Articles by Salesh Chand
An October 2022 Stuff article revealed that the Tenancy Tribunal has been ordering landlords to lower the rent on their properties. As I see it, this is worrying evidence of unnecessary interference and creeping socialism, and it must be stopped.
In his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, famous 18th-century philosopher and economist, Adam Smith, proposed the idea of the ‘invisible hand’, whereby markets regulate themselves due to competition, supply and demand, and self-interest. For example, if a landlord asks for rent that is way above market, tenants will not lease the property in the first place. It is self-limiting, and such landlord would need to lower an unreasonably high rent in order to attract a tenant.
Dictating what rents landlords must charge is tampering with the free market. And because free markets are naturally self-regulating, they do not need “help” from government organisations in order to function properly. Government interference is not just unnecessary, it is actually counterproductive because it stifles supply signals (e.g. premium rents indicating high demand, which leads to new supply).
We are aware of one landlord who challenged the right of the Tenancy Tribunal to reduce his rent. The adjudicator mentioned in his findings that the rent level was correct and appropriate at the beginning of the tenancy, but became unfair to the tenant when the market cooled and more properties became available. How have we got to a position where the Tenancy Tribunal would think it is appropriate to intervene like this? We need to appeal every such adjudication on principle, and get New Zealand back to free market principles.
This is just more evidence of a dangerously socialist government that thinks it knows best, condoning actions that are in fact damaging in the grand scheme of things. We need to reject the nanny state socialism, centralised authoritarianism, and get New Zealand going again.
This letter is to express my appreciation for the assistance and encouragement of both Anthony Lipscombe and particularly John Heaslip over the last financial year. The period since activating my trading trust has been one of considerable stress, as well as personal development, as I embarked on this as a relative business neophyte with virtually no awareness of the contemporary requirements of running a business, particularly the financial records aspect. During much of this period I have therefore felt considerable out of my depth. However I have been lucky enough to have had the benefit of the advice and support of John Heaslip in rationalizing what was a fairly chaotic set of records of the first year property trading. I am able to say that John in particular, has been unstinting in his attention to my needs and has done so in a manner which has never alluded to my extremely rudimentary grasp of managing a business, or even of being unable to set out a spread sheet properly. The result of the above guidance is that now, although my trading trust would still not be able to operate without the advice of GRA, I do least feel a sense of satisfaction that I have got to my present point without major disaster and that my property trust does now have some kind of firmer basis for any future activities - Name withheld by request
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