat is using it. In reality, it also depends on how busy things are at Telecom's exchange as well.

The transfer limit is shared amongst all of the tenants - it is not the case that each tenant gets 4 GB or similar. If one tenant is greedy they may suck down the entire allocation. This would be extremely inconsiderate behaviour however. Once the limit is used up, the bandwidth is dropped down to a mere 0.064 Mb/s down.

Technical details [2007-03-28]

This section is optional reading - it is basically intended for geeks… ;) If you are not a geek, George will apply these settings on your computer for you.

Your IP number is static at 192.168.1.x. x is the number of your room multiplied by 8. If you are in room 1, your IP number is 192.168.1.8. In room 4 that would be 192.168.1.32.

DHCP is not enabled on the flat network (we wish to control the IP allocation).

The gateway computer is at 192.168.1.254. It provides a DNS server - so point your computer's DNS client at this. There isn't much point specifying additional DNS servers as you can't get to them without going through the gateway.

Should you have multiple computers, you can use the other 7 IP numbers up to the next room's first allocation. That is, room 3 can also use from 192.168.1.25 to 192.168.1.31.

Telephone [2007-03-28]

We provide a single "flat" phone line. As nobody is allowed to use this to connect to the internet, and cellphones have become very popular, this has generally proved sufficient.

Your room has a telephone connection point. This is normally hooked up to the "flat" phone line. All you need to do is plug in a telephone. There are several shops (for example The Warehouse, Dick Smiths or Jaycar) that sell cheap telephones if you don't have one.

If you choose to use a modem to access the internet, you must organise your own phone line. This will probably cost you around $60 to install and then $40 a month. On top of this you will need to pay for a dial up connection. You would want to have a good reason for doing this - the shared internet only costs around $12 a month and provides significantly higher bandwidth.

Television [2009-01-06]

Each bedroom has a satellite television connector. This allows you to set up a private television in your room and get a digital quality picture!

You have two choices of provider. Freeview (http://www.freeviewnz.tv/) provides digital television services for free. To receive the signal, you will need a television with a digital decoder, or a digital set-top box (similar to the device in the lounge). You can purchase your own set-top box for around $200 (from Dick Smith, Jaycar etc.) or lease one from us for $100 per year. Contact us or check out http://www.freeviewnz.tv/ for more information.

Sky (http://www.skytv.co.nz/) provides a greater selection of programs, but charges a monthly access fee. You will not need to pay for installation as we have sorted that out for you already. All you will need is a Sky decoder and a cable to connect to the socket on the wall. Sky will provide both - but tell them that the socket on the wall is a standard RF (television) push in type, not screw in. Contact us if you have any problems.

Computer Servicing [2007-03-28]

If you have a computer problem, George may be able to help.

You may contact him, as above. If you have a software problem he may be able to solve it on the phone. If the problem is hardware related or a complicated software problem he is available to travel to the flat to assist.

Note that this is not a free service. We charge $10 for each full or partial quarter hour spent. There is a one hour minimum, and travel time is included. Thus, 36 minutes costs $40, 67 minutes costs $50 etc. These charges will be added to your flat bill.

New Tenants [2007-03-28]

Vetting [2004-08-22]

We do not use the most common tenancy arrangement where there is a single key tenant responsible to the landlords. Under this arrangement, the key tenant guarantees us a fixed income for the flat per week, irrespective of the number of tenants. This usually means that when one of your flatmates moves out, you would have to pay more money to cover the cost of their rooms as well. Naturally this means that the remaining tenants are usually quite eager to find somebody to fill the empty room.

Our contracts with you are on an individual room basis, however, which means that this is not a risk you face. When a tenant moves out, you pay exactly the same weekly rental as always. In this case the onus is on us to find a new person to get our income back. Monica and I have made two decisions because of this situation:

1. We do not give tenants the right to veto any new tenant for free
2. We make a "best effort" (only) to allow current tenants to meet potential tenants

Naturally we try to get tenants in who are responsible and reasonably similar to the existing tenants - that is in our best interests as much as it is in yours. We have made mistakes in the past, but we have had a reasonable number of tenants over the years and I'd like to think we've learned. Prior bad eggs have also lead to changes in our processes. For example we now require photo ID and money up front before we allow somebody to take a room. Unfortunately we have learnt the hard way that it's impossible to always accurately assess people's character in such a short period of time. We have had occasions where a tenant who complained bitterly about our poor judgement on one person then went on to sign up another person who also had issues. Because of this, if you do meet up with a potential tenant and have concerns, we will definitely listen to your concerns.

We can't delay the sign up process by any significant amount to arrange for existing flatmates to prospective tenants. As with any sale, it is really important to strike while the iron is hot. Therefore, if you decide you are unable to make an extra effort to meet a potential flatmate, we are likely to sign them up if they are interested.

If you decide that this situation is untenable to you, there is another option. If you choose, you can pay for the right to have a veto over new tenants. With this veto right, we will not sign up a new tenant until you have agreed that they can move in.

The cost to have this right is a share of the lost rentals until such time as the room is occupied again. The cost of the lost rentals is divided equally amongst those people with a veto right in a particular flat, with the owners counting as two. If two people in one of the flats decide they want veto rights, however, the lost rentals would be apportioned half to Monica and Trent, and a quarter each to the two people with veto rights.

You can ask for veto rights at any point; even when a potential flatmate is visiting. However, you will be required to pay the veto fees up until the point the room is let.

We will TXT anybody that wishes to meet with potential tenants so that you can have a chance to meet with them. If you would like us to do this, please let us know.

We will call the flat just before we bring any new tenant around in any case.

