A landlord of thirty-three years has called out the Tenancy Tribunal process for producing "fictitious" results as landlords across the country fight to have tenants who don't pay their rent held accountable for the financial implications.

More than $1.3 million has been lost by landlords in the first two months of the year due to tenants not paying back their rent owed on residential tenancies that either ended, or were on the brink of ending during the first two months of 2024.

As Peter Lewis of the Auckland Property Investors Association told Newstalk ZB this morning, landlords will approach following up on unpaid rent, starting with a 14-day notice that notifies the arrears overdue.

If the issue isn't resolved within the 14 days, the matter is then taken to the Tenancy Tribunal, which is where landlords will make their case showing the amount owing and proof the amount hadn't been paid. Once both sides have made their case, the adjudicator will make their decision.

That decision will come in the form of an order - which Lewis described as a piece of paper stating the tenant owes a particular amount of money.

"Now, the order says the tenant must pay the landlord this amount of dollars - however, 'must' is purely fictitious," Lewis told Holiday Breakfast.

"Because in many, if not most cases, the departed tenant will ignore that and unfortunately in that case, it's up to the landlord to chase that money. All the order means is that the tenant cannot deny they owe the debt."

Lewis said the amount of money lost through tenants taking advantage of the system was likely higher than normal given the tough economic climate - but said it was an ongoing issue that he'd experienced during his 33 years of managing properties.

He said one of his tenants spent 10 months ignoring a demand to pay their rent and Lewis said he was tied up in various tenancy tribunal and district court hearings with no result.

"It dragged on for 10 months and I got no money for that property. Basically, I've never got any recompense for that."

When asked if landlords could simply walk away with the bond money paid when the tenant first moved in, Lewis said this was an option - but would not usually cover the expenses lost during the legal process.

The Government requires landlords to cap the bond amount at four weeks' rent. As Lewis explained, the 14-day notice knocks out two weeks and the time it took to gain a tribunal hearing would take another two to three weeks.

"Then of course there might be other costs - like damage to property or water rates - so often you find the bond of $2000, by the time the order is made, the debt can be $4000 or $5000, the process is quite slow."

Lewis said his association has made calls for the tribunal process to be reformed. He would like to see a clerk in an office be able to quickly evaluate papers, confirm rent has gone unpaid and officially stamp it with an order.

However, he notes that years of requesting this has not resulted in any change thus far.

"It would expedite the whole thing - it would free up the tenancy tribunal process to consider more acrimonious debates about tenancy."

Lewis was also asked whether landlords would be pleased they're able to, once again, claim tax deductions for interest on their residential homes - he said this would be good news for those who managed properties.

However, he noted, the previous law preventing landlords from accessing the tax deductions was because the previous Labour Government "disliked...I'd even say hated" private sector landlords.

Lewis said the previous Government held the philosophy that the only rental homes in the country could be through Kainga Ora or social housing and their policies aimed to drive private landlords out of the industry.

"We can all now see how that worked out - we have a shortage of properties [and] a ministerial investigation into Kainga Ora, which last year ran deficient over $1.05 billion which has to be funded by the taxpayer," he said.

"So it was designed purely as a punishment on landlords because the Government didn't like them."