Hi, I'm Kazia. Many of you know me as the trainer here at Renti. What you might not know is that I've been in this industry for a while, and I've seen it from a lot of different angles.
So I'm starting a blog: my thoughts on what I see in the industry, what I've seen, where it's heading, and the random things I notice as a renter.
Is my voice the only voice? No. You can choose not to read this, and if you don't agree with me, let me know. These are my opinions, not Renti's, and I'm not offering legal advice. I'm just giving you an insight into things I see happen, and have seen happen, through my eyes.
This is the first one, so let's start with how I got here.
My parents owned houses, but we also rented throughout my childhood.
As a student, I lived in a very questionable student flat. It was an old villa with massive rooms, and heating didn't exist. It was freezing, even in summer. Back then, the answer to a cold house was just another blanket. A heat pump in a student flat? Unheard of. This was pre-Healthy Homes, guys.
Since then I've rented as a family with my husband and our two children, and I've been a homeowner. I haven't been a landlord yet, but there's always the future.
And I've been to the Tenancy Tribunal. Not as a property manager, but as a tenant. It was an interesting experience, and I'll definitely be blogging about that one.
I'm not going to lie: this wasn't the plan. After COVID, I was made redundant from a customer-facing role, and I really needed a change.
A maternity cover role came up as a receptionist at a property management agency. Friends who worked there told me, "This may not be what you want to do, but we love this company and we love working here, so you should apply."
So I did. I loved meeting the renters and helping solve problems, and because the agency also did real estate, I met agents, home buyers and landlords too.
Then I was offered a job as a property manager. I said no, thank you. That's the honest truth.
Property managers always looked a little bit stressed, and I wasn't sure that's what I was looking for. But the people I worked with were confident I had the skills, so I signed up.
After a little while, life brought a move to a new city. The agency was using a piece of software called Renti, and by chance someone in the business found out Renti was looking for a trainer.
Learning and training is my passion, so I applied. The rest is history. I moved to Auckland, and I've been at Renti for five years.
I still remember what the job feels like. Hosting a viewing. Trying to balance your to-do list. Starting the day with missed calls and texts from a tenant who's had something go wrong. That helps when I'm training property managers, because many of them are just starting out.
Renti has grown a lot in five years, and I've covered support, taught, and learnt so much about technology along the way. I've also watched property management change. In my first year as a trainer, one question came up again and again: "If it’s signed digitally and not with a pen, will Tenancy Services accept it?”
Five years later, I never get asked that.
It's a small thing, but it shows how quickly this industry moves, and how quickly property managers, renters and actually everyone in the whole world are expected to keep up with technology.
That's me, and that's where this blog starts. From here I'll be sharing what I've seen across my life in rentals as a renter, a homeowner, a property manager and now a trainer. The good, the stressful, and that Tribunal story.
If there's something you'd like me to write about, let me know.
This is an opinion piece. The views are Kazia's own, not Renti's, and nothing here is legal advice. For help with a specific tenancy, contact Tenancy Services or get independent legal advice.
