Tenant insulates her flat
The Christchurch City Council may run foul of the law by maintaining some of its flats cannot be insulated – despite a resident doing the job herself.
Ceiling and underfloor insulation has been a legal requirement in social housing since July 2016. All rental properties will require floor and ceiling insulation from July 1 next year.
The requirements were not lost on Lynda McKenzie, 67, who was told about two years ago it was not possible to insulate the ceiling of her council flat in St Albans. At least, it was not possible until she got the work done herself.
When contacted by Stuff, council head of facilities, property and planning Angus Smith said the complex’s sloping roofs had exposed rafters and no space for insulation.
But when Stuff visited McKenzie’s upstairs unit last Friday, a freshly-cut manhole opened to reveal a warm, newly insulated ceiling space.
Her employer and a contractor had covered the cost. McKenzie noticed a ‘‘huge’’ difference to the warmth of her once cold flat.
‘‘I’ve spoken [to my neighbours] . . . they think it’s wonderful [that it’s been insulated] and they’re hoping they’ll be able to get theirs done, because it is the law nowadays.’’
McKenzie said she believed having her ceiling insulated showed the council – either knowingly or mistakenly – was breaking the law.
Council staff visited the 25 units in her complex about two weeks after the 2016 legal requirement was introduced, before telling her the ceiling could not be insulated, she said.
‘‘We were visited by two people . . . to say that it was impossible to do the ceiling or the floor, because the floor was concrete and the ceiling had no manhole.’’
Now, her work suggested at least the nine remaining upstairs units may have appropriate roof space to make them warmer – but that they were currently insufficiently insulated.
Smith said the council was not breaching rental property standards as legislation allowed for exemptions in properties ‘‘not reasonably practicable to insulate without substantial building work’’.
However, all that was required to insulate McKenzie’s ceiling was for a contractor to cut a square hole in her ceiling to make a manhole.
Smith said: ‘‘[The units] were not insulated as they are unable to be insulated . . . The units in this complex were assessed under council’s current insulation programme.
‘‘When it was found these units were unable to have insulation installed in them . . . council sought professional advice to upgrade to a cost-effective heating source for the units.’’
Smith did not directly respond to questions about the fact that the flat had been insulated, despite the council’s claims.
A council spokeswoman later said staff would need to assess the flat before commenting on the new insulation, which required giving McKenzie 48 hours notice before being on site.
McKenzie hoped her situation would prompt the council to insulate other flats it owned.