The questions owners
actually ask.

It depends on the property, the suburb, the number of bedrooms and the time of year — which is why we won't quote a figure before we've looked at yours.

Book a free appraisal and we'll give you a realistic range for your property, with a conservative case alongside it — not a single flattering number.

If the numbers don't work, we'll tell you that too.

Often, but not always — and the honest answer depends on your property and what you want from it.

Short-term generally earns more per year on the same property, and you keep the flexibility to use it yourself or sell without waiting out a tenancy. Long-term is simpler — lower running costs, no seasonality, no furnishing outlay, and predictable income.

Short-term also costs more to run: furnishing, utilities, higher council rates once you pass 28 nights, cleaning and management. Our appraisal compares the two side by side for your specific property, with the real costs of each, so you can decide with numbers rather than impressions.

We manage properties right across Auckland. We work most often in the CBD, Māngere, Māngere Bridge, Mount Eden, Ponsonby, Parnell, Herne Bay, Mission Bay and the suburbs close to the airport. If you're unsure whether your suburb works, just ask — we'd rather tell you honestly than take on a property that won't perform.

Very little, by design. After onboarding, most owners hear from us once a month when their statement arrives.

We'll come to you for three things: approving expenses above the threshold you set, decisions that are genuinely yours (a significant maintenance item, a change to house rules), and the performance reviews. Everything else — guests, pricing, cleaning, turnovers, reviews, problems at 2am — is ours.

Yes, and a number of owners do. Nothing about the arrangement requires you to be in the country, or even in the same time zone.

We handle everything on the ground: guests, cleaners, tradespeople, inspections and any problem that needs a person at the property. You receive the same monthly statement wherever you are, and we'll agree a contact method and hours that work across the time difference.

You own the property; we run it. We create and manage the listing, set the nightly rate, handle every guest message, arrange check-in and check-out, coordinate cleaning and turnovers, look after maintenance, and send you a statement each month with your payment.

It starts with a free appraisal. We assess your property and give you a realistic revenue range. If it stacks up and you want to go ahead, we sign a management agreement and begin onboarding.

It depends almost entirely on how ready the property already is:

• Already furnished to a guest-ready standard — two to three weeks
• Partly furnished, some gaps to fill — four to five weeks
• Needs a full fit-out — six to eight weeks

Yes. We'll audit what's already there against the standard guests expect, give you a gap list with costs, and once you approve the budget we handle the buying, delivery, assembly and styling.

There's an initial term agreed up front, after which the agreement continues month to month until either side gives notice. The notice period is set out in your agreement before you sign it — nothing is hidden and there's no automatic lock-in that renews behind your back.

If your circumstances change — you're selling, moving back in, renovating — talk to us. We'd rather work something out than hold someone to an arrangement that no longer suits them.

When you give notice, we honour every booking already confirmed for dates before your end date, then hand back keys, access devices and your property information with a final reconciliation statement.

We'll usually create a fresh listing under the Heron Living account rather than take over yours.

That sounds like a step backwards, but it isn't: a new property listed under our account inherits our established review history and host standing immediately, instead of launching cold. In practice that means better visibility from day one than a transferred listing would get.

The trade-off is that the new listing's review history sits with our account rather than yours. We explain exactly what that means at the end of this page, and it's in your agreement in plain terms. If you'd rather keep your own listing and history, tell us — it's worth a conversation before you sign anything.

We honour them. Bring them to the appraisal and we'll record the guest, the dates and what's already been paid, then carry them across so nobody's stay is disrupted.

Yes. You agree a number of owner-use nights each year and how much notice you'll give, and we block those dates out. No management fee applies to nights you use yourself.

The one thing we won't do is cancel a confirmed guest booking to free up dates. Cancellations damage the listing's standing and can cost far more than the booking itself, so owner dates need to be planned rather than requested at short notice — particularly over summer.

We charge a percentage of what your property earns, so we only do well when you do. There are three service tiers — Silver, Gold and Platinum — which differ in how hands-off you want to be. The current rates are on our Services page.

