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4: Act generally to apply to all residential tenancies
or “This law covers almost all cases where someone rents a home to live in.”

You could also call this:

“The law doesn't apply to certain types of housing, like holiday homes, prisons, or short-term stays.”

This law doesn’t apply in many situations. Here are some cases where it doesn’t apply:

  • If the place is for business use
  • If the tenant uses the place mainly for farming
  • If it’s a fixed-term tenancy of at least 5 years that started before 2008 and says this law doesn’t apply
  • If it’s part of a prison, hospital, police station, or military barracks
  • If it’s student accommodation at a school hostel or university hall
  • If it’s a hotel, motel, or holiday home
  • If it’s emergency housing funded by the government
  • If the landlord or their family still live in the main part of the house
  • If the tenant is buying the house from the landlord
  • If the tenant partly owns the property through a company or other arrangement

The law also defines some terms, like what counts as a ‘relocatable home’ in a camping ground, and explains what the Special Needs Grants Programme is.

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Next up: 5A: Certain excluded long fixed-term tenancies remain subject to repealed sections of Property Law Act 1952

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

Part 1 Application of Act

5Act excluded in certain cases

  1. This Act shall not apply in the following cases:

  2. where the premises are commercial premises:
    1. where the whole or a substantial part of the tenant's income is derived from the use of the premises for agricultural, pastoral, horticultural, or other similar purposes:
      1. where the premises are let for a fixed-term tenancy of at least 5 years, the tenancy was granted before the commencement, on 1 January 2008, of the Property Law Act 2007, and the tenancy agreement expressly provides that this Act shall not apply:
        1. where the premises constitute part of a Corrections prison or Police jail:
          1. where the premises constitute part of any hospital, home, or other institution for the care of sick, disabled, or aged persons:
            1. where the premises constitute part of Police barracks, or Police cells and lock-ups:
              1. where the premises constitute any barracks conducted by the Armed Forces for the accommodation of persons subject to the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971:
                1. where the premises constitute any barracks or hostel conducted by an employer for the accommodation of employees of that employer or (where the employer is a company) for the accommodation of employees of any associated company (within the meaning of section 2(2)):
                  1. where the premises are used to provide accommodation to students—
                    1. at a school hostel (being a hostel within the meaning of section 10(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020); or
                      1. in accordance with the requirements of section 5B:
                      2. where the premises constitute part of a building occupied by a club and used by the club for the provision of temporary or transient accommodation to members of the club:
                        1. where the premises constitute part of any hotel in respect of which an on-licence is in force under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012:
                          1. where the premises—
                            1. are intended to provide temporary or transient accommodation (such as that provided by hotels and motels), being accommodation that is ordinarily provided for periods of less than 28 days at a time; and
                              1. are subject to an agreement that has been entered into for the purpose of providing temporary or transient accommodation that continues to be provided under the agreement:
                              2. where the tenant occupies the premises under an occupation right agreement within the meaning of the Retirement Villages Act 2003:
                                1. where the premises are let for the tenant's holiday purposes:
                                  1. where the premises, not being a boarding house, continue to be used, during the tenancy, principally as a place of residence by the landlord or the owner of the premises or by any member of the landlord’s or owner’s family:
                                    1. where the tenant is the purchaser of the premises under an agreement for sale and purchase with the landlord as vendor, not being an agreement that is revocable at will by the vendor:
                                      1. where any of the tenants is also the landlord or one of the landlords by virtue of an arrangement of a kind commonly known as a cross-lease or lease-back arrangement:
                                        1. where the tenant's interest in the premises is a stratum estate in leasehold under the Unit Titles Act 2010:
                                          1. where the tenancy arises wholly from or depends wholly upon the ownership by the tenant of any shares in a company that owns the premises:
                                            1. where the tenancy agreement—
                                              1. is genuinely entered into to enable a tenant (the sublandlord) to sublet the premises to provide accommodation for—
                                                1. other people for commercial gain; or
                                                  1. the sublandlord’s employees; or
                                                    1. persons on low incomes; or
                                                      1. persons with special housing needs; or
                                                        1. persons whose disabilities mean that they need support or supervision in their housing; and
                                                        2. is not entered into to provide accommodation for the sublandlord or to evade this Act or any of its provisions; and
                                                          1. expressly provides that the sublandlord will not personally occupy the premises:
                                                          2. where the premises comprise bare land (with or without facilities) on which the tenant has the right under the tenancy agreement to place or erect a mobile home, caravan, or other means of shelter:
                                                            1. where the tenant occupies, under a tenancy agreement, a cabin, caravan, vehicle, tent, or other building or structure that—
                                                              1. is located in a camping-ground subject to regulations under the Health Act 1956; and
                                                                1. is intended for human habitation for periods not exceeding 50 days in any continuous term of occupancy:
                                                                2. where temporary or transient accommodation is provided in a relocatable home under a tenancy agreement that has been entered into for the purpose of providing accommodation of that kind and that continues to be provided under the agreement:
                                                                  1. if the tenancy has been entered into by a leasing authority under section 7(1)(e), (f), (g), or (h) of the Public Bodies Leases Act 1969:
                                                                    1. if the Māori Trustee has leased a Māori reserve or township land under section 26 of the Maori Reserved Land Act 1955:
                                                                      1. if the lease provides for a perpetual right of renewal:
                                                                        1. if the lease is of land on which a dwellinghouse is erected and the lessee is entitled (whether beneficially or as trustee), on or before the termination of the tenancy, to remove the dwellinghouse or to receive compensation in respect of it:
                                                                          1. if the premises are used to provide emergency or transitional accommodation and—
                                                                            1. the provision of the accommodation is funded wholly or partly by—
                                                                              1. emergency housing assistance paid to or for the credit of a person under the Special Needs Grants Programme; or
                                                                                1. any other payment made by a government department for the provision of emergency or transitional accommodation to people in need of housing; or
                                                                                2. the provider of the accommodation is a person, or class of person, prescribed by regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
                                                                                3. Repealed
                                                                                4. In subsection (1)(tb), relocatable home means a structure (other than a tent) that—

