Housekeeping with OUSA president Quintin Jane

Kia ora,

Hopefully semester 2 is treating you well, you’ve settled in to your classes and looking forward to it getting a little warmer.

It’s coming into flat hunting season, so it’s worth taking the opportunity to familiarize yourself with your rights and responsibilities as a tenant.

For current tenants: Your landlord cannot put pressure on you to decide what you’re doing next year. If you’re on a fixed term tenancy and haven’t decided what you’re up to next year yet, you don’t have to tell your landlord if you want to stay or leave until 28 days before the end of your tenancy. Of course, if you know sooner you can tell them, but don’t feel pressured.

This week’s critic has a copy of OUSAs honest flat review. If your flat is getting rented out, make sure to put this up somewhere in your flat so that prospective tenants can really understand what it’s like to live there.

For prospective tenants:

A landlord cannot ask for more than four weeks’ worth of rent as a bond. They also can’t ask for more than two weeks rent in advance.

Your landlord must lodge your bond with tenancy services.

When looking at a flat, think about what it would be like to actually live there. How many plugs are in each room? Is the kitchen big enough to have multiple people cooking together? How many bathrooms are there?

If you have any questions about anything tenancy related, don’t hesitate to reach out to OUSA for support. Just send us an email, or pop into our student support centre on Ethel Benjamin Place. The team can even review your tenancy agreement before you sign if you have any questions.

Quintin