How is the Council using its rights under the Public Health Act to inspect rental housing properties?
Aaron Packard made this Official Information request to Taupo District Council
The request was successful.
From: Aaron Packard
Dear Taupo District Council,
Last month, the Wellington City Council tabled a report* looking into the powers that the council has to inspect and report on unsanitary or unhealthy housing. The report showed that the Council has significantly stronger powers to enforce healthy and sanitary housing that it had been aware of or was practising. These powers are applicable to all local, unitary and district councils. You can read the legislative basis for these powers in the appendix below.
Renters United is a national organisation of renters campaigning to improve conditions for all renters in Aotearoa. We are concerned that many councils around the country are not adequately using their powers to ensure housing is healthy and sanitary, particularly private rental housing.
We write to request the following information under the Local Government Information and Meetings Act 1987:
1. In the past five years, how many times has the Council used their rights under the Public Health Act to inspect rental housing properties?
2. In the past five years, how many times has the Council exercised its powers to issue a repair or closure notice to landlords whose properties do not meet the Housing Improvement Regulations?
3. How do you identify which rental housing properties to inspect under the Public Health Act?
4. What is the process for tenants to request the Council inspect their rental housing property under the Public Health Act and provide a written report on its condition?
5. What information is available on your website or in your publications on rental housing inspections provided by the Council?
6. What is your process for engaging with the Tenancy Tribunal to provide reports on the rental housing inspections you conduct?
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as reasonably practicable.
Thank you.
Aaron Packard
Renters United Organiser
027 3519994
Appendix:
The legislative basis
The Housing Improvement Regulations 1947, originally made under the Housing Improvement Act 1945, are now in force under the Health Act 1956 (s120c). These regulations require that, for example, housing is free from dampness, fitted with an approved form of heating, provided with sufficient windows, provided with a toilet, and that rooms are of a minimum size. Many of these regulations are encompassed in more recent legislation, including under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and the Residential Tenancies Act (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019. Under the Health Act 1956, local bodies are directed and empowered to enforce the regulations in their district (s23d). If housing does not comply with the Housing Improvement Regulations, local bodies can issue a repair notice or a closure notice**. The council’s public health team should inspect properties upon request and provide a written report for tenants or the Tenancy Tribunal on their observations of the state of the property.
*Wellington City Council, ‘Safety of Housing in Wellington’, in Ordinary Meeting of Strategy and Policy Committee, 2020, pp. 245–52 (p. 251) <https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/your-...>.
**Barry Barton, ‘A Warm and Dry Place to Live: Energy Efficiency and Rental Accommodation’, Canterbury Law Review, 19 (2013), 1–25 (pp. 10–13).
From: No Reply
Taupo District Council
Thank you for your email.
You have contacted us outside of our business hours (Monday to Friday, 8am
to 5pm).
If your matter is urgent, please call us on 07 376 0899 or 0800 ASK TDC
(0800 275 832). Otherwise, we will respond to you as soon as possible.
Kind regards
Customer Services
Taupo District Council • 46 Horomatangi Street, Taupo 3330
Private Bag 2005 • Taupo Mail Centre • Taupo 3352 • New Zealand
T +64 7 376 0899 • E [Taupo District Council request email]
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
www.taupo.govt.nz
[1][IMG]
WARNING
This message may contain privileged and confidential information intended
only for the use of the addressee named above. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the Taupo District Council immediately.
Phone +64 7 376 0899[2]Call: +64 7 376 0899.
This email (with or without any attachment) is not an official statement
or formal document of the Taupo District Council unless otherwise stated
and cannot necessarily be used in any legal, formal or official
circumstance.
This e-mail has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[3]http://www.marshalsoftware.com
References
Visible links
1. https://www.taupodc.govt.nz/
2. Call: +64 7 376 0899
file:///tmp/foiextract20200906-39-atgbtu#
3. http://www.marshalsoftware.com/
From: Customer ServiceTeam
Taupo District Council
Good Morning
Thank you for your email.
We have logged your request in our system and notified the appropriate
department for you.
Please do not hesitate to reply to this email or give us a call on 07 376
0899 or 0800 ASK TDC (0800 275 832) if you would like further
information. We are more than happy to help.
Kind Regards
Janine Peters
Janine Peters Customer Support
Taupō District Council • 46 Horomatangi Street, Taupō 3330
Private Bag 2005 • Taupō Mail Centre • Taupō 3352 • New Zealand
T +64 7 376 0899 • E [Taupo District Council request email]
Follow us on [1]Facebook and [2]Twitter
[3]www.taupo.govt.nz
show quoted sections
From: Tina Jakes
Taupo District Council
Hi Aaron
Your request dated 7 September 2020 is acknowledged and will be processed
under the Local Government Official Information & Meetings Act 1987.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 5 October 2020, being 20 working days after the
day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of
an extension of that timeframe.
