Don’t overlook staff accommodation
New Zealand’s housing crisis continues to dominate our media, and farm workers are not immune. Houses for rent are in short supply and this has pushed up rents and forced people into substandard accommodation. Farm workers are not immune. Anecdotally, it seems that some farm workers may not fare much better than their urban counterparts when it comes to finding good, well-insulated homes.
A lot of farms are passed down from one generation to the next, with the farmer living in their forefathers’ house, having had the house upgraded and modernised over many years. However, farm workers’ accommodation is sometimes overlooked. While most farmers will of course provide safe, dry and warm houses for their workers, some farms are offering less than acceptable living quarters. Worker accommodation can be as old as 70 or 80 years, with minimal maintenance or investment in its upkeep being carried out, for decades.
Meagre household water facilities (sometimes with little hot water available), vinyl peeling off kitchen or bathroom floors and shabby hessian on the walls, are just some examples. Poor heating and insulation in winter, as well as leaking roofs, are common problems. One farm worker resorted to placing their children’s toy box behind their front door to prevent it from swinging open on cold, blustery nights.
Finding rats in bedroom cupboards was another worker’s experience.
Farmers would do well to heed the best practice guidelines, including the rights and obligations of the landlord, which are clearly set out in the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and also supplied by Tenancy Services and MBIE. There are also health and safety duties that must be complied with under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
These include taking all reasonably practicable steps to maintain accommodation to ensure the worker is not exposed to safety risks arising from the accommodation.
Some farmers may view their accommodation as an employment benefit and that farm workers should not complain – workers knowingly take on the role, including the accommodation, so should have known what to expect.
On the other hand, farm workers may be reluctant to raise these issues for fear of compromising their relationship with their employer or putting their employment in jeopardy.
They may also not be aware of their rights as a tenant.
However, it does not make sense to have farm workers unhappy with their living conditions.
This can spill over to substandard work performance, as well as health and safety issues (where living conditions are less than hygienic), for which the farmer will ultimately have to pay a price.
Farmers need to be held to account by the same rules as other landlords and their workers should be entitled to have reasonable living standards.
❚ Lawyers and legal executives from Auld Brewer Mazengarb & McEwen write about legal topics affecting farmers. The content of this article is necessarily general and readers should seek specific advice and not rely solely on what is written here. Those who would like further information on any of the topics, please contact Auld Brewer Mazengarb & McEwen. This column was prepared by Diana Koorts, who can be contacted by emailing diana.koorts@abmm.co.nz.