Damage, meth tinkering, tangles tenancy law
Political meddling with the Residential Tenancies Act regarding damage to rental properties, meth contamination, and living in garages, has just made tenancy law more complex and litigious, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today
The Residential Tenancies Amendment
Bill (No 2), which seeks to address issues related to
liability for damage, methamphetamine contamination, and
living in garages, passed its third reading on Wednesday.
The bill:
1. Makes tenants liable for careless
damage up to four weeks of rent or their landlord's
insurance excess, whichever is lower.
2. Extends the definition of "residential premises" to ensure that all premises which are used or intended to be used for residential occupation are covered by the Residential Tenancies Act,
3. Provides yet another regime to address any health risks of any harmful substance in rental properties, including methamphetamine.
4. Enables tenancies where contamination has been established to be terminated in two days.
“The architect of this bill,
Nick Smith, and the current Minister responsible, Kris
Faafoi, should explain how limiting a tenant’s liability
for accidental destruction of, let’s say, a $500,000
house, to four week’s rent, is either fair or just,” Mr
Butler said.
Tenancy Tribunal hearings concerning
damage will become more complex and many more cases will be
appealed through the court system, as you can see from the
following clause that says:
(a) it is for the landlord to prove—
(i) that any damage is not fair wear and tear;
and
(ii) that any destruction or damage occurred in
circumstances described in subsection (1)(b);
and
(iii) that any insurance moneys are irrecoverable for
the reasons described in subsection (3A)(a) (1)(c);
and
(b) it is for the tenant to prove—
(i) that any
destruction or damage was not intentionally done or caused
as described in subsection (1)(a); and
(ii) that any
destruction or damage was not caused by a careless act or
omission described in subsection (2).
“Moreover, the
bill fails to address a substantial legal anomaly in that
people who wilfully damage rental property manage to escape
the consequences of a wilful damage conviction under the
Crimes Act, which carries a jail term of seven years,” he
said.
“Regarding contaminants, the issue of evidence
of harm has been avoided, and the bill assumes that current
level of 15 millionths of a gram per 100 square centimetres
is a meaningful indicator of harm, which it is not,” Mr
Butler said.
“The bill should have simply stated
that the onus was on anyone claiming harm from a
contaminated tenancy to provide evidence of harm,” Mr
Butler said.
Treating garages as residential premises
to extend coverage of the RTA to them so that they confirmed
as non-residential is the sort of thing that gives rise to
the expression “the law is an ass”, he
said.
“This bill, that seeks to clean up messes
created by the Tenancy Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, and
the previous Government, has just made the issues more
unfair and complex and litigious,” Mr Butler
said.
Stop the War on Tenancies is a group that since
last October has been highlighting the evidence that
successive governments have ignored while creating rental
property policy and
law.
ends