                                                                                5. is located in a camping-ground subject to regulations under the Health Act 1956; and
                                                                                  1. is designed to be relocatable; and
                                                                                    1. comprises a group of rooms occupied or intended to be occupied either permanently or temporarily as the living quarters of a single housekeeping unit (whether consisting of 1 or more persons), which is completely self-contained in respect of domestic equipment and facilities.
                                                                                      1. In subsection (1)(y), Special Needs Grants Programme means the Special Needs Grants Programme approved and established under section 124(1)(d) of the Social Security Act 1964 (and continued under clause 21 of Schedule 1 of the Social Security Act 2018).

                                                                                      Compare
                                                                                      • Residential Tenancies Act 1978–1981 s 7 (SA)
                                                                                      Notes
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(b): replaced, on , by section 3(1) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 7).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(ba): inserted, on (not applying to any tenancy that commenced before that date), by section 3(2) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 7).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(ba): amended, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(c): amended, on , by section 206 of the Corrections Act 2004 (2004 No 50).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(h): replaced, on , by section 6(1) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(h)(i): amended, on , by section 668 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2020 No 38).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(j): replaced, on , by section 230(1) of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989 (1989 No 63).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(j): amended, on , by section 417(1) of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (2012 No 120).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(k): replaced, on , by section 6(2) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(l): replaced, on , by section 6(2) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(n): replaced, on , by section 6(3) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(q): amended, on , by section 233(1) of the Unit Titles Act 2010 (2010 No 22).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(s): replaced, on , by section 6(4) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(s)(i): replaced, on , by section 5(1) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(t): amended, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(ta): inserted, on , by section 6(5) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(tb): inserted, on , by section 6(5) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(u): inserted, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(v): inserted, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(w): inserted, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(x): inserted, on , by section 364(1) of the Property Law Act 2007 (2007 No 91).
                                                                                      • Section 5(1)(y): inserted, on , by section 5(2) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).
                                                                                      • Section 5(2): repealed, on , by section 5(3) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).
                                                                                      • Section 5(3): inserted, on , by section 6(6) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).
                                                                                      • Section 5(4): inserted, on , by section 5(4) of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).