Finders Fee [2004-08-22]

When we are looking for a tenant, we will pay you $50 for any efforts you make that helps secure somebody, provided they stay for at least 3 months. Help includes finding somebody to take the room, showing a potential tenant around the flat and suchlike. We pay the money as soon as the tenant moves in. Should they not stay the required 3 months, we request it back from you.

House Inspections [2009-12-30]

We inspect the houses at least every three months. These inspections usually occur on the first Saturday of the months of April, July, October and January.

The main purpose of these inspections is to ensure that the house is being kept up to a reasonable standard.

There is a complete check-list available on request. The list includes the following items:

1. Check your room.
2. Check that the section is tidy (including mowed lawns)
3. Check to see that all freezers are defrosted.
4. Check that the overhead lines are not fouled by plants.
5. Check that all light bulbs work.
6. Check that the smoke alarms are operational.

We will let you know the results of the inspection once they are complete.

If you fail any particular item on two consecutive flat inspections, we will arrange for that particular issue to be rectified. The cost this incurs will be shared between you and your flatmates.

If you wish, you may let us know at these visits of any outstanding issues with the flat.

By current NZ law we are permitted to inspect the properties more regularly. We may do so if we have concerns that our property is not being treated with due respect. In this case we will provide 48 hours notice of our intent to visit.

Flat Policies [2008-03-02]

No external lock on room door [2008-03-02]

We do not allow tenants to have an external lock on their bedroom doors. This means that your room cannot be locked when you are not in it.

There are two reasons for this policy. The first is that it is the responsibility of each tenant to ensure that all possessions in the house are secure, not just their own. This is achieved by locking the main doors to the house. As nobody can lock their room individually, to secure their own belongings they must secure everybody else's as well by locking the house as a whole. We recommend that you adopt a policy of always locking the external doors when you leave the house. Burglars have attempted to access one of our houses and failed because the main door was locked. None of our flats have yet been successfully burglarised, touch wood.

The second reason is trust. You may feel that you need a lock on your door because you do not trust one of your flatmates. This situation cannot be rectified with a lock; unless it is addressed it will poison the atmosphere in the flat. This issue will need to be discussed amongst the flat. If you are unable to rectify this problem internally let one of our staff know.

Some rooms have a sliding bolt which can be used to secure the room when you are inside it. If your room does not have such a lock, and you would be more comfortable with this extra security, let us know. We will arrange to have a sliding lock installed.

Missed Payments [2009-12-30]

We have recently implemented a firm policy on missed tenants' payments. This policy will be irrelevant to the majority of our tenants, but will help us manage problem tenants promptly.

1. If a tenant misses a fortnightly payment, we immediately send a 10 day notice.
2. If a tenant misses two consecutive fortnightly payments, we send a 10 day notice, and book a hearing with the Tenancy Tribunal.

If you find that you missed a payment by accident, get in touch with us as soon as possible. If you contact us before we notice the missed payment and tell us that you have paid the money owed - or are about to pay - we can use our discretion in the application of these policies.

Bad Debtors [2009-12-30]

Should you get into financial difficulties, it is in both your interest and ours that you talk to us - and as soon as possible. We have helped several tenants work their way out of debt.

If you intend to treat us fairly you can safely skip the rest of this section.

Unfortunately we also have experience dealing with delinquent tenants. You will not be surprised that we do not treat lightly the idea of somebody walking away owing us money. This is the reason we have the clause in the contract allowing us to pass on collection costs to delinquent tenants.

After you move out… [2004-08-22]

Hopefully this isn't too soon after you move in, but chances are it'll happen at some point. The following sections explain what our normal procedures are at that time.

Key [2008-03-02]

The charge for replacing your room key is $20. This takes into account the fee charged to have the key cut as well as the time spent in arranging it. To avoid this charge, ensure you return your key as you leave the flat! If you do not meet up with one of our staff as you are leaving, please mail the key back to Nikki. Do not leave the key in the flat, as this reduces the security of the flat.

Condition of Room [2008-03-02]

When your tenancy ends, we may inspect your room to ensure that it is in a condition similar to that in which you started renting it. If repair work needs to be done, this will be added to your final bill. If you have damaged your walls by affixing objects to them, this will need to be repaired.

Final Financial Report & Bond [2009-01-06]

Expect to receive your bond back about six weeks after you move out.

This is a point that surprises many tenants when they move out. The reason for the delay is explained in the following section.

We will prepare and send you a "Tenant's Financial Report". This tabulates every aspect of your financial relationship with us - the payments we received, the rent you accrued and your share of the utility bills. We cannot create an accurate final financial report until all of the bills relating to your stay have arrived. These will all have arrived within a month of your departure date.

Once we have sent you the final report, you will need to review this and let us know if you agree that it is accurate. Once we agree, we can sort out how the final amount is settled. If we owe you money, we will return your bond in full. If, as is more common, the final amount is in our favour we can split the bond to cover this amount. The bond is integrally involved in this final settlement process. For this reason, we cannot return it to you until we have agreed on the final amount and how it will be settled.

We are able, at your request, to estimate your share of these bills before they come in. This allows us to create the final financial report around the time you are leaving. To do this you need to request us to do this two weeks before you move out. This allows us to prepare the report in advance and read the power meter. You also will need to agree to accept our estimates of the outstanding bills.

If you have requested extra services (for example a Sky decoder) there may be extra charges involved (for example if there was a 12 month minimum usage requirement).

What we do with your mail [2009-01-06]

There is a tray in the flat for ex-tenant's mail. When you are resident at the flat, please put any mail for ex-tenants in this tray. After you leave, you may retrieve your mail from this tray.

Any mail older than one month is discarded during the house inspection.

NZ Post have a postal redirection service.

About this document [2010-01-14]

The current version of this document is permanently available at http://wellingtonflat.com/how-the-flat-is-run. Older versions may be viewed by clicking on the "history" link at the bottom of the page.