Housing Crisis What Housing Crisis?

[Wayne]

Sidnz

are you saying that caravans need consents?

The building code is clear in s8 that vehicles only if immovable and permanently occupied are considered building

MBIE is making up the rules and that should concern all property owners.

As a small HOME they are intended to be permanently occupied so the question then comes to 'immovable'.
So if connected to sewer etc does that make it immovable?
'Normal' houses can be moved (house moving companies) so are they immovable?

I suspect we need new national rules for these.

[John the builder]

Houses are not intended to be moveable and belong to the bank.

[Wayne]

Houses are not intended to be moveable and belong to the bank.

I suppose the question remains as to whether these tiny houses we are talking about are really made to be movable.
They are intended for permanent occupation whereas a caravan isn't.

[Perry]

How is 'permanent' defined, I wonder?

[John the builder]

How is 'permanent' defined, I wonder?

it isnt and neither is "immovable", that is the problem

the building code solutions used to say 90 days was temporary

as stated above even most houses can be moved? but these TH have wheels and towbars so are vehicles (intended to be moved).

[Perry]

Or perhaps, intended to be capable of being moved.

Everyone knows what's really going on, but no one is saying so, out loud.

(Campervans, motorhomes, caravans and fifth-wheelers excluded)

[Learning]

Some counties in the UK define a mobile home as one that can be on the road and moving within 30 minutes. If it takes longer than that it faces the full rules, regulations and building consents of a permanent structure.

[sidinz]

Sidnz

are you saying that caravans need consents?

I said nothing even remotely of the sort.
What I said was that MBIE are very clear that tiny homes are not caravans.

I actually agree with them - whacking wheels on something built to be stationary 99.9% of the time does not make it a vehicle.
As MBIE pointed out in their decisions, what makes the difference is purpose. The family caravan is designed to be taken on the road regularly, for long distances and for normal speeds. You cannot say the same for these tiny homes, which are designed to be lived in, on one spot. They are moveable, but not mobile.

In fact, some cannot be taken on the road. They truck them in and then set them up on wheels to try to skirt the rules. Taking the piss at its finest.

[Perry]

Tiny Housing Crisis

In fact, some cannot be taken on the road. They truck them in and then set them up on wheels to try to skirt the rules. Taking the piss at its finest.

That is certainly a 'stretch.' However, if it was built on a chassis and delivered by being towed to the site and positioned by the towing vehicle, it does seem to qualify to be called a vehicle.

I've seen many a caravan 'parked up,' semi-permanently. Orewa camp is an example that comes to mind. Clive motor camp, between Hastings and Napier is similar. The difference there is that it's a camping ground being utilised, rather than a residential dwelling section.

Did anyone manage to nail down a definition of "permanent" in this context?

[John the builder]

I said nothing even remotely of the sort.
What I said was that MBIE are very clear that tiny homes are not caravans.

but they are or can be if built right
but the consequence of this "building grab" is that caravans will become buildings as well.

if the definition is not safeguarded then all vehicles that have accommodation will be buildings as soon as they are parked. Caravans, motor homes....the lot.

[Perry]

Less People Per House

New Zealand: A nation of loners?
29 Sep 2019

Growing numbers of New Zealanders are living alone, and it's coming at a financial and social cost. Newly released Census data shows that 405,000 people now live alone, 50,000 more than did in 2013.

Over that same five-year period that the number of single households increased, the median house price in New Zealand rose from $370,000 to more than $500,000 and the nationwide median rent rose by almost $100 a week.

[Perry]

Just a Scenario - Not Going to Happen - Dhil Twitford

Warning 2020 may be a tough year in rental market
7 Jan 2020

Trade Me Property spokesman Aaron Clancy said demand for rental properties was increasing enormously. "Unfortunately for tenants, this is a trend we expect to continue in 2020," he said. "As house prices continue to climb around the country, tenants are staying in rentals longer to gather a deposit, and that's putting pressure on the market. In areas like Wellington city and Auckland city we reckon we will see record-breaking median weekly rents in the coming months as we head towards what we call March madness - when students return to the area for the university year and look for a new place to rent."

Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said that rental returns remain appealing given the low interest rate environment, with investors hunting for a good return. Property still offers this strong return, even as more costs are imposed on LLs from Residential Tenancies Act amendments and the Healthy Homes standards. With rental demand still outstripping supply, LLs can pass on these additional costs to renters, which is keeping rental prices heading up further.

[Perry]

Taxcindarella's HNZ Bullies Move In

Now know as Kraponga Ora, HNZ thwarts first home buyers, according to this media item:
First-home buyer's dream shattered by Government purchase
16 Feb 2020

A first-home buyer has been left disappointed after Housing New Zealand bought out the apartment development she was purchasing a unit in.

Way to go, the socio-commie-clowns.

[artemis]

That thwarted buyer will drive past the development in future years and know she dodged a bullet.

[Perry]

Hello! Anyone Here?

Apart from the farha-way distraction, none of this will be news to PT forumites. But given the amount of sound-dampening sawdust in the ears of the W'ton woonedheads, nothing will change.

UN right about 'human rights' housing crisis, but wrong about the solution
25 Feb 2020

The government had invited UN special housing Rapporteur Leilani Farha to spend ten days visiting New Zealand. Farha suggested New Zealand needs a capital gains tax to keep housing costs in line. But a capital gains tax has never built a house. She also suggested rent freezes as a way of keeping costs down for tenants. But rent controls discourage investors from building new housing. And they also make it harder to deal with the existing shortage.

Farha saw the problem as property price speculation. But the real problem is a massive shortage of housing. And that is an issue of the set of rules councils put in place which make it difficult to build new housing, and a set of institutions created by central government making it difficult for councils to accommodate growth. What we really need is a right to build, and the institutions to support it.

We do not need a UN 'expert' in housing that seem utterly clueless. We have better experts right here. Minister Twyford was absolutely correct when last year he suggested the best way of dealing with capital gains is by allowing so much building that those gains never happen in the first place. It's time to build. And it's the right thing to do.

And isn't it interesting that the UN's farha-way distraction has done so little homework as to suggest a CGT, oblivious to Taxcinda Tooth Fairy's announcement on the subject.

Doh!?