Know your rights
before you sign.
Renting is a legal relationship. These are the topics tenants ask us about most, in plain English.
The essentials
Healthy Homes Standards
The five minimum standards every NZ rental has to meet, with a tenant checklist and what to do if your flat falls short.
On FlatchatBond
How much bond a landlord can charge, where it has to be lodged, and how to get it back at the end of the tenancy.
Tenancy ServicesEnding a tenancy
Notice periods, who has to give what notice, breaking a fixed term tenancy, and how the final inspection should run.
Tenancy ServicesRepairs and maintenance
What landlords have to fix, what tenants are responsible for, and the difference between fair wear and tear and damage.
Tenancy ServicesResidential Tenancies Act 1986
The law that sits behind every tenancy in New Zealand. Read the Act itself on legislation.govt.nz, the official source for NZ statutes.
legislation.govt.nz
Authoritative sources
Where the law sets the rules, we point you at the source of truth rather than rewriting it. Tenancy Services publishes the canonical NZ tenant guides at tenancy.govt.nz and the general housing portal sits at govt.nz. Flatchat focuses on the reviews; we link out for the legal detail.
See what tenants said.
Search before you sign.
Every guide on this page tells you what should happen. The reviews tell you what actually does, at the address you're looking at.