Kind Regards
Tina
Tina Jakes Head of Democracy, Governance and Venues
Taupô District Council • 46 Horomatangi Street, Taupô 3330
Private Bag 2005 • Taupô Mail Centre • Taupô 3352 • New Zealand
D +64 7 376 0726 T +64 7 376 0899 M 027 436 0944 E
[1][email address]
Follow us on [2]Facebook and [3]Twitter
[4]www.taupo.govt.nz
[5][IMG]
WARNING
This message may contain privileged and confidential information intended
only for the use of the addressee named above. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the Taupo District Council immediately.
Phone +64 7 376 0899[6]Call: +64 7 376 0899.
This email (with or without any attachment) is not an official statement
or formal document of the Taupo District Council unless otherwise stated
and cannot necessarily be used in any legal, formal or official
circumstance.
This e-mail has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[7]http://www.marshalsoftware.com
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.facebook.com/TaupoDistrictCou...
http://www.facebook.com/TaupoDistrictCou...
3. http://twitter.com/#!/taupo_dc
http://twitter.com/#!/taupo_dc
4. http://www.taupo.govt.nz/
5. https://www.taupodc.govt.nz/
6. Call: +64 7 376 0899
file:///tmp/foiextract20200907-39-hqiq1n#
7. http://www.marshalsoftware.com/
From: Tina Jakes
Taupo District Council
Hi Aaron
Your request dated 6 September 2020 has been processed under the Local
Government Official Information & Meetings Act 1987.
Please find information requested detailed below.
1. In the past five years, how many times has the Council used their
rights under the Public Health Act to inspect rental housing
properties?
There have been 10 cases that were reported to council where the actual
house a tenant lived in was the problem
2. In the past five years, how many times has the Council exercised its
powers to issue a repair or closure notice to landlords whose properties
do not meet the Housing Improvement Regulations?
We have never issued a formal repair or closure notice.
3. How do you identify which rental housing properties to inspect under
the Public Health Act?
For us to inspect a rental property (or non rental property in some cases)
we need to have a referral or complaint from a resident of that address or
someone who has concerns about an address before we investigate.
Realistically to regularly inspect every rental in town is unfeasible as
we don’t know which are rentals or owned or who lives there in many cases
so referral is the only practical option. We investigate every complaint
we receive to check the condition of the property unless it is unsafe to
do so.
4. What is the process for tenants to request the Council inspect their
rental housing property under the Public Health Act and provide a written
report on its condition?
Our current process for complaints of this type is to visit and make an
initial assessment against the regulations and the HHS and then create a
brief report and then we can send this to Tenancy Services as a referral.
From my discussions with Tenancy Services there is no guarantee that they
will actually investigate as cases are triaged on priority. In theory if
the issues were in contravention of the HI regs then we would look at our
options for this
5. What information is available on your website or in your publications
on rental housing inspections provided by the Council?
We don’t have any information related to this as it is not a core service
of council and only undertaken on a complaints based priority.
6. What is your process for engaging with the Tenancy Tribunal to provide
reports on the rental housing inspections you conduct?
In cases where there are significant health issues, we would refer these
onto MBIE and their enforcement arm that undertake inspections for rental
properties. We have never engaged with the tenancy tribunal to my
knowledge. As above we would forward reports to Tenancy Services as
needed.
If you believe your request for information has not been adequately dealt
with you may complain to the Office of the Ombudsman, and their contact
details are: Phone: 0800 802 602
Email: [1][email address]
Website: [2]www.ombudsman.govt.nz
Kind Regards
Tina
Tina Jakes Head of Democracy, Governance and Venues
Taupō District Council • 46 Horomatangi Street, Taupō 3330
Private Bag 2005 • Taupō Mail Centre • Taupō 3352 • New Zealand
D +64 7 376 0726 T +64 7 376 0899 M 027 436 0944 E
[3][email address]
Follow us on [4]Facebook and [5]Twitter
[6]www.taupo.govt.nz
[7][IMG]
WARNING
This message may contain privileged and confidential information intended
only for the use of the addressee named above. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the Taupo District Council immediately.
Phone +64 7 376 0899[8]Call: +64 7 376 0899.
This email (with or without any attachment) is not an official statement
or formal document of the Taupo District Council unless otherwise stated
and cannot necessarily be used in any legal, formal or official
circumstance.
This e-mail has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[9]http://www.marshalsoftware.com
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. file:///C:/Users/tjakes/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/tjakes/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/QJM1BA6X/www.ombudsman.govt.nz
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.facebook.com/TaupoDistrictCou...
http://www.facebook.com/TaupoDistrictCou...
5. http://twitter.com/#!/taupo_dc
http://twitter.com/#!/taupo_dc
6. http://www.taupo.govt.nz/
7. https://www.taupodc.govt.nz/
8. Call: +64 7 376 0899
file:///tmp/foiextract20201004-39-1tq6zhh#
9. http://www.marshalsoftware.com/
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this request