For Christ’s sake! Immigration officials may have forced their way into a house to take pictures of a boy – A NEW ZEALAND CITIZEN BY BIRTH – to try and send him back to China with his overstayer parents. They may also have made his mother sign a forged note.

If that’s all true, hope they are sacked and punished to the full extent of the law.

* * *

I’m not super thrilled that the govt is scrapping a bill that would stop letting agents charge fees, but there’s not much I can do about it. With the Nats in power though it’s not going to get any easier to live if you are a renter. As it is going through an agent is ridiculously painful. Some want to know how much you make a week, from where, your other outgoings, your car registration, some even ask for your BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER! They want to screen all flatmates (although if you find your flatmates AFTER moving it, they can’t really vet them then, can they?). It’s so intrusive and demeaning. Some private landlords are no better; they try to rip you off. Or straight up inform you “We are looking for a family. We only want a family”. Nobody wants to rent to anyone young, let alone under 20, or still studying. And for crying out loud, agents ALWAYS want to do showings during the day and expect you to be able to drop everything at a moment’s notice and show up at a house – NOT feasible if you work full time in the city and are somehow meant to get out to the suburbs, not to mention somehow get time off to go and view the place!
End rant 🙂