Chlöe Swarbrick v Mark Richardson: Should NZ introduce WOFs for rental properties? | Newshub

is unable to even reach the bottom rung of the property market in new zealand renting is the main option but often those homes aren't healthy and the green party says the government needs to introduce a warrant of fitness for rental properties here to explain green party mp chloe soulbrook good morning mourinho what's so hard because the healthy home standards come in right so you've got to have a heat pump you've got to have your insulation you know what's so hard about that for renters to get their head around renters currently have the onus on them to go to the tenancy tribunal and drag their landlord or potentially property manager through that process in order to enforce those healthy home standards awareness fitness would front load any of that potential stress and say that hey we've given this a license it's all good to go so every landlord would have to get a license like they do for their car for their rental property they weren't a fat nurse yes how much would that cost uh so the estimates from the university of otago have run at around 150 to 250 and i think when you're talking about that in the context of an average rent in this country of 500 per week makes a whole lot of sense do you know how much bureaucracy that would create do you know how much bureaucracy it creates when people are having to turn to the tenancy tribunal in order to enforce their rights let alone risking ruinous relationships do you know the proportion of cases won by landlords versus tenants overwhelmingly tenants when the cases yeah but nonetheless it can potentially result in cases and it can potentially result in those tenants being blacklisted thankfully there was a change which enabled some of those tenants well no absolutely but definitely not all landlords are perfect but actually what this warrant of fitness would do would mean that from the start there is certification which would actually prevent the landlord if you want to talk about a removal of bureaucracy the landlord wouldn't be being taken to the tendency tribunal if it was certified off the bat that their home was up to standard would this apply to the government it should but it doesn't at the moment does it well the healthy home standards are delayed yeah at present month but you're warning properties targets private landlords doesn't it well it should apply to kanga order properties as well so i just want to take this back to high level because it should apply to you all right so you're changing it now so you're including housing new zealand homes as well they should be included absolutely okay so we've got to change because the thing is i mean it's all very well to point the finger at private landlords but it's actually you know just cinderella is the worst slum landlord in the country okay look to put this in context carrying order owns about 56 000 homes if i'm not correct off the top of my head that is around a percentage of all of the housing stock in this country and the rental market uh the private landlord market 30 of homes 30 of homes are owned by people who own between four and more than 20. but what's right hang on we're talking about different things here yeah i'm saying the same standard should apply to the play to people across because the scary thing about some of the reports i've read is that for those who are and they are the most vulnerable new zealanders who are living in kang order homes half reported dampness summer all of the time this is our state yep housing stock 40 visible mold summer all of the time 14 constant dampness 16 visible mold all of the time there's a guy who's living in wellington in a council flat wellington city council fed i was reading about today he sleeps with a device on his mouth so he can breathe oxygen through the night every week he has to clean it and it's filthy he's meant to clean it once every three months according to the so it's simply not good enough and look if you listen to for example the royal college of australasian physicians they'll be telling you that a warrant of fitness should apply to all homes whether they are counter-order or rental properties because we know based on data released yesterday that since 1993 rental prices adjusted for inflation have doubled but the standard of rental properties has not increased market other costs have gone up though haven't they yeah all right but rental properties have also managed to increase by 50 while wages have only increased by 20. how often do i have to do my warrant well you could look at doing it every three years as proposed by the university of otago yeah and you talk about a cost of 150 but then you're going to end out with like every time you take your car to the um to the to the vehicle warrant place they send you down the road to get a mechanic there's always something wrong with it so the cost is not 150 baht this is why we should have independent regulators or those who are looking at this not from the perspective of how can we make as much money as possible which is potentially some parts of the problem with regards to the healthy home standards enforcement another upward pressure on rents well i mean with regard to rent mark i mean you're charging rent that's above and beyond the mortgage that you have on the property right not necessarily no not today you yourself no okay so you're making a loss on your rental properties yeah yeah but you're making a capital gain on your rental properties hope eventually so you're doing this out of charity you're telling me no i'm doing it because i'm providing an accommodation for people that need it uh and what are some quite nice comfortable places uh i'll make up the shortfall um and eventually through capital gain when i sell i'll get a capital gain that will mean everyone wins okay yeah but nonetheless the likelihood of a capital gain has been taken from me because um because i'm not allowed so what's the business sense uh it's it's called risk and reward okay so you agree that landlord should be taking on risk when they engage in a business venture providing homes i think you do by nature because it's a lot of your money that's tied up in a lot of your capital that could be spent elsewhere yeah um in terms of what you would call a long-term investment that hopefully pays off at the end of the day so why do you think it's that two-thirds of wealth in this country is held in housing it's just the way we've always invested in this country you know why because you can leverage it's a safer thing to leverage and it's something that the banks will actually lend you against because you have basically the sticks there that they can see and if things turn to custard they can sell uh a lot harder for people like myself mum and dad investor to get uh money from the bank leverage to maximize profits and other forms and on that mum and dad investor point and on the point around you know people being and renting for a transient period in their life i just actually really want to challenge that for a second because we know 35 of the population rent we also now know that 30 of those over the age of 65 do not own their own property this is no longer a transient circumstance the reality is that there are some people who will just never own property don't want to own property and we're never going to own property regardless of the fact prices have gone through the route and surely they deserve a healthy home in the same way that all your occupiers do yeah yeah i suppose in an ideal world you know can i just say i live in a damp i live in a damp cold home yep well it should be uh no i do not i'm very privileged to not live in a damn congo for good landlords actually mark because it would prevent them from going through the through the tenancy you talk about 30 on the conversation she got 70 that's a damn good hit rate if you ask me that that that's to me sounds like a pretty healthy country well again again well we've got the lowest rates of homeownership and generations and we also have three times uh those who live in rental properties are three times more likely to live in damp unhealthy homes and we're just saying that people across the board if you want to make renting a viable long-term solution for some people they deserve to live in healthy homes as well absolutely agree but don't say that other people don't have a right to actually try to buy a home as well i'm not saying that at all i'm saying that if people are providing houses for others to live in in the same way that you'd rent out a car there should be a warrant of fitness there there should be expectations that we are treating landlords like adults they have responsibilities when it comes to providing homes for those renters don't paint everyone okay all right i'm not painting anyone with this i think you're perceiving a slight chloe i'm sorry unnecessary victimization of oneself i think all right we have to leave it there chloe always appreciate you coming in i know you two will kiss and make up absolutely 29

Channel: Newshub

Views: 85,789

Keywords: Newshub, News, Hub, TV3, TV, NZ, New, Zealand, Three, 3News, 3 News, Video, Watch, Chloe, Swarbrick, Mark, Richardson, MP, Green, Party, Auckland, Central, Rental, Laws, WOF, Warrant, Of, Fitness, Rules, Regulations, The, AM, Show, Interview, Debate, Debating, Rent, Property, Properties

Id: cwtT5vT6qbw

Length: 8min 1sec (481 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 21 2021