Māori Party welcomes healthier and safer rental homes

The Māori Party is proud its advocacy work of having more whānau living in healthy, warm and safe homes is now a reality.

The Government has announced changes to strengthen the Residential Tenancies Act, which will require landlords to insulate most houses, install smoke alarms and prosecute landlords for breaking tenancy laws in the most severe cases.

“Living in a dry, healthy and safe home is a fundamental right for all whānau. So we are pleased to see a greater onus on private landlords to provide insulation,” says Māori Party Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

Earlier this year, Mr Flavell was outraged by the state of some private rentals in Christchurch dubbing those property owners, “slumlords”.

“I am particularly pleased to see that there will be new powers given to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to investigate and prosecute landlords for breaking tenancy laws.

“I know enforcement of existing legislation has been seen as a major barrier in providing better rental properties for people”, says Mr Flavell.

The Māori Party Co-leader, Marama Fox, says while the party welcomes the changes she questions the delay in enforcing these new requirements and whether the proposal goes far enough.

“A high proportion of whānau Māori live in rentals and we would have liked to see the proposed changes come in a lot sooner. Do landlords really need one year to install smoke alarms and four years to insulate their properties?” says Mrs Fox.

She also notes that the Minister for Building and Housings has finally released the headline results from the trial warrant of fitness (WOF) carried out on Housing New Zealand (HNZ) properties, last year.

“The WOF trial was initiated by the Māori Party because we wanted to know how healthy and safe HNZ homes are. It is of major concern that only four percent of the HNZ homes trialled met the full requirements.

“We will continue to advocate for a warrant of fitness on all HNZ homes and private rentals. We will make sure the government does not become the biggest, “slumlord,” says Mrs Fox.

ENDS

© Scoop Media