Green MP wants to outlaw cold, damp rentals

[spurner]

Green MP wants to outlaw cold, damp rentals



Too many New Zealanders live in cold, damp rental homes, Green MP Gareth Hughes says.

He has a member's bill to legislate against such homes and is touring the country to promote it.

Mr Hughes' Warm Healthy Rental Bill aimed to ensure rental homes met basic standards for warmth and insulation by 2018.

The bill will be entered into the next member's ballot.

All New Zealanders should have adequate housing, Mr Hughes says.

"We know that there are a lot of cold damp rentals out there and that lots of people have to live in them because they don't have the money to move."

The bill would improve people's health, reduce emissions from energy production and increase the value of landlords' properties, Mr Hughes said.

He would visit universities around the country to see some of the coldest flats, he said.

Mr Hughes called on the Government to support his bill and help provide warm and healthy homes.

Once the bill is entered into the member's ballot it will still have to be drawn and get enough votes to be passed.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...d-damp-rentals

[kyotolaw]

Where do we begin? Another pipe dream from the Greens.

I think I heard on Radio Live this afternoon that Hughes had not had the policy costed. What a surprise!

No thought to the fact that forcing landlords to pay for this would result in higher rents for the people he is trying to protect.

No thought to the turmoil that would result as a large percentage of the rentals in New Zealand became illegal.

And the Greens wonder why the can't get more than 7-8% of the vote - its because thats the percentage of the population that is completely financially illiterate.

[Property Man]

Lucky it's a ballot first up and then a member vote if drawn. I have just taken advantage of the insulation scheme an have insulated two of my properties. With the discount it is very well priced. Look into the goverent subsidy if you are looking at insulating your properties.

Cheers
Aaron

[Property Man]

Sorry about spelling mistakes above. iPhones are great but they don't make it easy to read your message before posting!!!!!

[AMR]

Hooray!

The cost to build new housing would go up, so would the value of the existing stock!

[kyotolaw]

The proposed legislation would make it illegal to rent a house that wasn't insulated to a certain standard. This would mean that a lot of the existing stock would become worthless as an income source without spending money on insulation...

[Davo36]

Unfortunately this is the way the whole world is going. These people think that if they force developers and existing landlords to make everything super insulated then we'll all use much less energy and the global warming, I mean climate change problem will go away and we'll all be able to sleep better until the next bogey man comes along.

The thing is I often wonder how much energy use goes into the manufacture of these products. Like if you rip off all the gib in your house and put insulation in, do the floors and ceilings too, then double glaze the windows and so on, then you've just burned a huge amount of energy to do it. It would probably have taken decades to use this much extra energy if it had just been left as is.

Does no one else see this? It's like biffing your old energy inefficient fridge to get a nice new one. Well firstly there's the disposal issue of the old fridge and then all the energy that's gone into making the new one. We feel all 'good' because we have a super efficient appliance, we're not a bad person! But it's smoke and mirrors isn't it?

[eri]

when i'm ruler of the world

i will ban cold, damp, cities

1st we take dunedin

then we take london

[Bob Kane]

I'd like to outlaw wet, damp Green MPs.

[freezinhot]

Fat chance now that the government has taken depreciation away. And how may I ask are we landlords to pay for all this.

FH

[Austrokiwi]

I'd like to outlaw wet, damp Green MPs.

Nah.....just ban them from being able to use modern technology.... a month with out electricity, running water, the internet and the ability to whinge and they may well reconsider there eco "facist" views

[speights boy]

Perhaps this requirement would just become part of a PI's due diligence when making an offer for this type of property.

The existing owner would have 7 years to upgrade the property or sell , at a lesser price.

Having people live in houses with a minimum standard of warmth is fair enough I believe.

Now busy digging foxhole, donning helmet and awaiting incoming.

SB

[Re@der]

Of course these issues are all repairs required to meet the standard. Tax deductible immediately??

[eri]

i remember researching lockwood homes a few years ago

and they were quite passionately against changes to the building code which would kill off their traditional build techniques

the issue was that council? wanted them to seal up the wall cavities to improve insulation values

lockwood felt it would stop their buildings breathing correctly and lead to condensation and rot issues

in retrospect, i think lockwood were right and council was wrong

so if LL are forced to insulate 60's concrete block buildings somehow and then they start suffering from condensation issues who will be liable?

why is the response to screwed up legislation always more legislation?

have we learned nothing from the leaky homes saga?

[One]

Okay, I'll play devil's advocate here.

You all seem to be assuming that his minimal standards include wall insulation, double-glazing etc.

Why?

I assumed he means ceiling insulation and underfloor where that's possible. That's not too drastic a cost to retrofit. Sure, it'll put rents up a bit, but not too badly, and it would probably work wonders for people's health.

And really, if a landlord can't afford $2K for heavily-subsidised celing and floor insulation - with associated rent rise - then their financial position is pretty darn precarious.