Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

 Plain Language Law homepage
Back to
5: Act excluded in certain cases
or “The law doesn't apply to certain types of housing, like holiday homes, prisons, or short-term stays.”
You could also call this:

“ Some long-term rental agreements made before 2008 still follow old rules about renting houses. ”

This part of the law talks about certain long-term rental agreements that started before 2008. If you have one of these agreements that lasts for 5 years or more, some old rules from the Property Law Act 1952 still apply to you.

These old rules protect both you and your landlord. They give you rights that can’t be taken away, even if your rental agreement says otherwise. However, there’s an exception. If your rent is very low (less than half of what’s considered fair), then these protections might not apply.

If someone claims the rent is this low, they need to prove it. They can ask the District Court to decide what a fair rent would be. The court will use rules from an old law called the Rent Appeal Act 1973 to figure this out.

Remember, this only applies to certain long-term rentals that started before 2008. If your rental agreement is newer or shorter, different rules might apply to you.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

Next up: 5B: Exempt student accommodation

or “Special rules for places where only students live, with extra services and house rules”
Next

Part 1 Application of Act

5ACertain excluded long fixed-term tenancies remain subject to repealed sections of Property Law Act 1952

  1. This section applies to a fixed-term tenancy of at least 5 years, and to which this Act does not apply because the tenancy—

  2. commenced before 1 December 1996 and is one to which section 6 of this Act, as repealed by section 4(1) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996, continues to apply in accordance with section 4(2) of that Amendment Act; or
    1. commenced on or after 1 December 1996 and before 1 January 2008 (which is the date on which the Property Law Act 2007 came into force) and is one to which section 5(ba) applies.

      1. The tenancy—

      2. remains subject to sections 104A, 104B, 107B, and 116A to 116M (except section 116B(2)) of the Property Law Act 1952 (the specified sections of the 1952 Act), so far as those sections were applicable to the tenancy immediately before the commencement, on 1 January 2008, of the Property Law Act 2007, and as if those sections had not been repealed by that Act; and
        1. is subject to subsections (3) to (6).

          1. No covenant or agreement, whether entered into before or after the commencement, on 19 September 1975, of the Property Law Amendment Act 1975 has, from that commencement, any force or effect to deprive the lessor or lessee of any dwellinghouse of any right, power, privilege, or other benefit provided for in any of the specified sections of the 1952 Act.

          2. Subsection (3) does not apply in respect of any lease of a dwellinghouse if the rent thereby reserved does not exceed 50% of the equitable rent of the dwellinghouse.

          3. Subsection (6) applies to a person who makes an assertion, for the purposes of subsection (4), that the rent reserved by the lease of a dwellinghouse does not exceed 50% of the equitable rent of that dwellinghouse.

          4. It is for the person to prove the assertion by showing that the rent does not exceed 50% of the equitable rent of the dwellinghouse within the preceding period of 12 months as determined by the District Court—

          5. on an application for the purpose by the person; and
            1. applying section 8 of the Rent Appeal Act 1973.

              Notes
              • Section 5A: inserted, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
              • Section 5A(6): amended, on , by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).