Question:
Is it true that after 10 years of owning a rental property that on sale of the property, depreciation does not have to be repaid?

Kenina Court Answers: 
This is an often touted myth. It doesn’t matter how long you own an asset, when you sell it, there will be depreciation recovered.
At the time that you sell the property, it’s a good idea to get a registered valuation done on the property so you can get a breakdown on the sale price between the land and buildings. Land cannot be depreciated, and over time, if it increases at a faster rate than the building value does, you may be able to reduce the depreciation recovered.

Question:
I have a property in Christchurch that I have rented out. Initially I wanted to rent it furnished (we had very valuable furniture) but then it was very hard to find tenants who were interested in renting it or willing to pay the price for a furnished house. Therefore I stored the furniture in a storage company that charges me a monthly fee and rented the house unfurnished. Is there a way I can claim back some of those expenses from the taxes? 

Kenina Court Answers:
The first question to ask is did you buy the furniture for the purpose of renting out a rental property, or was it bought as your home furniture and you now wish to utilise it in the rental property?
There must be a connection between the rental income that is being generated and the expense. So if the furniture was initially bought for you personally, then on the face of it, the storage costs will not be tax deductible.
If you bought the furniture for yourself, and you have had it valued by an independent valuer and then sold to the entity that owns the property, then the storage fees may be tax deductible.
If you bought the furniture for the entity in the first place, then the storage fees will probably be tax deductible, although you may have an issue with depreciation in that you may not be able to claim depreciation over the time that the furniture is in storage.