FAQs
What is a rent strike? Individual renters, or even small groups of renters, simply not paying rent is not a rent strike, and can lead to eviction and other attacks from a system that overwhelmingly puts landlords interests over those of renters. Without being organised, you will likely be hit with late fees and back rent accumulation, damage to credit rating or even get kicked out of your home. So to be clear, a rent strike is when a group of renters get organised in solidarity with one another around agreed-upon demands, and stand up together to the landlord, property manager, company or even the government to win the demands. This kind of collective approach makes it harder or impossible for the landlord to retaliate against renters, just like when workers get organized in a workplace, it is harder for the bosses to retaliate against the workers, for example, through firings. There are too many to evict, or fire, at once, especially during a pandemic like this. Rent strikes have already been successful here in helping students not pay accommodation fees. They didn’t have to even go on strike, even the threat of it and the pressure of having an organised group of people facing them instead of vulnerable people on their own, was enough for them to back down. Together we have power! Alone we are divided.
Why should a rent strike be organised? Even if you’re still able, and paying your rent, you stand to gain from a rent strike. The more people that participate, the harder it will be for landlords and the government to break the strike and the more likely the government will respond to our demands. In addition, while you may not be in financial trouble now, in a month or two, you may not be able to pay your rent, as thousands of people are already now incapable of doing. We are doing this to make sure no-one is forced into choosing between food and shelter, or live in fear of being kicked out onto the street because of a pandemic that none of us chose. We have seen the government, if it chooses to, can in fact step in and protect our incomes. Also, these demands we are making on the government are about saving lives. We want the government to take emergency measures to prevent as many deaths as possible and for people to continue to take care of their health to better resist the spread of COVID-19. No one should have to choose between housing, food and health. Everyone must stand together in times of crisis and there must be a collective response to current problems. We already know that many of us will be unable to pay our rent in the coming months. Participating in a rent strike is one of the ways, and one of the most effective ways, to force the government to recognise what people want and cancel rent and mortgage payments during the COVID-19 pandemic and protect renters into the future.
Has this been done before? Meanwhile, renters have held rent strikes in the Americas, Europe, Africa and beyond, winning rent reductions, improved rights and more as a result. Direct action gets the goods! Check out the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project for some examples. Most recently here, Victoria University students got together to respond to the university charging them fees for keeping their rooms empty during the lockdown. With a bit of pressure, and a few hundred students signing a pledge, the university backed down. This has been replicated around the world.
What are we trying to win through a rent strike? We are also working on a list of longer term demands looking at what we want for housing in Aotearoa in the future. If you have any suggestions for that please get in touch!
Where have these demands come from / been implemented? Demand 1 has been implemented in France and New York. Demand 2 has been partially implemented here through a national rent increase freeze but must be extended beyond six demands. Demand 3 has happened through the Government purchasing more motels to house the homeless, but we are demanding that this is extended until all the homeless are housed, forever. Demand 4 used to be implemented through temporary emergency housing costs being a non-recoverable grant. We want that back, for those who are in really precarious situations that will be exacerbated by this crisis. Demands 5 and 6 are less important, but still vital to protect renters who can’t afford rent now to still be able to find housing in the future.
What is your plan to get rent strikes to happen? In the meantime, we are working with those pledgers to encourage and help organise strikes on a local level, encouraging them to join existing local groups (in Auckland,Dunedin and Queenstown) or form local groups in their area. Having big numbers signing the pledge will help us put pressure not only on the government but also landlords, property managers and companies around the country. Any local rent strikes will also mean more renters across Aotearoa hear about the strike and feel confident to sign as well. If a sizeable proportion of renters engage in this across Aotearoa, then a national rent strike will be possible. So we need everyone to share the pledge far and wide! Share it with your friends and loved ones, answer their questions and encourage them to sign it in order to expand the amount of people committed to going on rent strike. Once we reach the number of pledges that the majority of people say they will strike at, we will send an email out asking if they’re up for it. If the signal is good, we will ramp up our organising, make the necessary preparations and choose a date to begin.
Why not just sign petitions and lobby the government? Because the government is unlikely to respond to those things, all that we have left is our capacity to work together and refuse to pay rent to make our landlords and the government provide relief through implementing our demands. We need to apply as many different tactics as possible to maximise pressure on our landlords and the government to provide renters with relief.
