The bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 to reverse some 2020 changes to tenancy termination rules and adds new provisions covering pets, pet bonds, smoking, and tribunal procedure.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
This bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the law governing the relationship between landlords and tenants. Its central changes make it easier for landlords to end tenancies and introduce rules allowing pets in rentals. It restores the ability to end a periodic tenancy with a no-cause termination on 90 days' notice - meaning a landlord need not give a specific reason - and adjusts the notice periods that both landlords and tenants must give. It also creates a framework for keeping pets: tenants would ask permission (which a landlord could refuse only on reasonable grounds), landlords could require a pet bond of up to two weeks' extra rent, and tenants would be responsible for pet-related damage beyond normal wear and tear. The bill affects the roughly one-third of New Zealand households that rent, along with landlords and property managers, changing the balance of rights and obligations in everyday tenancy arrangements.
The bill reflects a coalition commitment to roll back tenancy rules introduced by the previous government in 2020, which had removed no-cause terminations and required landlords to cite specific grounds to end a tenancy. The government argues that giving landlords more flexibility to end tenancies encourages people to make properties available to rent, increasing housing supply, while the pet provisions respond to widespread demand from renters, many of whom struggle to find pet-friendly homes. Supporters say clearer, more balanced rules and the option to charge a pet bond make landlords more willing to rent out homes and to allow pets. Opponents argue that reinstating no-cause terminations reduces tenants' security of tenure, can be used to mask retaliatory or discriminatory motives, and makes renters less likely to assert their rights for fear of losing their home. The debate weighs landlord flexibility and housing supply against tenant security.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.