Hopes for management standards

WELLINGTON: The new Labour government could make big changes to the $50 billion apartment sector and raise property management standards for landlords and tenants, experts say.

Joanna Pidgeon, a partner at Pidgeon Law, and Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell are hoping for the reform of laws governing apartments and property managers.

‘‘I am encouraged that Labour confirmed immediately before the election that they will look to reforming the Unit Titles Act 2010,’’ Ms Pidgeon said yesterday, citing a member’s Bill drawn from the ballot just before the election, although there wasn’t enough time for its first reading.

‘‘This will probably see body corporate managers regulated and required to be part of at least a membership body such as Strata Community Association or REINZ, as well as providing better disclosure and governance for bodies corporate,’’ she said.

Former Auckland Central MP and National deputy leader Nikki Kaye campaigned on this for many years, joined lately by National leader Judith Collins.

Ms Norwell said the institute ‘‘will be holding Labour to its preelection promise that it will review the regulation of property managers and bring in at bare minimum a code of conduct, minimum training requirements and some recourse for complaints.’’

The institute had fought for a decade to try to raise property management standards, including with a campaign last year backed by more than 80 organisations, she said.

The REINZ already had a code of practice, ongoing education and professional development training that could be enshrined in new law easily, she said.

‘‘The industry will also be looking for greater clarification around the preelection announcements in regard to the Resource Management Act. It is essential that we can build more houses at scale in order to fill some of the backlog of shortage and that housing can become more affordable,’’ she said.

More than one million people rent residential properties, so raising the bar could benefit landlords as well as tenants.

Ms Pidgeon said some property managers affiliated with the REINZ were complying with that body’s regulations, ‘‘but there is no requirement for this, or for a property manager to have any training. They often hold large sums of other people’s money. Regulation should provide some protection against some of the cowboy property managers.’’

She cited body corporate and property managers who often held thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, saying some regulatory oversight would give greater protection to landlords, tenants and apartment owners.

She saw no prospect of reform in another area she had campaigned on for many years.

‘‘Unfortunately, there is no mention of looking at reform of cross leases,’’ she said of those titles which she has previously called the ticking time bomb of the residential property sector.

She was increasingly being contacted by people wanting to convert from cross lease to freehold, who were complaining they had problems with alterations not having been dealt with correctly, Ms Pidgeon said.

Because these people had to deal with disputes via arbitration, the government never became aware of ongoing costs and issues not being dealt with.

Even enabling cross lease owners to access the Tenancy Tribunal for disputes would improve access to justice on this issue, she said.

Nor did she forecast any rental housing standards to be further escalated.

Residential housing tenancy minimum standards had been set by the previous government and it was unlikely there would be a change in tenancy law, which at present required landlords to give three notices within a 90day period about a tenant’s antisocial behaviour to be able to terminate a tenancy.

Landlords would become more discerning about who they rented to, which would put more pressure on social housing, she said. — The New Zealand Herald

❛ This will probably

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