Many rentals still not insulated

As many as 220,000 rental properties are still not properly insulated with six months till the Government starts fining landlords for the practice.

The number of non-compliant properties is so huge that the Government doubts the insulation industry is up to the task.

And the deadline being faced isn’t sudden or even the result of this Government’s overhaul of tenancy laws: it comes after a law passed in 2016 by the-then National Government.

That law asked landlords to put underfloor and overhead insulation in their properties unless it was physically impossible or extremely cumbersome to do so. A deadline of July 1, 2019, was set into the legislation – after which landlords would be liable for a $4000 fine.

And yet despite an ad campaign and a subsidy for landlords to insulate their properties, a 2018 monitoring report from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has found that between 126,000 and 220,000 rental homes are still not insulated to the proper standard.

The report, set to be released today, finds that 89 per cent of landlords are aware of the insulation changes but only 67 per cent of private rentals are insulated to the proper standard.

This is an increase of 7 per cent since the law was passed.

The data in the report is from March this year so may be slightly out of date.

The insulation industry does not believe it can insulate the number of properties that need insulation before July 1.

Insulation Association of NZ head Richard Arkinstall says the insulators who belong to his organisation – the vast majority – can only insulate an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 a year.

The Government believes of the 200,000 or so rentals that needed retrofits when the legislation was introduced, just under 30,000 had been completed by March, 2018.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford said there would be no leniency for landlords unable to book a insulation retrofit in time, because the deadline had been known for years.