Renting

Fenced property?
Bond and rent in advance?
Ask what chattels are included
Errmmm... someone else will add to it!

Check the position of the clothesline (big one for me - no dryer!), is the house warm (MIL said winter and rainy/cold days are good days to view to property to see what it's like). Condition of carpets, walls, ceiling. Smell... We walked into one place and it reeked of air spray stuff and turns out it was a horribly damp and mouldy place and they were trying to 'disguise' it!

I thought LL didn't have to provide smoke alarms?

We move into a rental on the 24th of June took almost 2 months to find a decent one!

Defintely check for damp and mould... see if there's an extractor fan in the bathroom and enough towel rails (haha, a little bug bear of mine!). Condition of the oven (seals around the edge/bent front door)... I would also ask/check about the condition of the guttering and when it was last cleared out (my landlord is useless at this, and I get curtains of water pouring over when it rains ), which reminds me, also if there is a heat pump, check if the outside bit has had any filters cleaned and when.

That's about all I can think to add at this stage - good luck for finding a nice place!

I think it really depends. Some places don't have a letting fee other's do and it's about 1 weeks rent + GST. But depends if you are going through an agency or privately (ie through TM).

Ours was 4 weeks rent bond + 2 weeks rent in advance + letting fee of 1 weeks rent + GST.

Agree about the bits and bobs Angie mentioned! We're lucky our new place was the LLs house so everything is up to scratch!

Also ask if anything is included in the rent - for example ours includes the cost of someone coming out to mow the lawns... (Could have done it ourselves though!).

We sold our house in Auckland and moved out of the city. We managed to find a place where we can have our two labs which was a huge plus. The place has got a huge gate which is great as it keeps our cars locked away at night, new curtains and carpet and place gets lots of sun. We are only staying here until we eventually build or buy a existing house.

If its got a fire, when the chimney was last cleaned, and if there is any wood there, do you have to leave any if you move out.
Who maintains the gardens- what are you alloweed to do to them. Do they mind if you put a vege garden in.
I really love dishwashers.
A kitchen that you can block off from little kids, and the rest of the house is easy to baby proof. Fenced back yard.
Warm, dry and very sunny. Ask what the neighbours are like.

Winz will give you up to $1000 towards a bond, but will only do it once a year- so def talk to them to see if they can help out.

we made a list of what we wanted/expected/needed.
We ended up doing witohut a few of them tho .. In wellington/lower hutt it is SO hard to find a rental and some of them are total dumps or very $$

We had said we wanted a modern kitchen (ended up with not so modern - but tidy) I also wanted no carpet - we ended up with half carpet half floorboards! and we also wnated a small section - we have a huge one lol!!

But our list included - garage, off st parking, not on main road, wordobes in bedrooms!, sunny/ not dump and a heat pump, sep washing house/laundry! those things i was not prepared to compremise!
also wanted new/tidy plain curtains and tidy walls/paint work.

I would ask where the landlords are based eg nz/overseas, if you have right to renew lease when it expires, i would expect my landlord to supply smoke alrams after all it is THEIR house, and also if you are alowed to change anything - we took down some shelves, painted dd room and changed her curtains.

I guess be prepared to look at lots of duds before you find anything ok!

How about if the place is insulated.

Make sure you check out the pressure of the shower too, when I was flatting I didn't even think to consider it....til I ended up in a flat that had a shower that dribbled..