A property expert has warned against charging the owners of rental properties letting fees, saying the cost will be passed on to tenants.
The government has proposed a ban on letting fees but some experts have warned that that will only drive up costs for tenants in an already expensive rental market.
Andrew King of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation told TVNZ1’s Breakfast today that removing letting fees or charging owners would not ease the financial burden on tenants.
"It (the cost) will just be passed straight on (to tenants) unfortunately," said King.
"It's a very complex issue, like most things are in housing, what seems like a good thing for tenants often isn’t."
According to King, currently only 53 per cent of the rental properties are let out by a property manager, who are able to charge a fee, although not all do so.
The remaining 47 per cent of rental properties were let by owner-managers, who are not able to charge letting fees.
King says any proposed changes will result in price increases for all tenants, including those not currently paying a letting fee.
SHARE ME