Flatting: the gap nobody mentions
Flatmates sit outside the Residential Tenancies Act entirely. Most of the protections people assume they have when flatting are protections for tenants — and a flatmate is not a tenant.
The short version
- Agreements between tenants and their flatmates are not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act.
- Flatmates are not part of the tenancy agreement.
- The four weeks’ rent liability cap is a tenant protection — it does not do the same work between flatmates.
- Tenancy Services recommends contents and liability cover even for people not named on the agreement.
- A written flat-sharing agreement is the substitute for the statutory framework you do not have.
The distinction that changes everything
New Zealand tenancy law draws a line most flatting households have never been told about. A tenant is party to a tenancy agreement with a landlord and is covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. A flatmate is someone living with a tenant or a homeowner under a private arrangement — and Tenancy Services states plainly that agreements between tenants (or homeowners) and their flatmates are not covered by the Act.
Everything follows from that. The bond rules, the notice periods, the maintenance obligations and — critically here — the cap on liability for careless damage are things the Act gives to tenants. If you are the fourth person in a three-name lease, you are not standing inside that framework.
What this means when something goes wrong
If a flatmate damages the property
The landlord's relationship is with the named tenants. Their route runs through the tenancy agreement, against the people who signed it. Whether the tenants can then recover from the flatmate who actually caused it is a private matter between them, governed by whatever they agreed — not by the Act, and not by the Tenancy Tribunal in the same way.
For the named tenants, this is the uncomfortable part: you can end up carrying liability for damage caused by someone whose only agreement with you was verbal.
If the flat is burgled
Each person's belongings are their own. A contents policy is written around the policyholder's household, and how far it stretches to a flatmate's possessions is a wording question that varies. One policy shared informally across four people is the classic flatting mistake, and it surfaces at exactly the worst moment.
If someone moves out mid-claim
Flats turn over. Insurance does not automatically follow. If the policy was in the name of the person who has left, the cover leaves with them.
What to actually do
- Get it in writing between yourselves. Tenancy Services publishes a flat/house sharing agreement template and recommends a written record of what has been agreed, precisely because the Act does not supply one.
- Know who is named on the tenancy agreement. That determines who holds the obligations and who has the statutory protections.
- Hold your own contents cover. Tenancy Services recommends contents and personal liability insurance even for people not named on the agreement. Whether it is worth the premium is your call; what is not in doubt is that no one else's policy is built around your things.
- Ask about the landlord's excess. It must be disclosed in the tenancy agreement, and it sets the ceiling on the named tenants' liability for careless damage.
Questions people actually ask
- Are flatmates covered by the Residential Tenancies Act?
- No. Tenancy Services states that agreements between tenants (or homeowners) and their flatmates are not covered by the Act, and that flatmates are not part of the tenancy agreement. The protections tenants get under the Act — including the four weeks' rent liability cap — are protections for tenants.
- Does one flatmate's contents insurance cover the whole flat?
- Generally not in the way people hope. A contents policy covers the policyholder's belongings and, depending on wording, others in the same household. Whether your flatmate's policy extends to your possessions is a wording question with a frequently disappointing answer, and it is not something to discover after a burglary.
- Who is liable if a flatmate damages the property?
- The named tenants hold the obligations to the landlord under the tenancy agreement. If a flatmate causes damage, the landlord's route is generally against the tenants, and the tenants' route against the flatmate is a private matter between them — not something the Act governs. That is the practical reason a written flat-sharing agreement matters.
- Should I have my own contents insurance in a flat?
- Tenancy Services recommends contents and personal liability cover even for people not named on the tenancy agreement. Whether the cost is worth it for you depends on what you own and what you could replace, but the structural point is that nobody else's policy is designed around your belongings.
- Is there a flat-sharing agreement template?
- Yes. Tenancy Services publishes a flat/house sharing agreement template, and recommends there be a written record of what all parties have agreed, precisely because the Act does not do that work for you.
Where this comes from
The position on flatmates and the Act, and the flat-sharing agreement template, are from Tenancy Services (MBIE), Tenancy agreements (updated 29 June 2026). The liability cap and the recommendation for unnamed occupants are from Insurance (updated 18 March 2026).
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