Know what the house needs before you advertise the job.
We walk the property with you and tell you straight: what has to be fixed, what’s worth doing, and what you can leave alone. Prioritised, and based on eight years of letting houses in this district.
The house is part of the job offer.
In Central Otago you’re not just competing on wages. When a herd manager is weighing up two farms, the cottage is often what decides it — and a cold, tired house costs you the good applicants before you’ve met them.
It also costs you afterwards. Fixing a problem while the house is empty is cheap and quick. Fixing the same problem with a family living in it means notice periods, tradespeople working around a toddler’s nap, and a staff member who now knows you let them move into something substandard.
And some of it isn’t optional. The healthy homes standards have applied to every rental since 1 July 2025, with no grace period — the house has to comply from the first day of the tenancy, not a few months in once you’ve got around to it.
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Healthy homes compliance is required from the first day of the tenancy. There’s no grace period and no exemption for farm accommodation.
hour
What a typical farm cottage takes. You get the findings verbally on the day and in writing afterwards.
lists
Must do, should do, could leave. Every item lands in one of them.
What we make on the repairs. We don’t do the work, so the advice isn’t a quote in disguise.
Compliance, condition, and what a good applicant will notice.
An hour on site covers more ground than you’d think.
Healthy homes gaps
Where the house sits against the five standards, and which gaps have to close before anyone moves in. If you want the measured version documented properly, that’s a healthy homes assessment.
Smoke alarms and safety
Photoelectric alarms with at least an eight-year battery or hard-wired, within three metres of every bedroom door and on every level. The cheapest thing on any list and the one most often out of date.
Condition and repairs
What’s actually broken, what’s about to break, and what a tenant will report in the first fortnight. Better to deal with it while the house is empty.
Presentation
Paint, curtains, floor coverings, the state of the kitchen and bathroom. The things that decide whether an applicant pictures themselves living there.
Chattels and appliances
What you’re providing, what condition it’s in, and what should be recorded in the tenancy agreement so there’s no argument about it later.
Grounds and access
The drive, the gate, the lawn, the woodshed and where the rubbish goes. Small things that shape how the house feels to arrive at.
Getting the paperwork right at the start.
Most of the trouble we see doesn’t come from the building.
It comes from a tenancy that was never properly documented, agreed on a handshake in the yard, and then had to be unpicked two years later when the relationship soured.
While we’re there, we’ll tell you what you need to have in place before your new staff member arrives — and if any of it’s missing, where to get it.
What we’ll check you have
None of it takes long. All of it matters later.
- A written service tenancy agreement, separate from the employment agreement — required even where no rent is charged
- A signed healthy homes compliance statement in that agreement
- Written consent if rent is being deducted from wages
- Bond lodged with Tenancy Services, if you’re taking one
- Your landlord insurance policy’s inspection condition, and whether you’re meeting it
- Records proving how the house meets each healthy homes standard
A conversation on site, then it in writing.
No report you have to chase, and no jargon in it when it arrives.
- A walk through the property with you, or on your behalf if you can’t be there
- Plain-English findings on the day — no waiting for a report to know the headline
- A written summary within two working days
- Every item sorted into must do, should do, or leave it
- Referrals to local tradespeople and to Brightr where compliance work is needed
- Advice on the tenancy paperwork you need before your staff member arrives
- A follow-up call once the work is done, if you want a second look
Charged by the hour, because every house is different.
A tidy three-bedroom cottage is an hour. An old homestead nobody has looked at properly in fifteen years is longer, and we’ll tell you that before we start.
- Travel: $1.29 per kilometre, charged one way from our office at 42 Russell Street, Alexandra, to your property.
- Multiple houses? We’ll walk them all in one visit and you’ll only pay travel once. Time on site is charged as it’s used.
- We’ll estimate first. Tell us the house and we’ll give you an expected time before we come out, so you’re not signing a blank cheque.
- Bundled with other work. Booking an entry inspection or a healthy homes assessment at the same time? We’ll quote the visit as one job.
Rent-ready advice, answered.
Do I need this if I’m already booking a healthy homes assessment?
Not necessarily. The assessment tells you where you stand against the five standards. Rent-ready advice is broader — condition, presentation, chattels, paperwork and what an applicant will think of the place.
If your only question is compliance, book the assessment. If your question is “is this house good enough to attract the person I want”, book this.
Will you tell me to spend money I don’t need to?
We don’t do repairs or take commission from tradespeople, so we’ve nothing to gain from padding the list. Plenty of our advice is that something can wait, or isn’t worth doing at all on a house of that age.
Can you organise the work as well?
We can coordinate the repairs for you if you’d rather not chase tradespeople yourself. Or take the list and run it yourself — that’s perfectly fine and costs you nothing more.
How far ahead of advertising should I do this?
As early as you can manage. If a heat pump or insulation is needed, you’re at the mercy of installer availability, and in a Central Otago winter that queue gets long. Two to three months before you want someone in the house is comfortable.
Do you do this for houses in town too?
Yes. Most of our work is rural, but if you’re self-managing a rental anywhere in Central Otago the service is the same.
Before you write the job ad.
Tell us the house and roughly when you’re advertising. We’ll come out, walk it with you, and tell you what it needs.