You have to plan and save to go flatting

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 12

You have to plan and save to go flatting

What would young New Zealanders do without all those 60-year-old weatherboard houses that face away from the sun?

Not too many 60-year-olds seem to inhabit them now. Instead, their darkish interiors bustle with young New Zealand culture.

Stereo speakers take up most of the hallway, with double plugs and cords leading into innumerable rooms. The rest of the hall is an obstacle course of 10-speed bikes.

Open Vegemite jars, and crumbs, cover the kitchen table, while beansprouts grow on the windowsill. Squashy armchairs with springs ready to uncoil cover verandas facing directly on to the road, or overlooking a jungly backyard.

Flatting is something most New Zealanders do at some time in their lives, usually when they are young — but reaching that desired state for the first time can take a bit of organisation. After that, you become an old hand very fast. Once you have made up your mind to leave home, or whatever situation you’ve been in, first decide whether you want to move into an established flat or set up one on your own, either with friends or by advertising for flatmates.

If you take the first option, the going is relatively simple. Probably the best way to find a place in a flat is through friends.

According to a legal advisor at the Tenants’ Protection Association, Mr Keith McDonald, this is probably also the safest. “That way you have Information from someone about what the place and the people are like,” he says. So it’s worth asking around, and finding out if a friend of a friend, or an uncle or a great aunt has heard of someone moving out in two weeks, or knows a great house in a great location at a minimal rent.

Otherwise, the places to look for flatmate vacancies and houses to let are the To Let columns of newspapers, real estate agents, noticeboards at universities, supermarkets, churches, special interest meeting places, and letting agen-

cies, such as Access and Dial-a-home in Christchurch. Community noticeboards, such as those at supermarkets, are good for finding houses and vacancies within that suburb or district. If you have decided to set up your own house, there’s a lot involved. It’s not as daunting as it may seem though, because once you actually get a place things happen very fast. Just being patient and waiting, and looking, and looking some more, can get a little demoralising. Shared effort It’s good to share the effort and responsibility of looking for a house amongst all prospective flatmates, if you have a group organised — rather than leave it all to one person. Of course, there

are more disagreements, and less justification for getting the best room. Still, the best time to get the best place in Christchurch is during December or January, when all the students are on holiday and landlords have houses on their hands they want to be rid of.

February and March are difficult times as the students are back, as are mid-winter and September and October, when they’re staying put, advises Keith McDonald.

Before you set the whole process into motion make sure you have enough money. “It’s important that young people realise just how much setting up a flat costs,” cautions Keith McDonald. “It’s not just a matter of rent. There are bonds and agent’s fees and furnishing and teie-

phone connections, and so on."

He calculates that the average rent for a fourbedroom house in Christchurch at the moment is between $l2O and $l4O a week.

A landlord will probably ask for two weeks’ rent in advance, and two weeks’ rent as a bond. The amount of this Initial payment cannot exceed the equivalent of four week’s rent.

On top of this, if you have taken the place through agents, they usually charge one week’s rent as payment. If you go to a letting agency, it will usually charge you $45 or SSO to look at the files, and if you get a place from an agent listed with them you could also have to pay the one week’s agent fees, although this is not always the case.

So, at $l2O a week, you could expect to pay S4BO to the landlord, with the total rising to S6OO through a real estate agent, which is usual. Divided by four people, you need $l5O at hand, provided all four can be located quickly enough to get the money to cinch the deal. (To live in the house that Jack built). Then, of course, there is the obligatory S7O power bond for the M.E.D., although you can provide a guarantor instead. And $125 to have the phone connected, or $25 if it is just to be changed over. And furnishings. Keith McDonald says most houses are let completely unfurnished, apart from a stove, which is obligatory, and usually a refrigerator. The amount you spend on furnishings will depend on your financial state. Just the bare essentials will easily come to a few hundred dollars.

The minimum usually includes a bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk, chair, kitchen table and chairs, living room chairs or couch, and kitchen utensils.

Most places have washing machines, although not the automatic variety. Second-hand shops and the For Sale columns of newspapers are good places to look, as well as community noticeboards and the garage at home.

“Keep an eye out for things your family is throwing out — old pots and pans and kitchen utensils — things that

might have got a bit old for home, but will be Invaluable for setting up a flat,” says Keith McDonald. SIOOO start All that comes to the thousand dollar mark, which when split means rent and furnishings will cost you about $250-S3OO. One more expense is food — and all those things you took for granted at home. Tomato sauce, salt and pepper, detergent, basics needed to start the flat that won’t be bought again for a while. So, you’ve seen an ad, rung the agent, collected the key and had a look. And beaten 50 others to the door.

To take it on, you’ll either have to sign a tenancy agreement, which keeps renewing itself until you or the landlord give notice, or a lease, which binds both you and the landlord to a definite term — you can’t leave, and the landlord can’t

give you notice. Under an agreement, the rent can rise any time the agreement is renewed (often monthly). It can be cancelled at the time, and a new one at a new rent started.

Under a lease, the rent is fixed for tlje term for which you have signed. It’s yours, you’re in, and the worst is over.

How you pay your rent, kitty, and keep the place tidy is worth discussing right at the start. Keith McDonald finds many landlords still visit their houses to pick, up the rent — usually every two weeks. But direct crediting the money to an account is becoming more popular. “And it’s by far the superior method,” he says. “You’ve always got a check on the money and who’s paid, it’s never late, and there’s a record of payments. It protects both tenants and landlords.”

Power and phone bill money can also be paid into the account with rent, say at $3 a week, which

makes for painless payments.

Money for food will probably average at between sls and S2O a person, a week, and ways of doing the shopping will vary according to what suits you all. A list is always good for keeping the spending down. Working out who cooks on what night also depends on everyone’s movements.

Although it may sound corny, cleaning rosters can sometimes make the difference between being gradually nudged past the point of no return and into a violent, plate-throw-ing argument, and harmony inside your four wells.

One idea is to have a "wheel” on the wall, segmented into sections such as kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and rubbish, liv-ing-room and hall etc., which is turned one name every month or so. Landlords do not have to provide a lawn mower, but agreements will usually require that the section be kept tidy. Finally, warns Keith McDonald, be prepared for your standard of living to drop. “It’ll probably go down considerably. If you’ve left a home which parents have taken 20 to 30 years to build up, you can’t expect otherwise.” But then, it’s your place. Those are yourspeakers in the hallway, and it’s all very real, right down to the tomato sauce.