Where the facts come from
- Renting and the bond: Tenancy Services, which is part of MBIE and holds bonds, plus a 2026 Tenancy Tribunal order where the Act itself couldn't be read.
- Safety: WorkSafe on asbestos and silica dust, Health New Zealand and Healthify on damp, mould and household chemicals, and the National Poisons Centre.
- Places: Stats NZ's 2023 Census for regional figures, and NIWA for climate.
- Your rights: the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Consumer Protection and the Disputes Tribunal.
- Checking a business: the NZBN Register and the Ministry of Justice.
How a fact gets onto a page
Every fact is stored with its publisher, the link and the date it was read, and most were read on 3 November 2026. A number on a page has to match a stored fact, or the page isn't published.
The list at the bottom of each page links to the originals, so you can read a rule in its own words.
Gaps we've left open
The legislation website refused our reader, so the Residential Tenancies Act wasn't read word for word. Moving out duties are given as Tenancy Services puts them, or as a named 2026 Tenancy Tribunal order sets them out.
Census figures cover whole regions. Stats NZ measures households that don't own their home, so that's how we report it, never as a count of tenants.
We found no official line on whether house cleaning needs a licence, so no page says either way.
Rules we write by
- No prices. A clean depends on the place, and the business quotes once it knows the job.
- New Zealand words and law only: tenancy agreement, property inspection report, Tenancy Services, 111.
- We never write that a tenant has to hire a professional. Tenancy Services' standard is reasonably clean and tidy.
- Safety lines say what not to do and when to stop, in the words of the health and safety bodies.
- No made-up reviews, cleaners, jobs or photo captions.
- A promise about how the service works appears only once someone has checked it's true and signed it off.
Who writes the pages
The Cleaner Scout team writes and checks every page. Cleaning businesses don't write, edit or approve them, and no business is named or ranked in a guide.
We aren't cleaners, so a page leans on its sources rather than our say-so. Where a view is ours, such as what we'd do in your shoes, the page says so.
Some photos here are illustrations made with an AI image tool. None shows a real job or a business in our network.
Corrections and updates
When a source changes, the page is corrected and its updated date moves, so you can see how recently it was checked. Rules do change, and Tenancy Services' own pages have the final word on yours.