November 15, 2018
15 micrograms per 100cm2will be accepted by the Tenancy Tribunal as the minimum standard for meth contamination for rental properties.
The Chief adjudicator of Tenancy Tribunal, Melissa Poole stated that it will use the 15mg level as recommended in the Gluckman report – as long as the meth was completed after the report was issued on 28thMay 2018.
She further explained to the delegates at the NZ Property Investors Federation conference in Dunedin that the Tribunal worked a lot and spoke to numerous people about the standard, including the Housing Minister Phil Twyford.
The Tribunal’s hand was pretty much forced by Housing New Zealand’s decision to utilize 15 as the standard just days after Gluckman report was issued.
“One of the difficulties for us is if you have the biggest player in town going with 15 as the standard it becomes very difficult for us to say to you guys you’re not Housing New Zealand so we are going to apply NZS (1.5 ) to you.
She further stated that if the Tribunal was using 1.5 it would conclusively penalize the private landlords.
“We have taken a pre-emptive step and say ok from the date the Gluckman report was released we will accept 15 as the standard.”
She described that there were some critical differences between the NZS standard of 1.5 micrograms per 100cm2 and the 15 proposed by Gluckman.
The NZ Standard was set at a level where it provided assurance of no risk, while the Gluckman report, which has reviewed all published scientific evidence, set the 15 level as being the point at which it was reasonably confident there was no risk or harm.
She further stated “It’s gone from watertight to risk evaluations.”
Melissa Poole stated that the Tribunal would consider utilizing the 1.5 level if an applicant presented evidence that there were “other factors” such as meth manufacturing in a rental.
She further stated that, If you think there’s a risk of more than smoking you have to provide evidence. Then we can look at 1.5. it’s all about the evidence landlords bring to us.
Poole elaborated that the Tribunal does not set the law; “It doesn’t set the standards. It applies the standards.”
“Once the Gluckman report came out we couldn’t ignore it,” she reasoned.
If you are looking for property manager for your investment property? Please do contact us now on 09 985 5706 or office@metronz.co.nz.
Information retrieved from https://www.landlords.co.nz/article/976513745/tribunal-to-adopt-gluckman-s-meth-standard.
