Councils fall short over repair orders

Councils have been downplaying their role in enforcing healthy home laws, information released to a renters’ advocacy group under the Official Information Act shows.

Renters United sought information from 68 councils using official information laws, and learned there had been just 14 repair orders issued by council officers to owners of substandard rentals during the past five years.

Renters United found most council websites had no information on their powers, and spokesman Robert Whitaker called on councils to stop ignoring their responsibilities.

‘‘We want councils to be doing the inspections, and ... to develop an understanding of the quality of rentals in their areas.’’

In August, a Wellington City Council report said it had significantly stronger powers to enforce healthy and sanitary housing than it had been aware of, or was practising, Whitaker said.

These were laws dating back to the late 1940s. They obliged councils to enforce the Housing Improvement Regulations, and remain in place now, although some penalties are outdated, with a maximum fine of just $4 for breaches of the Housing Improvement Regulations.

Renters United’s survey indicated councils were purely reactive, only inspecting rentals when asked by tenants.

None of the councils disputed Wellington’s interpretation of the extent of their powers.

The only council to give Renters United year-by-year statistics was Auckland Council, with 67 rental inspections in 2017, 31 in 2018, 62 in 2019, and 100 last year, but it had not issued any repairs orders. Hutt City Council and Ka¯piti District Council issued the most repair orders, with two apiece in that time.

Whitaker said with housing shortages in major cities, there was no market incentive for landlords to provide healthy homes ‘‘Even the worst places are not staying empty. Somebody is always desperate enough to take them,’’ he said.

The enforcement of insulation regulations, which came into force in July 2019, and Healthy Homes regulations, which come into force in July this year, was primarily through the Tenancy Tribunal, Whitaker said. This relied on tenants taking cases against their landlords, he said.

He likened that to people eating in restaurants being expected to enforce food hygiene laws by taking cases against their owners.