July 09, 2015
New standards for rental houses
Housing Minister Nick Smith has bowed to pressure from health advocates and opposition parties and introduced new requirements for insulation and smoke alarms in rental housing.
Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will require require retrofitting of ceiling and underfloor insulation in government-subsidised social housing from next July and other rental housing from July 2019.
It’s similar to the change called for in Labour MP Phil Twyford’s Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill, which was voted down in March by National and ACT, and by the bill Greens co-leader Metiria Turei has in the ballot.
Mr Smith says it’s a pragmatic package that will make homes warmer, drier and safer for hundreds of thousands of New Zealand families without imposing excessive bureaucracy or cost.
The Maori Party welcomed the reform, but co-leader Marama Fox questioned whether landlords need four years to insulate their properties.
She says a high proportion of whanau Maori live in rentals and the party would have liked to see the changes come in a lot sooner.
Ms Fox says the trial warrant of fitness carried out on Housing New Zealand properties at the request of the Maori Party shows just 4 percent of the homes met the full requirements.
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