The shopping mall that wants to be your landlord

Sylvia Park shopping mall owner Kiwi Property wants to be your landlord. It will be among the first to bring an internationally contentious large-scale corporate landlord renting model to New Zealand.

The publicly listed $3.6 billion company intends to build and rent out around 2500 houses in Auckland in the next 10 years, including nearly 300 apartments at Sylvia Park, which are set to be tenanted by 2024.

Chief executive Clive Mackenzie said Kiwi Property would bring a ‘‘new level of professionalism’’ not seen before by Kiwi renters.

Its buildings would have customer service teams, similar to shopping malls, with a concierge and maintenance team on site ready to respond to residents’ needs, said Mackenzie.

He said there would be team members dedicated to organising social events for residents and buildings would feature amenities such as a rooftop entertainment area, gym and co-working space.

New residents would also be welcomed by helpers to assist with moving. Mackenzie said they wouldn’t help get a piano to the 24th floor, but they would be able to book a service elevator and hold the door.

However, the large-scale corporate landlord model has drawn some criticism overseas.

The city of Berlin recently voted to bring corporate landlord housing into public ownership, because of a perception that companies beholden to shareholders were driving up rents.

In Ireland, a situation occurred where a debt-laden corporate landlord sold its housing assets to a vulture fund and residents found themselves suddenly forced out of their homes.

Mackenzie said that Kiwi Property would not own nearly enough of a share of the total housing stock in Auckland to be able to drive up rents.

He said Kiwi Property’s apartments would be set by market rents, as defined by Tenancy Services, with a ‘‘small added premium’’. The current median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Mt Wellington, near Sylvia Park, is $515 a week. Mackenzie said tenants would also be able to negotiate fixed increases so that there would be ‘‘no surprises down the line’’.

They may even also be able to lock in a rate for a certain number of years, similar to mortgage negotiations, he said.

The apartments would also offer more long-term security than ‘‘Ma and Pa’’ investment rentals. ‘‘None of my staff are going to ever decide to move in and displace a tenant,’’ he said.

Tenants Protection Association Auckland co-ordinator Angela Maynard said she wanted to see corporate landlords add to the city’s affordable housing stock. She said there was a gap in the market for people who earned too much to qualify for social housing, but had difficulty affording private rentals.

‘‘I just hope it is not going to be too elitist or out of reach for the people that need it the most.’’

Maynard said she expected the model would be better than investment rentals because those landlords often did not understand their obligations under the residential tenancy act. She hoped that corporate landlords would have committees with tenant involvement.

Clive Mackenzie said Kiwi Property was looking to build 600 homes at Lynnmall in New Lynn, 1200 at Sylvia Park and about 500 in Drury. Its 53 hectare holding at Drury, and another recently purchased 7144m2 site next to Sylvia Park, could also provide space for thousands more houses in years to come.