The fee is calculated on your nightly accommodation revenue. It is not charged on the guest cleaning fee, on security deposits, or on anything we recover from a guest for damage. All fees are plus GST.

You only pay when your property earns. Any one-off onboarding or styling costs are agreed with you in writing before any work starts — there are no surprise charges.

Once a month. Guest revenue is collected into a dedicated owner funds account — held separately from our own business money and never used for our operating costs. We deduct platform fees, the cleaning pass-through, our management fee and any approved expenses, then pay the balance to your nominated bank account on the agreed date each month.

Your statement itemises every line, so you can see exactly what came in, what went out and why.

Guests do. A cleaning fee is charged on each booking and passes through to cover professional cleaning and laundry between stays. It isn't your income and we don't charge our management fee on it.

Cleaning beyond a standard turnover — a deep clean, or cleaning after your own stay, or dealing with excessive mess — is charged at cost and itemised on your statement.

You do. Utilities stay in your name and remain your cost: power, gas, water, internet, and any body corporate levies.

On our higher tiers we can pay these bills on your behalf and on-charge them, so you have one monthly statement instead of five direct debits.

That's Airbnb's own service fee, not ours. From 15 September 2026 Airbnb moved all New Zealand hosts to a single host-only fee of 15.5% charged on the booking.

Small things we simply fix and itemise on your statement. Above an approval threshold that you set — you choose the figure when you sign — we come to you for approval first.

The exception is a genuine emergency: if there's a risk to someone's safety, a risk of real damage to the property, or a guest can't safely stay there, we act immediately up to an agreed limit and tell you within 24 hours. Nobody wants a burst pipe waiting on an email.

Only if your total taxable activity exceeds $60,000 in any 12-month period — and short-stay income counts toward that.

If you're not registered, the booking platform collects GST on the accommodation and you receive a flat-rate credit of 8.5%, which is yours to keep. Because your property is listed through us, we claim that credit and pass it on to you, and it appears on your monthly statement.

This is general information, not tax advice. We'll flag it in your appraisal if you're likely to cross the threshold, but please confirm your own position with your accountant.

Short-stay rental income is taxable, and the costs of earning it — including management fees, cleaning, platform fees, insurance, rates, utilities and repairs — are generally deductible against it.

Your monthly statements itemise everything in a form your accountant can work from directly. This is general information, not tax advice — please confirm your position with your accountant.

Several things, layered. We screen every booking before accepting it. We set minimum-stay rules that filter out the one-night local bookings that cause most problems. House rules prohibiting parties form part of the booking terms, with a stated penalty. And where appropriate we use a noise monitor in living areas — disclosed to guests, measuring decibel levels only, never recording audio.

We won't promise it can never happen. Anyone who does is overselling. What we will say is that it's rare, we've built the process to make it unlikely, and if it does happen we deal with it immediately rather than discovering it at checkout.

We photograph and report it to you as soon as it's found, with an estimate to put it right. Then we pursue recovery in order: from the guest or their deposit first, then through the booking platform's host damage protection, and then — if you direct us — through your own insurance.

This is why we insist on a signed condition report before your first guest. It records the state of every room and every item, with dated photographs, so there's an agreed 'before'. Without one, damage claims usually fail, because nobody can prove what changed.

Yes. Your house insurance is what covers the building itself — fire, earthquake, storm, burst pipes — and that need doesn't change when you let short-term. What changes is whether your policy still responds: standard owner-occupier and landlord policies commonly exclude paying guests, so cover written for a long-term tenant may not pay out at all.

Tell your insurer the property is used as a short-term rental and get it noted on the policy. AirCover is not a substitute — Airbnb says so itself. It covers guest-caused damage within limits and exclusions, and does nothing for a fire or an earthquake.

We'll ask for confirmation that your cover includes short-stay use before the property goes live. Several New Zealand insurers write these policies, and we'll help you ask the right question.

Every booking is reviewed before it's accepted. We look at the guest's verification status, their review history from previous stays, how many guests are coming, the reason for the trip and the length of stay. Where something doesn't add up, we message the guest directly before deciding.

We decline bookings that look wrong. A declined booking costs one night's revenue; the wrong guest can cost considerably more.

