Capital to raise its bar for housing
Wellington homeowners face the possibility of being forced to bring their homes up to an approved city council standard.
The proposed Housing Quality Standard will be voluntary at first, but deputy mayor Paul Eagle said Wellington City Council had not ruled out making it mandatory if support fell flat.
The standard aims to improve the health, safety and earthquake resilience of all Wellington homes, and comes in the wake of the rental warrant of fitness approved by the council last week.
Eagle said the city was vulnerable to disaster, and the council needed a ‘‘Wellington solution’’ on the table. ‘‘My crappy house in Island Bay is a 1950s job, and you wouldn’t build a house like that today. We get battered by the coast every day.’’
If people failed to take the housing standard on, or thwarted the process, the scheme could be made mandatory, he said. ‘‘If they’re not going to do it, only then we will need to take a harder line.’’
However, only the Government has the power to make such standards compulsory.
A spokesman for mayor Justin Lester said a ‘‘huge amount of work’’ was going into the standard, and it was a long process.
‘‘[It] will incorporate both personal health and earthquake resilience, and be tailored to Wellington’s needs. The aim of this is to have a clear standard for all houses in Wellington to be warm, safe and dry, and also to tie in the earthquake strengthening and have it all in one simple standard. Currently, there’s a bunch of standards.’’
It was too early to say whether meeting or failing the standard would be included on a home’s Lim report, he said. ‘‘There will be a quality mark, and we envisage it being able to be advertised on Trade Me. For landlords, it’s a way to stand out in the market.’’
Bayleys Wellington regional general manager Grant Henderson called the standard ‘‘a great idea’’.
However, he warned some homeowners might not have the finance to meet a new standard, such as having to pay for insulation.
‘‘If you have a family without a lot of money, it’s going to be hard for them to adhere to that.’’ He believed a new housing standard might change the way buyers looked for prospective homes. However, most sought a building inspection before buying.
Sunshine hours and warmth were among the most important things people were looking for, and a desire for healthier homes appeared to be catching on. ‘‘In the lower price range houses, in particular in Lower and Upper Hutt, a lot of them do have underfloor insulation and heatpumps too. A lot of the homes we’re seeing, people are investing in.’’
Last year, the council engaged a housing taskforce whose recommendations included a housing quality standard framework.
The rental WoF would shape the wider housing standard, Lester’s spokesman said.
The rental WoF inspection would cost $250, but it was too soon to know what costs might be associated with the housing standard.