Landlords want police help in making tenants pay up

The landlords' national body, the Property Investors Federation, calculates that between $5 million and $6 million is owed to private landlords in rental arrears.

They estimate the Government is owed $1.6 million by tenants in state houses.

More than 186,000 residential landlords own 250,000 houses nationally, and about one-third of New Zealanders rent.

Auckland Property Investors Association president Andrew King said the scheme being proposed was that landlords would have to have training and obtain a certificate saying they had the ability to do their job.

The training would help them understand the Residential Tenancies Act, which governs the sector, and give them skills to deal professionally with their tenants.

The federation wants automatic registration of all landlords into a recognised industry body.

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