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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Key money, bonds, and rents

30: Landlord to keep records

You could also call this:

“Landlords must keep good records of rent and bond payments for seven years.”

If you are a landlord, you need to keep good records of your rental business. You must record all the rent payments you receive from your tenants. This is so you can quickly show your tenants how much rent they have paid if they ask. You also need to record any bond money you receive from tenants after 1 May 1996.

You have to keep these records for 7 tax years after the year they relate to. A tax year usually starts on 1 April and ends on 31 March the next year. However, there was a special 9-month tax year from 1 July 2016 to 31 March 2017.

If you don’t keep these records properly, you are breaking the law. You might have to pay a fine or an infringement fee. The amount you might have to pay is listed in Schedule 1B.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM95067.

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Housing and property > Renting
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“Landlords must give renters a proper receipt when they pay rent”

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“Explains how rent is calculated daily and divided up when a tenancy ends”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Key money, bonds, and rents

30Landlord to keep records

  1. Every landlord under a tenancy to which this Act applies shall keep or cause to be kept proper business records showing—

  2. all payments of rent paid by or on behalf of the tenant, sufficient to enable the landlord to comply within a reasonable time with any request made by the tenant under section 29(3); and
    1. any amount by way of bond paid by or on behalf of the tenant on or after 1 May 1996.

      1. The records must be kept for 7 tax years after the tax year to which they relate.

      2. In subsection (1A), tax year means—

      3. the period of 9 months beginning with 1 July 2016 and ending with 31 March 2017; or
        1. a later period of 12 months beginning with 1 April and ending with 31 March.

          1. A landlord who fails to comply with this section—

          2. commits an unlawful act; and
            1. commits an infringement offence and is liable to a fine or an infringement fee specified in Schedule 1B.

              Compare
              • Residential Tenancies Act 1978–1981 s 38 (SA)
              Notes
              • Section 30(1): replaced, on , by section 14 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 7).
              • Section 30(1A): inserted, on , by section 10 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 26).
              • Section 30(1B): inserted, on , by section 10 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 26).
              • Section 30(2): replaced, on , by section 21 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).