Frequently Asked Questions
Firstly, you need to register your interest.
Once you've registered, one of our team will call you within a few weeks to assess your eligibility. If you're eligible for housing assistance, you will be added to our waiting list straight away and start receiving quarterly updates via email.
At the time we allocate homes, we'll email all those on our waiting list who appear to be suitable for the home, in terms of its size and location, inviting expressions of interest. For all those that come back to us we then work out who will be invited to formally apply for a home, as per our policy on allocation of properties.
All you need to do is make sure we have your most current details and keep an eye out for our emails inviting expressions of interest for particular homes or developments. You can keep up to date with our developments on our website, or via our latest newsletter.
All of our tenancies provide housing security, providing you continue to meet all your obligations, there is no end to your tenancy. As with any landlord in New Zealand, we are required to follow the rules set out under the Residential Tenancies Act.
We offer a variety of rental programmes that sit on a housing continuum. Each rental programme is carefully designed, with specific benefits encouraging those in our homes to advance their financial position and progress towards assisted ownership, should they wish to.
You can find out more about our housing programmes here.
As with any landlord in New Zealand, we are required to follow the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA).
Our rental programmes provide a five-year fixed-term tenancy, at which point they then convert to a periodic tenancy. So long as you continue to meet your obligations as a tenant, our rental programmes can provide secure housing for life, with an opportunity to progress to assisted ownership, if you wish to.
If you breach the tenancy law, then we have the right to address this through the RTA.
We provide a variety of rental programmes, each carefully designed to ensure that whatever your financial position, there is an appropriate rental programme for you. All our rental programmes provide an opportunity to progress along the housing continuum, if you wish to. Listed below are our current rental programmes:
Each year we review our rents, consulting a variety of independent sources to establish market rents. However, we don't seek to profit by charging the highest rents possible and therefore we position our rents in the lower quartile of market range.
Additionally, there are various financial benefits to each of our rental programmes, some of which reduce the rent further.
Public Housing Rental provides an income related rent, set by the Ministry of Social Development, typically at 25% of household income.
Affordable Rental provides an income-tested rent subsidy of up to 20%.
Rent Saver market rent is charged, however a matched savings incentive is provided.
The costs to move into a QLCHT home are typically the same as with any rented or purchased home.
When moving into a rental property, there is your first weeks rent (to be paid in advance), along with a bond of four weeks rent (which you can transfer from your previous rental property). There're also the usual costs involved in moving, such as setting up power and internet.
When purchasing one of our assisted ownership homes, there's the initial settlement amount to be paid, which is made up of the agreed purchase price, pro-rated Ground Rent for the first month, pro-rated local rates and regional rates, and pro-rated body corporate levies (where applicable). We also suggest keeping around $5,000 aside for additional costs such as your house insurance premium, solicitor's legal fees and moving costs such as setting up power and internet.
We expect all occupants in our homes whether renting or owning, to take good care of the homes. This means keeping them reasonably clean and tidy, inside and out.
The maintenance obligations between landlords and tenants are set out in the Residential Tenancies Act. You can refer to the Tenancy Services website for more detailed information.
Tenants must immediately report any maintenance items to QLCHT. The cost of any maintenance resulting from fair wear and tear will be taken care of by QLCHT. The cost of repairing any damage whether intentional or accidental is the responsibility of the tenant. QLCHT may be able to make an insurance claim for any damage, but the tenant would need to pay the excess.
Outside, the tenant is responsible for maintaining the lawns, weeding the gardens and keeping the grounds tidy. Care of trees and hedges is the responsibility of QLCHT.
All our tenancies allow for a tenant to be away from their home for a maximum of 28 days in any 12-month period. You're not allowed to use your home for short-term visitor accommodation, such as Airbnb, or sublet your home during this period.
The Residential Tenancy Agreements for each of our rental programmes, set out more detailed information about the terms of our tenancies. You can view these under each of the specific programmes.
If you're in assisted ownership with us and you need to leave town for a while, we strongly encourage you to come and speak to us so we can discuss options.
This is a possibility, but it depends largely on the circumstances and the availability of homes.
We are aware that household needs can change over time and where possible we try to support this through the ability to move to another more suitable home. However, it is always on a case-by-case basis, where there are legitimate and practical reasons to support the change.
