Tenants are complaining to Fair Go that some landlords are failing to meet their obligations to ensure homes comply with the Healthy Homes Standards.
Both parties have obligations, but healthy housing advocates say there’s still a power imbalance.
Jo Wills who works for Sustainability Options says "the property owners know that if a complaint is made they can evict the tenant and there'll be another tenant lined up without the home being improved".
She adds that they have lots of examples of tenants being evicted for making a complaint. It’s a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act but they have first-hand experience that it still happens.
Wills acknowledges that most landlords take their responsibilities seriously, but says there are a few that own multiple properties that continue to cause problems in the Bay of Plenty area where she works.
It was hoped that the organisation’s efforts to improve housing standards would be easier now that all rental properties involving new or renewed tenancies are legally required to comply with Healthy Homes Standards.
"We thought by now we’d be weeding the bad ones out, but the property manager or landlord can just say the property has met standards whether they have or not."
Sustainability Options would ideally like to see enforcement of the standards, or at least an effective audit so that those who haven’t complied could be encouraged to do so.
The idea is in line with the Green Party’s call for a rental Warrant of Fitness.
MP Chloe Swarbrick says the current approach falls short.
"It's effectively voluntary. That's because the Government is not collecting data on exclusions and doesn’t know how many properties are up to scratch."
In a statement, Housing MP Megan Woods told Fair Go that the cost of enforcement was too great and didn’t justify the level of increased compliance that would follow.
Swarbrick rebuffed this, saying "when talking about the costs, let’s talk about the benefits as well – it will mean more people can live in homes that are healthy. Even if we look at it from a right wing perspective, that means we can see more productivity in the economy."
The Healthy Homes Standards include six areas for certification - insulation, moisture barriers, draughts, drainage, heating and ventilation.
An assessment should be done on each property for certification.
Wills says they are the absolute minimum required, and ideally they would like to see them extended to include heating in additional parts of the house (at the moment, it’s only a requirement in the main living area) and the provision of curtains.
She feels at the moment it’s a “race to the bottom”. Some landlords don’t comply and some do the minimum to pass standards. She would like to see more landlords who recognise that as well as having an investment they have a responsibility to provide a home that allows the tenants to live a healthy life in a secure environment.
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