Latest News
‘Mark your own homework’: Healthy Homes checks under fire for DIY loophole
Like drivers issuing their own warrants of fitness – that’s how building experts and renter advocates describe the new Healthy Homes Standards.
Since 1 July, all rental properties across the motu have been required to comply with the new standards, which set minimum requirements for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage.
But who gets to say whether a property is up to scratch? Well, with no certification required in order to complete an assessment, the role could technically be filled by anyone.
This has prompted calls for an independent certification system.
Ideally, under the new standards, damp and draughty rentals should now be a thing of the past.
Lack of certification required for healthy homes
But the New Zealand Institute of Building Inspectors isn’t convinced.
Chief executive Graeme Blissett, said the standards contain several loopholes. Not least, that anyone can label themselves a healthy homes assessor.
“It’s a huge problem, because there’s no one looking at what they’re actually inspecting and writing reports on is actually correct.
“There are no guarantees because no one’s double-checking what they’re doing, and I believe that if you’re charging $150, $200 to do a healthy homes inspection on a house, you’re not doing it correctly.”
It doesn’t take long to find companies offering Healthy Homes assessments – Checkpoint found a business online, offering to carry out a certification for around $200.
But Blissett fears that without certification, many of these businesses will prioritise “quantity over quality”.
He said he’s seen several certificates that ticked off each of the standards, despite the properties falling short.
“The tenants [are] usually up to speed with these sorts of regulations and rules, so if the landlords do it on their own property and they get it incorrect, and the tenant finds out about it or talks to someone, and they’ve got a little bit of knowledge on it. There is a chance for them to be taken [to] the Tenancy Tribunal.
“I believe there’s fines of like $5000 or something like that for non-compliance.”
Renters United President, Zac Thomas, said the Healthy Homes Standards are a positive step towards a warmer and drier housing stock.
But he’s also concerned about the assessment process.
“There is a mark your own homework situation where landlords don’t even need to use an independent assessor in the first place. They can say that they are healthy homes compliant, that’s the first thing.
“But then the second thing is they can get this assessment from an agency that in many cases won’t actually be complying or assessing to the standards as they should be.”
Thomas said that if the checks were completed by qualified assessors, it would give peace of mind to both landlords and tenants.
“A renter might go, ‘hey, please show me your healthy homes compliance.’ They might be worried that the house is not compliant, and the landlord will probably show this, and then they might go, ‘Oh well, I guess I have nothing to complain about’.
“In reality, if there was a consistent standard, tenants would have the confidence to say, ‘Okay, like this does meet standard, therefore I don’t need to worry about going to the Tenancy Tribunal.”
Healthy homes standards in full next month
University of Otago Professor, Lucy Telfer Barnard, said that as winter rolls around, if houses aren’t up to standard, it’s the tenants who face the consequences.
“The tenants may not necessarily initially know that’s why they’re feeling unwell, but then if they do start to wonder, there’s whole process that they can then have to go through to get those standards met.
“To have that after the fact when they’ve moved in, in good faith, thinking that the property meets the standards, really isn’t fair and puts a whole burden onto people.”
Landlords who fail to meet the Healthy Homes standards can face fines of up to $7200. Owners of six or more rentals that do not comply could be hit with $50,000 fines.
A statement from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development said they don’t assess how landlords achieve compliance, and there is no licensing requirement to undertake Healthy Homes Standards assessments. Moving to this sort of “WOF” scheme would be a big undertaking with significant costs and impacts.
It said landlords need to satisfy themselves that the person they hire is suitably experienced and can undertake the required inspection or work to an acceptable standard.
If a tenant thinks the property they are renting is not up to standard, they can make a complaint on the Tenancy Services website or apply for a work order from the Tenancy Tribunal.
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
Police say person who fired gun at officers still at large
New Zealand sides named for RLWC finals
Parliamentary Service working on extra chairs and offices for increased number of MPs
-
Latest News2 months ago‘Chilling’: Business groups speak out against National’s supermarket break-up plan
-
NZ News2 months agoTom Phillips report: The missed opportunities to find the children
-
Latest News2 months agoCars bearing Chinese police markings stir unease in Auckland
-
Politics2 months agoNational vows to try to split Pak’nSave and New World
-
Fiji News2 months agoPlans to have new Constitution by Dec 24th 2026
-
NZ News2 months agoCop who stole $68,000 can now be named as champion Muay Thai fighter Haimona Tamati-Te Paki
-
Politics2 months agoMBIE confirms botched biometric projects costs blown out to $50.7 million
-
Latest News2 months agoFive Karangahape Road venues lose their liquor licences after police intervention