Philip Heatley MP
National Party Housing Spokesman

21 March 2007

HNZ sub-letting scams not so rare after all

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley's campaign to root out state house tenants ripping off taxpayers is gathering more momentum.

Mr Heatley revealed in Parliament today that inquiries prompted by National have uncovered one tenant who sub-let their state house for four years and was then allowed to reoccupy the property. He's also released information on 22 other proven cases, most were found to have sublet their state house in its entirety for well over six months before being busted.

"When I first raised this issue with the Housing Minister he said it was 'extremely rare' and he was not going to commit staff to a 'wild goose chase' to collect the data. Since then the Minister has been forced to collect the figures and set up a team of six scam busters."

The Housing Minster also revealed today that a further 26 active investigations are underway around the Panmure area alone.

"But the figures I'm releasing today show that a surprising number of tenants have been getting away with sub-letting their properties, in many cases for years at a time, despite bi-annual inspections."

"This is simply unacceptable when there are more than 11,000 needy families languishing on the Housing New Zealand waiting list. They wait, while others are fiddling the system for personal advantage."

Mr Heatley has also revealed that after being challenged by the Minister last year to provide information on subletting allegations he has passed on two separate cases for further investigation.

"They may even be included in the figures. Mr Carter isn't saying for privacy reasons and I accept that."

Mr Heatley says Labour has been mismanaging Housing New Zealand, which is a significant taxpayer asset.

"We've got households boasting incomes of more than $100,000, tenants with multiple undeclared boarders, ballooning vandalism statistics and HNZ properties worth up to $2 million that are home to just one family.

"When it comes to sub-letting, any responsible landlord or property manager would want to know how so many tenants have got away with such blatant fraud for so long."

ENDS

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