Landlords take the initiative

Landlords take the initiative

“The NZ Property Investors’ Federation (NZPIF) has already acted to ensure that smoke alarms are readily available for members to install in their rentals. There is a special purchasing scheme for these alarms on the NZPIF website, “said Andrew King Executive Officer of the NZPIF. “This has been coupled with a vigorous awareness campaign of the need for smoke alarms which started earlier this year and is ongoing”.

The NZPIF also tentatively supports the Government’s move to include insulation, where practical, in the minimum standards for rental houses. A survey of members last year showed that of the 4,817 rental properties covered in the survey, 4,377 (90.9%) already had some form of insulation. Of those who had improved the level of insulation in the last year, 57% had funded this themselves. Again this is an ongoing process for landlords belonging to property investors’ associations affiliated with the NZPIF.

However there is no free lunch of course and the cost of the insulation will eventually be borne by tenants. For this reason the NZPIF believes that insulation should be tax deductible to keep costs down and to reduce the increase in rental prices.

"Currently if you top up existing insulation in a rental property it is counted as a repair and is tax deductible" said King. "If it is going to be a requirement for rental properties to be insulated then the cost of the insulation is necessary to continue renting these out and that cost should be tax deductible. It would be good to have Government clarify this aspect."

“We are disappointed that Government isn't currently in favour of providing electricity vouchers for low income families, “said King. “This isn't something that would affect rental property owners. However we do see some families who need extra help. Perhaps if it was carefully targeted to families of children with a recognised illness then the Government would look at it more favourably.”

ENDS

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