It's good that TradeMe nuked the listing, but a pretty strong indictment of how badly our rental market is regulated that they have to be the ones to step in and push back the slum lords.

Being a rental agent should require a license. A rental property should have to undergo an independent inspection every few years in order to obtain a certificate of compliance. Renting a property without a current certificate of compliance or a rental agent licence should be treated as fraud - you have obtained money by misrepresentation - and result in criminal conviction.

In before "waaa too expensive landlords will just put rents up to compensate regulation will just hurt tenants"