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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Key money, bonds, and rents

29: Receipts for rent

You could also call this:

“Landlords must give renters a proper receipt when they pay rent”

When you pay rent, the person who receives it must give you a written receipt. This receipt needs to show the address of the place you’re renting, how much you paid, what the payment was for, the date you paid, and your name if they know it. If you pay in cash, you should get the receipt right away. For other types of payments, you should get the receipt within 72 hours.

If you ask in writing, the landlord also has to give you a statement showing which time period your rent payment covers.

You don’t need to get a receipt if you pay rent through automatic bank payment, by a special kind of cheque, or if you pay into a bank account that the landlord uses just for rent payments. You also don’t need a receipt if the rent comes out of your pay or benefits automatically.

It’s against the law for a landlord not to give you a receipt or statement when they should. If they don’t follow these rules, they might have to pay a fine. The amount of the fine is listed in Schedule 1B of this law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM95065.

Topics:
Housing and property > Renting
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Key money, bonds, and rents

29Receipts for rent

  1. Subject to subsection (3), every person who receives any rent payable under or in respect of any tenancy agreement shall give or cause to be given to the person paying the rent a written receipt bearing—

  2. the address of the premises, or an appropriate code or reference to identify the premises to which the payment relates; and
    1. the amount and nature of the payment; and
      1. the date of the payment; and
        1. the name (if known) of the person who made the payment.

          1. The receipt shall be given to the person paying the rent—

          2. forthwith, where payment is made in cash; or
            1. within 72 hours after payment, in any other case.

              1. On the written request of the tenant, the landlord shall also give to the tenant a written statement of the period to which any payment of rent relates.

              2. Nothing in subsection (1) shall apply—

              3. to any rent paid out of a bank account in the name of the tenant by automatic payment through the bank or by way of a non-negotiable personal cheque or other similar non-negotiable instrument drawn on that account; or
                1. to any rent paid by the tenant into any account nominated by the landlord and operated by the landlord exclusively in respect of the tenancy, or exclusively in respect of the tenancy and any other tenancies of the landlord; or
                  1. to any rent paid by way of deduction from the tenant's pay, or from any benefit to which the tenant is entitled under the Social Security Act 2018, and paid into a bank account nominated by the landlord.

                    1. Failure to give a receipt or written statement in accordance with this section is hereby declared to be an unlawful act.

                    2. A landlord who fails to comply with this section commits an infringement offence and is liable to a fine or an infringement fee specified in Schedule 1B.

                    Compare
                    • 1973 No 26 s 23
                    • Residential Tenancies Act 1978–1981 s 37 (SA)
                    Notes
                    • Section 29(4)(b): replaced, on , by section 13 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 7).
                    • Section 29(4)(c): amended, on , by section 459 of the Social Security Act 2018 (2018 No 32).
                    • Section 29(6): inserted, on , by section 20 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).