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Calls to make landlords responsible for poorly insulated rentals

Author
Felix Marwick ,
Publish Date
Tue, 23 Feb 2016, 1:58PM
Insulation being put into a house (Getty Images)
Insulation being put into a house (Getty Images)

Calls to make landlords responsible for poorly insulated rentals

Author
Felix Marwick ,
Publish Date
Tue, 23 Feb 2016, 1:58PM

Politicians are being asked to do more to make landlords responsible for the state of the properties they let.

It comes as MPs consider legislation that could require landlords to meet minimum insulation standards with the residential properties they own.

Caritas spokesperson Lisa Beech is concerned the onus appears to be on tenants to complain about the quality of housing they're receiving.

"We wouldn't allow people to sell rotten fruit in the supermarket and then charge the consumer for checking that they actually get what they pay for."

Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett is backing the calls, saying standards for rental homes need to be strengthened and should be more in line with the standards required of newly built houses.

"To me the costs for landlords pale into insignificance in terms of the wider societal costs."

He listed the impact on health, education and the overall economic impact of sickness as factors that can come from substandard housing.

Mr Leggett said it's about the responsibility of landlords to provide a house people can be healthy and safe in.

"If people are going to be into the provision of private housing, there's a responsibility and a cost that comes with that, and I don't think that should be shied away from."

Cosy Homes Charitable Trust spokesperson Jordana Whyte isn't happy with the insulation standards being proposed and said they won't be appropriate for the lower South Island.

She said in winter Dunedin is on average nine degrees colder than Auckland and gets fewer sunshine hours.

Ms Whyte argues the minimum insulation standard should be based on the coldest climate.

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