Landlords are being asked to show compassion to tenants unable to pay their rent as the global financial crisis begins to hit ordinary Kiwis, reports Emma Page in the Sunday Star Times

Latest figures from the Department of Building and Housing show that over the past six months there has been an 11% increase in the number of cases before the Tenancy Tribunal and a number of those have involved unpaid rent.

But the New Zealand Property Investors Federation is calling for landlords to show sympathy to struggling tenants with president Martin Evans saying: "Hard times for the country is a time when you need to show a little bit of compassion."

Evans says that usually less than 5% of tenants cause the kind of trouble than ends up in dispute resolution. But this year he predicts that increasing numbers of "good" tenants who have always met their commitments will struggle to pay their rent due to redundancy, reduced working hours or rising living costs.

"I don't think landlords will be immune from the downturn in the economy. They will get caught up in it like everybody else because their tenants are going to get into difficulty."

And while he thinks landlords shouldn't tolerate losing money, he does think they can be prepared to help. "We're asking that landlords show a bit of sympathy for these people and listen to them and maybe offer a bit of advice. Don't immediately try to evict them some will be genuine cases of hardship."

New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services chief executive Raewyn Fox says her organisation is also concerned. The major issue facing many of the 28,000 clients they see every year is having enough money to meet basic living costs. Rent is often the single biggest cost people face.

When it comes to dealing with the problem of missed rent, experts say communication is the key. Evans say landlords would rather be contacted by a tenant who explains the problem rather than find no money in their account.

Department of Building and Housing client service manager Jeff Montgomery says tenants should call their landlords the minute they know they're in trouble. Finding a mutual agreement meant avoiding the issue escalating and ending up at the Tenancy Tribunal or Court.