Meth stain remains
Outdated meth contamination levels will continue to hamper private and municipal landlords for the foreseeable future.
Vacant state houses will be made available in a matter of weeks, but private homeowners with meth blemishes on their LIM reports will have to wait to have their records cleared.
Two hundred Housing New Zealand homes, including seven in the Waikato, will be put back in the letting pool after the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, exposed a fatal flaw in accepted thinking around methamphetamine contamination.
Standards NZ manager Carmen Mak said the national standard on methamphetamine testing and remediation is voluntary.
Private landlords, however, must adhere to that national standard which, officially, has not changed.
The meth testing and decontamination regime was developed at a time when there was uncertainty around safe levels of contamination.
‘‘It was the first of its kind and as with all standards, they are developed as guidance and are voluntary unless cited in legislation,’’ Mak said.
Gluckman found New Zealand authorities had made a ‘‘leap in logic’’ in setting standards – using an overseas standard based on what clandestine laboratories should be cleaned to.
There was an absence of clear scientific and health information and an assumption trace levels of meth residue pose a health risk.
In fact, he said, there was ‘‘absolutely no evidence’’ of any harm caused from passive use and safe levels are as high as 15 micrograms per 100 square centimetres. The national standard is a tenth of that.
Housing NZ is applying the proposed new standard immediately, a Housing NZ spokesperson said on Thursday, allowing more than 200 properties throughout the country to be filled.
The first houses are expected to be re-let ‘‘in a matter or weeks’’.
But Hamilton City Council city safe manager Kelvin Powell said council adheres to the national standard on methamphetamine testing and remediation and unless it changes, council processes stay the same.
‘‘The national standards we work to have not changed, so we are continuing to use the same processes’’ Hamilton City Council city safe manager Kelvin Powell
He pointed to the Ministry of Health website, which adopts a contamination level of 1.5 microgram per 100 square centimetres.
‘‘At this stage, the national standards we work to have not changed, so we are continuing to use the same processes,’’ Powell said.
‘‘This also means there will be no changes to the way we report information on our LIMs.’’
LIM reports are a summary of information on a property, noting codes of compliance, swimming pools, public stormwater and special features.
They are used by house hunters to ensure they know if there are any problems with a property in their sights – including meth contamination – and has seen some vendors selling for well below the market rate and buyers spending heavily to remedy new purchases.
Any review of the standard will need to be done under the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015, require a committee formed of interested stakeholders and a draft sent out for public consultation before final approval by the independent Standards Approval Board.