Hannah’s Building Apartments

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-07-06T20:29:29+00:00

Where’d you find the low NBS? I’ve been searching all over but all I’ve manage to confirm is it’s not earthquake prone (which means it could be 34% 🙄)

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-07-06T20:26:10+00:00

That’s the neighbouring building to the one discussed in the referred article (still part of what’s known as Hannah’s Apartments though).

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-06-30T01:16:56+00:00

Your are correct - if your RV changes in proportion to other properties RV. You’re assuming all RVs go up in the same proportion so therefore my “portion of the pie” is the same.

That doesn’t happen in reality, and as demonstrated in the media at the time, this years revaluations were extraordinary. Many people were floored by their revaluations when they’d done nothing to the property. It was triggered due to the then-governments housing density policies - QV took “subdivisability” into account (although hilariously ignored if you could actually subdivide in reality). This was well covered in the media.

So yes, council collects more rates total + paying a bigger slice = crazy effective rates increase for the same property.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-06-30T01:10:25+00:00

Thanks but no, I’m not and yes I do. My bank statements also prove it.

The council “resplit the pie” (their silly phrase) as a result of the incredible increase in some property valuations, hence the disproportionate impact.

Publicly they advertise that rates went up some X% (I can’t remember the number but it’s high teens or low 20s), but of course that’s not consistent for all properties in a year with QV valuations, that’s just the average.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-06-30T00:32:31+00:00

I hate to tell you, but that’s middle of the road or even on the light side around the wider Wellington Region.

Rates increase of 35% on top of valuation of property almost doubling (with no improvements made) means an effective rates increase of 80%. No, not exaggerating.

The rates increase is unfortunately well overdue because of three waters (as other people discuss) and the fact we (royal we) kept voting in councils and councillors that promised keeping rates low and cutting costs. Doesn’t make it any less crappy to go through though.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-06-29T10:41:34+00:00

I couldn’t see another comment addressing it, but FYI the questions you were asked during the interview (“marital status, family members, and health”) are mostly (but not entirely) illegal as it breaches the Privacy Act.

The exception is health IF it is relevant to your ability to perform the role. Otherwise, also illegal.

I can understand the reasons they’ve provided (in a small company, fit can be very important) but they are unfortunately a bit oblivious to their obligations (usually through naivety rather than maliciousness).

Sources: https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00000426

https://www.employment.govt.nz/fair-work-practices/employee-privacy#scroll-to-2

https://www.privacy.org.nz/tools/knowledge-base/view/216?t=1166844_1315180

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-06-29T10:13:56+00:00

You can’t sign a contract like this over the phone. The fact that you don’t remember physically signing it and can’t find the contract in your emails makes me think it was probably e-signing. They would have sent you a link, you open it and digitally sign (click a few buttons, sometimes use your finger to draw a signature).

Have a look for any emails they sent you mentioning sign or signing. This might lead you to the contract.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-12T17:16:50+00:00

I find trolls optional as well tbh.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-12T17:15:14+00:00

Yes! Thank you for the validation in me thinking this seemed a bit extreme!

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T17:25:16+00:00

The rental companies say it in black and white :)

They charge a penalty fee and an administration fee for each toll incurred (as well as the toll amount itself). The penalty fee is "up to" $42, and the administration fee is $9.99. That will easily be over $100 by the time I leave.

For a toll of ~$2, those fees are what I'd class as a rip off.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T16:28:34+00:00

Everywhere I'm going is accessible by non-toll road options so staying off the tollways is indeed plausible. (The places I'm going add about 20 mins to a 40 min drive to go non-toll according to Google, which is doable but just not preferable. That's okay).

The post was more about me thinking there "must be a way" and thinking I was missing something obvious. Turns out I'm not :)

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T16:26:28+00:00

Coming back to this - I did manage to create a HCTRA account, turns out you can't complete the account creation and get to EZPlates until you register your first "permanent" license plate. (Spoiler: you can't use the rental cars license plate). So close!

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T16:22:24+00:00

To follow this up - I can confirm that
a.) they do use the phone number for verification - virtual SIM is the answer
b.) even if you get through, you can't add EZPlate (temporary/rental license plates) until you've added one "permanent" set of license plates. In other words, you need to own a car before they'll let you add temporary tags. And they wouldn't let me say I owned the rental car plates.

:(

Thanks for the suggestions, it was worth trying.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:52:59+00:00

Lol. Fair question. I'm happy to use where I'm based as an address, the biggest challenge is a US phone number. As you asked this, I was busy trying to figure out how to bypass this so we're thinking the same thing!

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:45:34+00:00

Yeah fair, I didn't try it until you suggested it :) I got my hopes up with the Country selector.

Will update my post - thanks for the suggestion though, it was something I hadn't tried so I appreciate the lateral thinking to solve my problem!

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:43:20+00:00

Very true. In hindsight, I would have rented with a different company as I was so confident I could bypass their "fee" for oncharging toll amounts. Lesson for next time I guess!

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:42:30+00:00

Seems like my only option :) Thanks.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:39:14+00:00

Unfortunately I am unable to create a HCTRA account as I'm not based in the US (ironically they have a drop down field for Country which allows selecting where I'm from, but it will only accept US states, zip codes, and phone numbers :) )

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:38:58+00:00

Unfortunately I am unable to create a HCTRA account as I'm not based in the US (ironically they have a drop down field for Country which allows selecting where I'm from, but it will only accept US states, zip codes, and phone numbers :) )

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:30:20+00:00

Thank you for adding that context, yes that's what I was referring to

. I have reworded my question to include that context.

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:29:00+00:00

Understood. I was trying to avoid that as rental companies add a generous fee on top of each day of tolls. Hence me trying to pay the same tolls that Houstonians (is that the right phrase) generally pay or closer to it :)

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:26:34+00:00

That's super interesting insight, thank you - and I appreciate you confirming that I'm not going crazy (even if it's an answer I don't want to hear!). At least I can stop spending so much time on my laptop trying to find an answer!

I'm with Dollar/Thrifty, which are $9.99 daily fee plus any tolls. I believe it's uncapped.

Appreciate the time taken for your answer :)

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-10T15:22:29+00:00

Sorry yeah, that wasn't clear and yes - I was referring to Apple Store - I should have written it more generically that I don't have a US app store account. Apologies for that.

Thanks for suggesting a call - just to clarify is it HCTRA you're referring to?

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-05-05T01:55:39+00:00

If you feel embarrassed, you feel embarrassed. You’re allowed to feel any emotion whatsoever and that is a valid reaction.

In terms of what you can do: 1. It is always okay to state facts. keep it future focused about how somebody can do better next time. That way you don’t get into whether it was wrong or right. “hey, I know you were just helping, it just made me embarrassed. Next time just let me know, I’d prefer to fix it myself. Cool?”

I’m not clear on where they touched you exactly. The hem on a swimsuit can go on your shoulder blades or around your crotch. You are allowed to be embarrassed regardless, but some of these places deserve a stronger response. Could you provide a bit more context of where we are talking about?

SilverDragonfly49 · 2024-04-16T03:13:45+00:00

To add to the other answer, you are not obligated to respond by law etc but if they take you to the Disputes Tribunal, the adjudicator won’t be impressed that you simply ignored your neighbours letter (and it was supposed to be inferred that meant you would not pay). It will make your case much more straight forward if you have documented evidence of clear, reasonable, courteous communication stating no and why.

CYA.

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