Mike Butler: Insulation, alarms latest kneejerk

Housing Minister Nick Smith’s announcement today that insulation and smoke alarms will become legally required in rental properties comes with the news that the government has taken the idiotic rental property warrant of fitness proposal off the table. (1)

This is the latest of a line of apparent National Party crackdowns on property owners that included a mini capital gains tax on properties sold within two years, and loan-to-value requirements on banks to reduce lending to property investors.

Mike Butler: Governing class attacks landlords

Earthquake strengthening requirements, warrants of fitness, a rental property register were among a summary of regulatory moves that could cost private sector landlords dearly appeared in the May issue of the Hawke’s Bay Property Investor Insider newsletter.

The Building (earthquake prone buildings) Amendment Bill, a knee-jerk reaction to the Canterbury earthquake compiled by error-prone bureaucrats (See Bureaucrats bungle earthquake policy) for gonzo Minister Maurice Williamson, passed its first reading on March 5, 2014. Owners of buildings with three or more household units and those with two or more storeys should be aware that under the bill these buildings would have to be strengthened.

Mike Butler: Readers oppose rental WOFs

A NZ Herald editorial last month titled "Warrants of fitness a must for all rental homes" which opined that “It is time to place some obligations on those offering homes for rent. Already, they benefit from tax breaks and untaxed capital gains” sparked 97 comments most of which were hostile to such WOFs. Many related the time and money spent cleaning up after tenants trashed the place, a number thought any rental property WOF should be on the tenant not the building, and one asked why, since people had lived in houses for 10,000 years, should there suddenly be a need for a rental WOF.

The objections are illuminating and entertaining. Read on: