Landlords duped over meth testing

Landlords who forked out thousands are feeling duped after a government report busted the meth myth wide open.

In a bombshell report issued yesterday, the prime minister’s chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman found there is no evidence of risk to humans from third-hand exposure to houses where methamphetamine has been consumed.

But the meth testing industry has slammed the report, calling the office of the PM’s chief science adviser ‘‘reckless’’.

Contrary to the Gluckman report, MethSolutions chief executive Miles Stratford said the findings don’t stack up to international science. He said the Government’s economic, political and social policy stands to benefit from the report.

‘‘Media tells us New Zealand has a shortage of state houses for people in need but changing the level of what they determine to be ‘safe’ meth residue is not the answer, no matter how many more state houses it may free up for occupation,’’ Stratford said.

‘‘We have been provided with a report that panders to the economic and social policy direction this government is looking to set.’’

He said New Zealanders should be concerned by this report. ‘‘Not because of what it says about an industry that is largely made up of wellintentioned people concerned about the impact meth has on our communities, but because of the signals it sends out about this Government’s willingness to wrap up economically advantageous social policy in a veneer of scientific credibility.’’

After years of unnecessary expense, property owners will be feeling frustrated and duped said Waikato Property Investors Association president Stephen Harries.

In June 2017, a standard of 1.5 micrograms per 100cm2 was set as the clean-up level in New Zealand but Gluckman said exposure to 15 micrograms of methamphetamine per 100cm2 was unlikely to cause any adverse effects.

‘‘It’s a shame this has come so late after people have spent thousands of dollars remediating houses that didn’t require having any work done to them at all,’’ Harries said

‘‘But it’s good news. It makes available houses that were previously unavailable, especially through Housing NZ for people to live in them.’’

The Gluckman report found New Zealand made a ‘‘leap in

logic’’ in setting

standards used overseas to clean ‘‘clan labs’’ while testing and cleaning houses where meth had only been smoked.

‘‘There is absolutely no evidence in the medical literature of anyone being harmed from passive use, at any level,’’ Gluckman said. ‘‘We can’t find one case.’’

New Zealand Property Investors’ Federation executive officer Andrew King said money has been spent on a problem that didn’t exist.

‘‘In addition to the cost and its effect on rental prices, there is also the time it takes to do all the testing and the time that rental housing is unavailable when it doesn’t pose any health risk.’’

And REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell has called for clarity, saying the latest announcement conflicts official advice from the Ministry of Health and ESR scientists.

‘‘In light of today’s report, we again call on the Real Estate Authority, our governing body, to provide real estate agents and property managers with immediate guidance as to what to do when dealing with their clients in terms of disclosure,’’ Norwell said.

Positive meth tests are tagged on a property’s LIM Report, said Hamilton landlord Tara NanduMoke and can decrease the value of a property and make it unsaleable. The Gluckman report changes that.

‘‘It opens up our property values, it opens up way more opportunity for us to invest in areas we otherwise would have stayed away from,’’ Nandu-Moke said.

The report comes in the height of the meth-testing season, said Resultz Group managing director Kyly Coombes.

And while the report finds no evidence of risk, the ‘‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence of an effect’’.