Real Estate Continuing Professional Development Material on New Zealand Law and Tenancy Law

Task 1: New Zealand law

(a) Your branch manager has asked for your help developing some non- verifiable continuing professional development material, as required by the Real Estate Authority. Prepare notes to help your colleagues understand each of the following pieces of legislation. In your notes, for each Act:

• give a summary of the purpose of the Act
• give advice about how to behave according to the law for each Act
• give at least one example of how each Act would be applied to real estate work.

Write about the following legislation:

(i) Consumer Guarantees Act 1993.

(ii) Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

(iii) Human Rights Act 1993.

(iv) Privacy Act 1993.

(v) Secret Commissions Act 1910.

Your answer to each of the above should be approximately 100–150 words.

(b) Briefly explain how customers or clients can complain if licensees breach the requirements of any of these Acts. What are the possible consequences? List at least two.

Your answer should be approximately 75–100 words.

You receive a phone call from your friend, Sai, asking for your advice about some problems he’s having with his landlord, Mrs Krazinsky. Sai and two university friends rent a two-storey house from her. They have lived there for just over a year under a periodic tenancy. Sai tells you:

‘Mrs Krazinsky came around to the flat the other day without any warning. The place was a mess because we’d had a party on the weekend and hadn’t tidied up. Joey was upstairs, still in bed, and didn’t even hear her knock. She just came on in. Can she do that?

But there’s more. She tried to test the smoke alarm and it didn’t work. Well, we’d taken the batteries out. It’s in the kitchen downstairs, and completely useless. Every time we cooked a meal the stupid thing would go off. I asked her about why there weren’t any smoke alarms upstairs near the bedrooms. She didn’t give me an answer to that.

She said she’d had complaints from a couple of the neighbours about our party. Mrs Krazinsky owns four houses in this street. We did invite the people at number 27, but the people at number 23 are old, so they wouldn’t have come anyway. But what’s there to complain about? We turned the stereo down at about 1.00 am, and everyone had gone home by about 2.30 am.

And, there’s one other thing. Mrs Krazinsky has said we’re responsible for the broken window in the lounge, and damage to the garden. One of Joey’s mates had a few too many and fell against the window. So, I guess that’s fair enough. Joey got really sick of the flax bush scraping against the glass in the lounge, so one day he cut it back. To about ground level!

Task 2: Tenancy law

So, what are our rights here? And what are we responsible for?’

You tell Sai you will send him your advice in an email. Write to Sai. In your email, do the following.

(i) Briefly explain to Sai how Mrs Krazinsky has breached the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

(ii) Briefly explain how Sai and his flatmates have breached the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

(iii) Explain how Sai and his flatmates and Mrs Krazinsky could use notices to get remedies if they can’t negotiate solutions to their issues.

(iv) State what might happen if the issues still aren’t resolved after the notices.

Your answer should be approximately 450–500 words.

(a) You have been contacted by Jan and Dave Pryde. Jan and Dave bought a property for themselves and their children 8 years ago. They lived there until 3 years ago, when Dave was transferred to Singapore for work. They decided to keep the property as a rental until they returned to New Zealand.

During the past year they have had several problems with tenants, and are now considering selling. The house is currently vacant. They have asked you to visit it on their behalf and make suggestions about how they could maximise the value for sale.

When you visit the property, you notice that the timber fencing on the east and west sides is in very poor condition, and greatly reduces the street appeal of the home. You believe that replacing these fences would add value, and may make the property more attractive to potential customers.

There is a spa pool on the back deck, which you measure at 620 millimetres high. This is not fenced, but it is secured by a strong, lockable cover, which appears to be in good condition.

There is a large in-ground pool in the back garden. There is a 1.5 metre high fence surrounding the pool on all sides. However, the gate providing access to the pool has been removed, meaning it is easily accessible from the street.

Write notes to Jan and Dave, covering each of the following issues:

(i) Your recommendations for replacing the fences, and the procedure for obtaining financial contributions from their adjoining neighbours.

(ii) The legal requirements for fencing of the spa pool.

(iii) The legal requirements for fencing of the swimming pool.

In each part of your answer you must refer to the appropriate legislation.

Your answer should be approximately 450–500 words in total.

(b) Jan and Dave have decided to list the property with you and your agency. When you visit the home to prepare the agency agreement form, you realise that you can’t find the boundary pegs for the property. You call Jan about this, and she says that they had never thought much about the actual legal boundaries, and had just accepted that the fences were on the boundary lines.

Write an email to Jan and Dave. In your email:

• explain your disclosure obligations regarding the legal boundaries of the property (and which sections of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 and which parts of the Code apply)
• explain recommendations you would make to customers.

Your answer should be approximately 200–250 words.