43280 (2025). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Associate Minister of Housing

43280 (2025). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Associate Minister of Housing: What procedures are followed when a Healthy Homes compliance statement supplied by a landlord states that a tenancy is compliant, but a subsequent inspection identifies hazards in the same property?

Hon Tama Potaka: Landlords of private rentals are responsible for ensuring their rental property complies with Healthy Homes Standards throughout the tenancy, not just at the beginning. New, renewed or varied tenancy agreements must include a signed statement with details of the property’s current level of compliance with the standards, and the landlord is responsible for the accuracy of the compliance statement. There are requirements for the landlord to update the compliance statement if circumstances change. If the property is not compliant with healthy homes standards and the landlord and tenant cannot reach agreement on what needs to happen, tenants can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to have this remedied. Landlords who do not meet their obligations are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and may face consequences, such as financial penalties or other enforcement action. The Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT) investigate complaints about compliance with Healthy Homes Standards and have a range of compliance tools to ensure landlords are meeting their obligations. These include (but are not limited to) formal warnings, enforceable undertakings, improvement notices and infringement notices. In the most serious cases, the team may decide to take proceedings against a landlord in the Tenancy Tribunal.