OPINION: If You’re Gonna Be My Landlord Then I Want Your Reference Too

Words by Niamh Vaughan (she/her) 

If you’re reading Salient, chances are you’re not a homeowner, and you’re all too familiar with the flat hunting gauntlet: scramble together a group of flatmates, sift through endless listings on Trade Me and Vic Deals, and attend countless flat viewings. You finally get through to the second round of the application process, but now, you’re getting asked for references. The property owner is diving into the unknown and they want proof that rent will always be paid in time, otherwise they’ll scrap your application. 

They’re not the only ones facing the unknown. If I knew that my potential landlord has a habit of showing up at the house unannounced, or that the last tenants were evicted because ‘family was moving in’, I would rethink the application too.  

References are the closest thing to proof of somebody being trustworthy and dependable. Why aren’t renters afforded the same courtesy? A landlord has far more effect on the lives of their tenants. Your housing situation has a serious impact on your mental wellbeing and, in some cases, your physical health. Ending up with a shit landlord can severely impact your quality of life. It’s only fair that we begin to level the playing field. It’s time landlords start providing references from previous tenants.

Landlords are really just glorified nits: lazy parasites who lounge about sucking the lifeblood of those forced to do the actual work, laying the eggs of their nepotism babies (because that’s the only way the younger generation can break into the housing market). But I’m not trying to get sociopolitical here. I just want a better understanding of the hands I’ll be putting my livelihood into for the next 6-12 months.

No one can deny the power landlords have over renters. Tenants are often too scared to speak up against their property owners out of fear they’ll lose their home. If we start getting our could-be landlords to give us references, we’d get a teeny-tiny piece of the power back. 

I’m not saying that I shouldn’t have to give my landlord proof of my reliability, or complaining about the stressful rental process. I’m not even complaining about the inaccessibility of the housing market, despite my previous nit comments (though, if supermarkets can ration their egg supply so no one misses out during a shortage, surely the government can put a stop to the Wellington equivalent of Mr Burns buying all the property during a housing crisis).

All I’m saying is that a lack of mutual references is a lack of equal exchange.

References should go both ways. There is no doubt in my mind that the only people who would be resistant would be those who have something to hide. I’m sure the landlord whose negligence led to the damp house that exacerbated my friend’s chronic illness would be terrified of any legislation enforcing some kind of accountability. For every pinhole in my bedroom wall that my landlord wants to know about, I want to know about every patch of black mould they’ve painted over. For any stains in my carpet, I want to know how good they’ll be at fixing dripping taps and leaky ceilings. If you want to know how well I’ll look after your house, then I want to know how well you’ll look after my home.