Tenants in school houses

Who can live in a school house

Anyone can live in a core or caretaker school house. The school board is responsible for finding tenants.

Schools do not legally have to provide a house for teachers or principals as a condition of their employment.

We are responsible for tenanting non-core houses.

Setting rent for a core house

Boards are responsible for setting and collecting rent. Rent should be set at the normal market rate and reviewed every year. Rent cannot include GST.

Tenancy Services sets out the rules and regulations about managing tenants, tenancy agreements and rent payments. Boards should contact Tenancy Services about any tenancy disputes.

Tenancy Services

Setting rent for a caretaker house

Rent for a tenant who is not employed as a school caretaker should be set at the normal market rate.

Rent for a school caretaker living in a caretaker house is historically low. It is negotiated as part of the caretaker’s employment contract.

Boards can negotiate with either:

• a union representative, if the caretaker is a union member and you need them to occupy the house as a condition of their employment
• the caretaker directly, if they're not a union member.

Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand School Trustees Association) has information about employing staff.

Help for boards – Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa

Low rents are an accommodation discount and part of the caretaker’s salary package. We have an agreement with Inland Revenue on how the benefit is taxed. This is processed through our payroll.

For more information about caretaker rents, contact Payroll Services.

Contact payroll services

Setting rent for a teacher or principal

Registered teachers and principals on our payroll get a 25% discount off the current market rent for any type of school house.

They can be a teacher or principal who works at state-integrated schools and lives in any state school’s house.

This is known as a ‘service tenancy’ and is authorised under the Education and Training Act 2020.

Section 562, Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation