What records should a landlord keep — and for how long?

Nobody becomes a landlord for the filing. But almost every landlord horror story — the bond dispute, the Tribunal case, the insurance claim that stalled — turns on the same question: can you show what happened, when, with evidence from the time? This guide covers what to keep, in rough order of how much trouble its absence causes.

Healthy Homes compliance evidence

You're required to keep records demonstrating how the property meets each of the five standards, and new tenancy agreements need a signed compliance statement. In practice that means installer statements, invoices with capacities and R-values on them, product specs, and photos. Keep them per-standard, per-property — a single folder called 'house stuff' fails exactly when you need it.

The maintenance history

Every request, what you did about it, and when. This record protects both sides: it shows a tenant their report wasn't ignored, and it shows a Tribunal you responded within a reasonable time. The gold standard is a trail written at the time — a request logged the night it was made, with a photo, beats a reconstruction from memory a year later in every forum that matters.

Inspection notes and photos

Dated photos from routine inspections quietly answer the biggest bond-dispute question — was the damage there before? — without anyone having to rely on recollection. A consistent set per inspection (the same rooms, the same angles) builds a timeline of the property's condition that is very hard to argue with.

Money documents

Rent records, bond lodgement confirmation, invoices for repairs and improvements. Your accountant wants them at year end; the IRD can want them for years after that. Tax record-keeping has its own retention rules — seven years is the figure your accountant will use — so treat property invoices as tax documents from the day they arrive.

Why 'written at the time' beats 'written well'

In any dispute, evidence created at the time of the event carries weight that tidy summaries written afterwards never will. That's the reasoning behind Landy's append-only record: every entry is time-stamped and attributed, and nobody — landlord included — can edit or delete it later. A record you couldn't have tampered with is a record nobody has to take on faith.