New Youth Service redirects rent payments to landlords
In August, the Government introduced Youth Service and it appears non Government agencies have been contracted to run the scheme. Young Parent Payment is a weekly payment for 16 to 18 year old parents who have dependent children and are in need of financial assistance.
Each of the young people are appointed to a mentor or coach from a Youth Service provider. The young parents are required to undertake budgeting courses after which they get rewarded with modest extra payments. They are also required to undertake job and parenting training. Their children must be enrolled with a Primary Health Organisation or Doctor, and have regular health checks from the likes of Plunket.
Landlords will be pleased to hear that part of the package is to provide automatic payment of rent direct from WINZ, as well as other important payments like power bills and some other payments. They get a weekly allowance of $50 per week deposited into their bank account and the remainder gets loaded onto a debit card for purchase of food and groceries from approved stores.
So at long last the non PC things we had been crowing on about for years has been heard and acted on. However we are still dealing with children living in an adult’s world. The saying goes you can not put an old head on young shoulders.
My first highly recommended young mum was put in a rather nice home and everyone was so enthusiastic. Two weeks later on a Saturday night my lovely long standing tenant in an adjacent house rang to report a massive out of control party plus evidence of a dog on the property. The police and noise control were called.
I checked the next day and could see the evidence. Luckily for me that party had been held in the garage. Not wanting to wait for the next party and the actions of out of control alcohol enflamed over testosterone filled lover’s violent actions I issued a 90 day notice to terminate the tenancy. The reactions of her support people were a good example of what our society has got wrong today. Her father rang and said the party was under control and did no harm. He would be talking to one of my property owning clients, who was his close friend, hinting that I would likely as not lose that business. He also made some unpleasant comments about my faith and asked me to show compassion on his greatly loved daughter. My comment was I showed compassion at the time of granting the tenancy to a younger than normal tenant and now it was time for judgement. One neighbour wrote and claimed he was happy with the party.
The tenant said the dog was her mothers and that she had cleaned up the party mess outside. Oh yes she told me that at the gate down the drive at 1 pm on the Sunday. She was dressed in her dressing gown at that stage. She had not ventured out onto the street to pick up the broken beer bottles.
The interesting thing was at no stage did anyone say sorry it will not happen again.
I guess they figured it was their right to do just as they pleased.
So yes someone in Government has listened a little bit to the landlords. Now society needs to listen to us. It is not ok to hold large loud parties at my properties. It is not ok to use my drive as a public toilet. It is not ok to throw your used bottles out onto the street. It is not ok to move a dog onto a property even if it is owned by your mother. Who on earth needs to have their mothers dog the day after a massive party? This is no way to bring up a child. If children see their parents acting this way (assuming they survive) they too will hold loud wild parties as soon as they get pregnant and obtain a flat of their own. And what’s more, I am sick and tired of neighbours, the police, and the city council blaming me for the actions of my tenants and then criticising me for taking the only legal action I am permitted to take which is to terminate a tenancy with either a 90 day notice or court order.
Glenn Morris is the owner of Nelson property management company, “Glenn’s Vacancies”, managing residential and commercial investments. He is the current secretary of the Nelson Property Investors Association. He was active in the review of the RTA and is a well-known figure in the property investment community. He has a reputation for effectively managing difficult tenancies.”
