August 2026

A national renters' survey has just put numbers behind a complaint tenants have made for years: a signed Healthy Homes compliance statement is no guarantee a rental is actually warm and dry. Some of Auckland's largest property management firms, including Barfoot & Thompson, were named in the breakdown. Here's what happened last week, and what it means for your rental. Big Property Managers Named Over...

A government reminder landed this week that catches a lot of Auckland landlords out: you cannot pass on fixed water, wastewater or stormwater charges to your tenant, no matter what your tenancy agreement says. Only metered water usage can be charged to them, and only if the property has a compliant meter. At the same time, new data shows Auckland house values have swung back to their long-term...

A Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator has just ordered a landlord to pay a tenant $4,250 after he ran an undisclosed Airbnb out of her rental and then tried to end her tenancy unlawfully when she complained. Separately, new Cotality data shows the share of NZ properties resold for a profit has dropped to its lowest level in almost 14 years, and property investors say election-year tax nerves are part of the...

Just 197 homes went to auction across New Zealand in the first week of August — the quietest week since 2023 — while Barfoot & Thompson's own numbers show Auckland's average three-bedroom rent sitting at $702 a week as of 31 July 2026. Auckland's sales market has slowed to what Barfoot & Thompson's own managing director called "hibernation." Here's what happened last week, and what it means for...

A Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator has just ordered an Auckland landlord and his property manager to jointly pay $3,000 after debt collectors kept turning up at the rental looking for the landlord, not the tenants. The tenants had never even met him. At the same time, a new three-month pilot starting this week changes how the Tribunal prioritises cases — and it puts unpaid rent near the front of the queue....