A Nelson property manager who has been asked by landlords to blacklist tenants with whom they have had a 'clash of personalities' has warned that such databases need to be closely monitored.
The Real Estate Institute is now registering good and bad tenants - a move that has sparked concern from tenant representatives about the fairness of the system, and whether bad landlords should also be subject to listing on a database.
Homefind Nelson managing director Irene Steele said she used a bad tenants database, as well as Baycorp's credit check service, to vet potential tenants.
She was often contacted by landlords wanting to place tenants' names on the database after a 'clash of personalities'.
'We don't put them on there just because they have had a falling out with the landlord.'
Rent arrears, damage to properties and expenses incurred for things such as rubbish removal were the criteria for inclusion on Homefind's list, Ms Steele said.
'I do think it's important landlords can access it but it has got to be monitored properly.'
Ms Steele said she had once accessed a bad-tenants list that included people living in a property she managed who were in fact 'excellent tenants'.
'They were one of the best tenants I'd had,' she said.
She said the list was up to several years out of date.
For example, people could be penalised by living with partners who defaulted on the rent, she said. 'It can be pretty tricky.'
Ms Steele had reservations about a system that worked the other way, saying in her nine years in the property management business she had never come across a landlord she would warn tenants away from.
Nelson Property Investors Association secretary, and owner of property management company Glenn's Vacancies, Glenn Morris, said tenants who did not pay their rent and damaged properties should be held accountable for their actions.
Databases were just another version of the informal 'word of mouth' system already used by landlords, he said.
While there was 'potential' for a bad-landlords database as well, Mr Morris said it did not take long for word to spread about atrocious landlords in a place like Nelson.
Mr Morris said of the 20 to 30 tenants he dealt with monthly, it was common to turn down two or three because of bad credit checks.
Nelson woman Sheree Millen rents a house in the central city, and said she did not agree with either a bad-tenants or a bad-landlords database.
'I think people should be dealing with each other face to face in that kind of way rather than looking at what someone else thinks.
'If landlords want to know about their tenants they should get references from people that are currently in contact with them and not rely on past history.'
The system seemed open to abuse. 'Just because you own property doesn't mean you have the right to rub someone's name through the mud.'
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