Laws over damp houses being ignored
The authors reviewed a year's worth of Tenancy Tribunal cases about housing quality from Wellington and Dunedin.
The Tenancy Tribunal is overlooking a law requiring rental houses to be damp free.
The law was developed in the 1940s to protect people from living in unhealthy homes but it is not being used, according to researchers at Otago and Victoria Universities.
A paper written by Dr Mark Bennett from Victoria University’s law faculty and Dr Sarah Bierre and Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman from Otago University’s public health department says the law could be used to force landlords to provide housing free of dampness. (Abstract of the journal article here)
The authors reviewed a year’s worth of Tenancy Tribunal cases about housing quality from Wellington and Dunedin. In most cases tenants’ complaints during tribunal hearings of damp or mouldy housing were overlooked.
“Tenants are able to ask for improvements to be made but it is surprising to find that, even if their complaints make it to the tribunal, the dampness laws available to protect them are often not used,” says Dr Bierre.
Dr Bennett says housing regulations could be used to force landlords to insulate, heat or ventilate houses if it is clearly needed for a tenant to live in a house that isn’t mouldy. “These improvements are a cost to the landlord but they add value to the house.”
There are cases where the dampness standard has been applied. A renter living in a damp and mouldy house recently took a case to the Tenancy Tribunal and the landlord was ordered to install ventilation fans and fix rising damp. The landlord appealed to the District Court where the tribunal’s judgment was upheld.
Professor Howden-Chapman and her team are working on a proposed warrant of fitness for housing, which has been trialled in five cities around New Zealand. She says it is important landlords comply with the minimum standards until the WOF, clearly setting out what the required for a house to be habitable, is introduced nationwide.
Sally Lindsay for NBR NZ Property Investor
Mon, 20 Apr 2015
Mon, 20 Apr 2015
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Laws over damp houses being ignored
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