23 September 2008

Renting a place in New Zealand

A week in Wellington, New Zealand! I wish we can celebrate our one-week anniversary but we still got lots to do. A lot has happened though in the past week. We stayed with our host for a couple of nights, then moved to our new place.

Apartments here are similar with what we have in the Philippines. You basically get a space, and the rate is directly proportional to proximity to amenities. The good thing here is, apartments and houses available for lease are available on the internet! Visit trademe (www.trademe.co.nz) for example. There are other sites out there but trademe is one of the more popular ones. If sharing facilities is fine with you, you can go through the "flatmates wanted" category as well.

Apartments here usually come with a stove. You are lucky if part of the lease includes washer and dryer, ref, bed, heater. Otherwise you have to buy these.

The Filipino community here in Wellington is quite solid, and some give things they don't already need to the newcomers. So it pays to be sociable. :-)

The rent here though is paid either by the week or fortnightly! And it's quite expensive too, if you consider having no work yet and relying on your savings. But when you enter the work force and start earning, I guess it pretty much equalizes things.

You also have to post a bond which will be refunded to you when your contract with your landlord ends and you no longer want to renew and move on. It's usually two-week's worth of the rent.

The tenant and the landlord enter into an agreement with the tenancy and the council is notified of the contract. The council also gets hold of the bond. This is to protect the rights of the tenant and the landlord. There is a checklist as well of the things included with the rent, as well as some probihitions such as pets and smoking which both parties will agree to.

Some new words I learned for my first week:
Kindie - kindergarten, start of school for kids 5 years and below

Wag - a verb, meaning to cut classes. Kids' attendance here are monitored, and it is the parent's responsibility to alert the school if their kid will be absent. So kids who wag usually get caught. Kids not in school but wandering about are also asked what they are doing out.

Whiteware - basically refers to the appliance included in the place you are renting. In our place, all the appliances are colored white; must be why they're called whiteware.


5 comments:

  1. holy cow!!!! nasa NZ ka na?? aba, tingnan mo nga naman yun!

    congratulations, my prend. i bid you good luck and the best of that NZ can offer. I hear a lot of good things about that country. May it be good to you as it has been good to other Filipinos who came before you.

    Andyan si KiwiP... nagkausap na ba kayo?

    ReplyDelete
  2. mabuti naman at me sarili ka nang lugar. Mahirap din ang nakikipanirahan at di ka makakilos ng gusto mong kilos. Before you know it, me sarili ka nang bahay dyan. Kuha ka ng malaki laki ha. Yung me guestroom para pagpunta ko jan ako mag-stay. hahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi kuya! salamat nman at nakarating kyo ng safe jan, salamat n din sa mga 2mulong sa inyo, kng ok lng syo ibalita ko ky nan ung tungkol sa post mo ha, excited me sa nxt post mo, GOD BLESS sa inyo, regards ky ate tina pakis n dn ky jolo. ingat dn kayo jan.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How are the Kiwis treating you guys naman? Mababait din ba silang tao?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ate Sienna: O di ba bigla na lang andito kami? hehehe. Tinawagan ako ni KiwiP, kahapon yata yun. Nasa Auckland sya, kami naman nasa Wellington. I heard it's a good 9.5 hour trip by land, so medyo malayo rin kami.

    Tito Rolly: Hopefully!

    Elvie: Oo, paki-abiso na lang sila Nan. Nakalimutan namin kung ano yung number ng Globe roaming na dala namin kaya di pa namin masabi. hehehe

    Meowok: Ang babait nila, they treat us even better than other Asian countries I have been to.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...