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Rental housing in poor shape
Rental housing in poor shape
Rental housing is older, colder, damper and twice as likely to be poorly maintained as owner-occupied homes, says a new BRANZ report.
The Housing Condition Survey from BRANZ has been carried out every five years since 1994, with assessors most recently checking out 560 properties, and surveying the occupants about the condition of the house.
In every category, rental houses were reported to be less well-maintained, with nine per cent of renters rating their overall housing quality as poor (meaning action is required within three months).
Perceptions about living environments were also different across the landlord-tenant divide. As Radio NZ reported “the survey showed that tenants tended to think the condition of the property hadn’t improved since they moved in, while owner-occupied home owners were more likely to think it was in better condition.”
It’s not hard to see why. Tenancy Protection Association Christchurch manager Di Harwood summed it up “owner-occupiers are far more likely to maintain their properties... whereas in tenanted homes, the landlords are less likely to want to understand what’s going on for tenants.”
Phillipa Howden-Chapman, a professor of public health at Otago University told Stuff.co.nz: “it’s yet another reason why we need a rental warrant of fitness… How does the tenant find out if it’s a leaky building? They don’t at the moment.”
While legislation is coming in to force landlords to tell tenants what kind of insulation they have, this won’t come into effect until 2019.
Damp, musty houses can also affect people’s health, and with more people being taken in by friends and relatives because of high rent prices, infectious disease specialist Professor Michael Baker says conditions are ripe “for illnesses spread by close contact”.
While New Zealand is lagging behind the developed world in this area, there is still some good news. Both rented and owner-occupied houses were better maintained compared to the 2010 averages, with the number of poorly maintained houses dropping in both categories.
Visit the SMC website to see how the report was covered by the media.
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