Isn’t the government helping already? Most renters had unaffordable tenancies pre-pandemic, with the pandemic having worsened the situation. Unless the Government implements our demands to provide renters relief, then this worsened situation will become the new normal for renters across New Zealand.
Should I go on rent strike on my own? Due to this, we strongly advise renters who want to do this to focus on organise their fellow renters to go on rent strike instead. The more renters who go on strike, the more likely the rent strike will be successful. If you are unable to pay rent now though, know that the law changes during Covid-19 mean that as long as you make “reasonable efforts” to pay, Tribunal will take that into account when considering any attempt by your landlord to evict you after you have been in arrears.
Don’t landlords have bills and mortgages to pay too? Landlords with mortgages should require banks to suspend mortgage payments without interest. During the pandemic, it is the duty of landlords to refuse to collect rent from their tenants. We must all put pressure on the government. Renters are not responsible for the pandemic. They are not responsible for the jobs lost, the hours cut, or for getting sick. Times are uncertain, we do not know how long this crisis will last or how it will evolve. It is the people in precarious situations – those who were already struggling to pay for groceries, rent, bills and debts – who will be hit hardest. It’s the wealthy in a society who should bear the brunt, not the renters.
Is it illegal to rent strike? If you engage in a rent strike, it amounts to non-payment of your rent. As we explain in our renters guide, if your landlord wants to evict you for non-payment of rent, you must be 60 days (8 and a half weeks) in arrears and they then have to follow the usual process of giving you warnings, notice and then apply to the Tenancy Tribunal. Even then, the Tribunal must consider whether it would be fair in the circumstances to terminate the tenancy, taking into account whether you have made reasonable efforts towards paying rent. In addition, as Rent Strike Now points out with this example from Britain: “The only reason why no one was evicted (or saw any of the above things [legal consequences] happen to them) in any of the rent strikes that have happened in university accommodation in the last few years has little to do with law: it has everything to do with the political strength of their campaign, the number of students on strike and the extent to which strikers had a hold on the university’s image. No uni wants to get bad press after evicting struggling students.” Going on strike is never without risk, but it is also a way to make your needs and rights heard. By collectivising the risks, we also collectivise the defence organization. The more renters that participate in the rent strike, the greater the chances of avoiding these risks.
What can happen to me if I go on rent strike? As you do not have the law to fall back on regarding rent strikes, the only way you will be able to avoid legal reprisals for going on rent strike is to win against your landlord. This is why it is vital for you to have the majority of the tenants that rent with your landlord go on rent strike with you, as the more that go on rent strike, the more powerful that it will be and the more likely that you will win. In addition, landlords will be a lot less likely to engage in legal action against you or any other individual renters if you are collectively organised, as they will recognise that their renters will take collective action against them if they try to engage in legal action against individual renters. Landlords will also attempt to break the rent strike in various ways. These can take on two forms. The first is the landlord negotiating with individual renters so that they get preferable conditions compared to other renters (e.g. reduced rents, more regular repairs of your home) if they end their participation in the rent strike. The second is landlords threatening renters with legal retaliation, physical violence, emotional and psychological abuse, locking the renter out of their home or other threats of force in order to pressure renters to end the rent strike. To respond to landlords attempts to individually negotiate with renters, you will need to convince your fellow rent strikers that the landlord should only communicate to you through collective channels rather than individually. In addition, reiterate to renters that while the landlord’s offers may sound appealing, you can get far more gains both in the short-term and long-term if you continue to take part in the rent strike and in future renter organising efforts. To respond to landlord’s attempts to intimidate you, don’t meet with your landlord alone, don’t reply to their emails and phone calls that are sent to you individually, and have your fellow renters communication details so that you can contact them and get help from them if your landlord attempts to intimidate you in person. If your landlord engages in illegal activity, then contact the support services listed here in our renters guide.
I can’t/don’t want to go on rent strike, how else can I help? If any of those sound like something you’d be interested in doing, please get in touch with us at rentstrikeaotearoa@protonmail.com
Where to get support with going on rent strike. You can find other forms of support services for renters in general at “33. Directory of Support Groups” in our renters guide.
Who is Rent Strike Aotearoa?