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Submission to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill
The Salvation Army welcomes the recognition that legislated minimum housing standards are necessary. This is an important first step towards raising rental housing quality. We therefore support aspects of this Bill in principle.
However, The Salvation Army believes that the proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) do not go far enough to provide tenants with secure, safe and healthy housing. In addition to our comments on specific proposed amendments, we recommend the following:
1) A substantive review of our current outdated New Zealand tenancy law.
2) The rebalancing of power imbalances between vulnerable tenants and landlords, including:
i. More secure forms of tenure, such as a presumption that tenancies are almost always for extended fixed terms;
ii. Publicly funded tenant advocacy services funded from the interest on tenants’ bond money, such as the model used in Australia;
iii. More stringent penalties for breaches;
iv. More systematic enforcement and adequate resources for enforcement;
v. Mandatory statutory reporting requirements on the Chief Executive.
3) An evidence based, comprehensive approach to minimum housing standards, beyond the narrow categories of smoke alarms and insulation. The current outdated and proposed standards ignore the evidence of extensive research about the required tools for better housing quality and the enormous benefits of investing in such tools.