Ministry crackdown on slum landlords

Landlords who rent out substandard houses can now expect to get a knock on the door from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) – and may even have rent withheld from them until repairs are complete.

MBIE has a new Tenancy Compliance and Investigation Team, which has the power to investigate substandard housing, even if the tenant does not complain.

An MBIE spokeswoman said it was running a ‘‘targeted risk-based audit programme’’.

‘‘This is designed to help landlords meet their obligations and to ensure that they are,’’ she said.

‘‘The ultimate goal for the targeted audit programme is to audit for compliance, which will give landlords and the ministry the assurance they are meeting their obligations.

‘‘If they are not they will then be given an opportunity to rectify any deficiencies or, in the case of serious deliberate breaches, compliance action may be taken.

‘‘This will also help ensure there is a level playing field for those landlords who are meeting their obligations.

‘‘There is no intention to check every landlord or rental property in New Zealand. However landlords are running a business and we expect all landlords will not only want to meet their obligation but will be happy to demonstrate that they are.’’

The team recently identified worrying levels of non-compliance at a number of student flats in Dunedin.

Peter Lewis, vice-president of the Auckland Property Investors Associ- ation, said it would help address situations where tenants were living in poor housing but were too scared to complain in case they were evicted.

‘‘The law-abiding and professional landlords will probably not run foul of this,’’ he said.

Changes that now let tenants to redirect their rent when repairs were not being completed could also affect cashlow for some landlords.

Tenants are not legally allowed to withhold rent when work has not been done on a property. They are meant to continue to pay rent but issue a notice to rectify, and take any complaints to the Tenancy Tribunal.

But now the tenant can instead seek to pay their rent to MBIE, which will hold the money until there is enough to cover the cost of having the work done. ‘‘It will be interesting to see how it works,’’ Lewis said.

Such changes were needed to cater for a growing number of people who were lifelong renters and expected a higher standard of accommodation.