Between every stay. Whoever services the property after a checkout is also checking it — damage, wear, anything missing, anything that needs attention before the next guest.

On top of that we carry out a more thorough inspection quarterly, and update your inventory record at least annually. You'll hear from us if something needs doing; you won't get a report every week telling you nothing happened.

It's a fair concern and we take it seriously, because unhappy neighbours become council complaints.

House rules cover noise, quiet hours, parking and guest numbers, and guests agree to them at booking. We're contactable directly, and where it's appropriate we'll introduce ourselves to immediate neighbours so they have a number to call that isn't the council's. Most issues are resolved in one phone call when someone answers it.

Never inside. Airbnb banned indoor security cameras worldwide in April 2024 — anywhere in the listing, regardless of disclosure, even switched off — and we comply with that absolutely. Any indoor device must be removed before we list a property.

An exterior camera covering the entrance is permitted and often sensible for check-in security, provided it's disclosed to guests before they book and never points at an indoor space. Where one exists, we make sure it's disclosed on the listing and in the welcome guide.

Usually yes, but it's worth checking properly rather than assuming. Four things can restrict it: your district plan zoning, whether resource consent is required, body corporate rules if it's an apartment or unit, and occasionally a mortgage condition or lease term.

We check the council position as part of every appraisal and tell you what we find. If something restricts short-stay use, you'll hear it from us before you spend a cent — not after the furniture arrives.

Yes, and it's the single most common reason a property can't proceed. Body corporate rules can permit short-term letting, restrict it with a minimum stay, or prohibit it outright.

We ask for the current rules in writing before signing anything. It's a slightly tedious step that occasionally saves an owner from spending thousands furnishing a property they were never permitted to let.

It depends on your zone and how the property is used. Auckland's rules restrict visitor accommodation in residential zones, and what's allowed without consent is narrower than most owners assume — so it is worth checking properly rather than assuming.

We check the current Council position for your specific property and zone during the appraisal and show you what we find. If consent is required and not held, any revenue projection we give you is clearly marked as conditional on obtaining it.

Airbnb always. On our Gold and Platinum tiers we also list on Booking.com and Vrbo, which widens the pool of guests and helps fill dates Airbnb alone would leave empty.

Using dynamic pricing software that tracks comparable properties in your suburb and adjusts rates daily — higher over peak periods and events, lower to fill gaps that would otherwise sit empty.

The aim is to maximise revenue across the whole year rather than on any single night. A property priced too high sits empty; one priced too low fills instantly and leaves money behind.

It varies by property, suburb and season, and any manager who quotes you a number before seeing your property is guessing.

We don't guarantee occupancy or revenue. Nobody honestly can.

Professional cleaners we engage and brief, working to a checklist built for your specific property. Cleaning is triggered automatically the moment a guest checks out, and the property is inspected before the next arrival.

Cleaning and laundry between stays are covered by the guest cleaning fee, not by you.

Quickly, and that isn't a throwaway line — response time directly affects your listing's ranking and your review scores.

Common questions are answered automatically and immediately: check-in details, the wifi password, parking, checkout instructions. Anything needing a person is handled during extended hours, with an emergency contact available to guests outside them.

The other half of the job is removing the need to ask at all. A good welcome guide and a clear listing prevent most 2am messages from ever being sent.

A statement each month showing gross revenue, platform fees, our fee, every expense itemised, and what was paid to you — alongside occupancy and average nightly rate for the month and a summary of guest reviews.

We also hold a performance review 30 days after your first booking, and annually after that. If something isn't working, we'd rather find it in month one than month twelve.

We want to be straightforward about this, because not every manager is.

Your property is listed under the Heron Living account. That's what lets a brand-new property benefit from our established review history and host standing from day one, rather than launching with zero reviews. The trade-off is that the review history sits with that account and doesn't transfer to you if you leave.

If you do leave, we hand back your keys, access devices, property information and inventory records, provide a copy of the guest review text relating to your property, and give you a final reconciliation. You're free to relist independently — you'd simply be starting a fresh listing, as any new host would.