Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Liam White can share some horror stories about rental properties in Dunedin.
"I went into a flat and I saw a window - the landlord had cut out the corner wide enough that you could stick your finger through it so they could open the window past a balcony - there was just a constant draught coming in. There's heat pumps that don't work … there's the classic holes in walls, cladding on the side of houses broken that hasn't been fixed. It's a lot of stuff."
White is president of the Otago University Students Association. The government's Tenancy Compliance and Investigations team (TCIT) has this week been visiting student rentals in Dunedin to check whether they comply with the Residential Tenancies Act.
Acting TCIT national manager Clare Lyons-Montgomery said landlords must provide rental homes that are warm, safe and dry.
"Young people are a priority population for our team, as they can be vulnerable and unaware of their rights because they are new to renting.
Auckland Property Investors Association general manager Sarina Gibbon says some people don't understand how strict the deadline will be. Photo: Supplied
"Landlords have obligations and responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act and must provide a rental home that complies with all building, health and safety requirements in additional to tenancy law."
All rental properties must also comply with the Healthy Homes standards by 1 July this year, which require ventilation, heating and insulation.
Tenancies started or renewed on or after 3 March had until then to comply but from 1 July there is no leeway and every new tenancy must comply immediately.
White said he had been told about 30 percent of Dunedin student rentals would not comply.
But he said students were sometimes hesitant to raise problems with property managers or landlords because they worried about their ability to get a reference in future, or about creating other problems for themselves.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development said its most recent survey of Healthy Homes compliance was in January 2024 and found 17 percent of landlords said they fully met the standards and almost three-quarters had done something to prepare.
"From July 1, all private rentals must comply with the healthy homes standards. All boarding houses, Kāinga Ora houses and registered community housing provider houses must already comply with the healthy homes standards," Lyons-Montgomery said.
"Landlords who do not meet their obligations under the standards are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 - and may face consequences, like financial penalties."
Sarina Gibbon, general manager of the Auckland Property Investors Association, said she had been talking to colleagues about the lack of awareness about how the deadline applied.
"The situation appears to be split across experience lines. Seasoned landlords and property managers who have had the standards drummed into them since 2019 have largely adapted and developed the right muscle memory.
"You'll recall that in 2022 when the government extended the deadline out by two years so that Kainga Ora could have more runway [it] went down like a lead balloon for the private sector. That said, the already generous compliance timeline should mean that there is no excuse for rental properties to not comply. We are finally getting to a point in the rental sector where we can stop negotiating on tenants' wellbeing."
But she said she was still seeing things that concerned her.
"Many less experienced landlords and property managers seem unaware that, from July 1, there's no grace period - properties must be fully compliant, period. So none of that 90 or 120 day runway from the start of the tenancy. That's fine because the TCIT can clean that up. What worries me the most is that the knowledge gap extends to tenants too. Many don't realise they will have the right to a fully Healthy Homes compliant home from 1 July. This is potentially harmful for vulnerable renters in non-compliant houses. "
She said if landlords did not treat compliance as a priority, it was reasonable to expect the Tenancy Tribunal and TCIT to "come down hard on them".
"The industry has had way too long to get our heads around the standards, let's get on with it already."
Some property managers are understood to be preparing to drop clients who are not willing to make changes to comply with the rules.
But MBIE is likely to monitor bond forms for a change of landlord from a property manager to a private arrangement, then audit those properties.
Matt Ball, spokesperson for the NZ Property Investors Federation, said his organisation's members tended to be well prepared.
But he said there could be some "accidental landlords" who had decided to rent a property rather than sell it who might not have considered it properly.
He said he had heard from tradespeople that there had been an increase in inquiry from property owners needing work done to comply.
"There might be some people rushing at the last minute to get everything done."
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