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-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Packard <[FOI #13654 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 3 September 2020 12:15 PM
To: Mail Room <[Whangarei District Council request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - How is the Council using its rights under the Public Health Act to inspect rental housing properties?

EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside Whangarei District Council. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Whangarei 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).

Yours faithfully,

Aaron Packard

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Dear Aaron Packard

 

I refer to your below official information request of 3 September 2020
[reference COP003054] seeking information on a number of Health Act
related questions. 

 

Your request was referred to council’s Health & Bylaws Department,
Envionmental Health team and Building Compliance team for consideration
and the answers to each of your questions are as follows:

 

You’ve asked the following questions:

 

 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?

 1. Answer: Please note there is no “Public Health Act” only a “Public
Health and Disabilities Act 2000”, which is administered by District
Health Boards (DHB’s) and then there is a “Health Act 1956, which is
administrated by a variety of organisations, such as the Department of
Health, the District Health Boards (DHB’s) and parts thereof by
Environmental Health Officers (EHO’s) appointed under the Act by local
authorities, such as the Whangarei District Council. EHOs are
warranted under the Health Act to inspect a property if there is a
suspected health nuisance i.e. broken wastewater pipes, rats and
rubbish.  Areas covered in the Housing Improvement Act are generally
covered under Building Act/Code requirements and inspected and enforce
by Building Inspectors or Building Compliance Officers. As a result of
the above, Council did not and could not “inspect rental housing
properties under the Public Health Act”!

 

 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?

Answer: As stated under question 1 above, local authorities
responsibilities in relation to dwellings or rental properties are limited
to the provisions of the Building Act & Code and the so-called public
nuisance conditions under the Health Act 1956 and as such Whangarei
District Council staff have not and are unable to ‘exercised’ powers under
the Housing Improvement Regulations!

 

 3. How do you identify which rental housing properties to inspect under
the Public Health Act?

 2. Answer: As stated under question 1, there is no Public Health Act,
only a Health Act 1956 under which EHO’s are appointed and warranted
to deal mainly with the nuisance provisions under this legislation.
Please note that the threshold of proof for a public nuisance under
the Act is very high and as there are no infringements options
available to local authorities, non-complying nuisance conditions
would have to be prosecuted through the District Courts after a series
of failure to comply with official notices served under this
legislation. These instances are very rare and most of the EHO’s
involvements with residential units are limited to the presence of
rodents (rats) which are usually resolved by the owner/tenant or
neighbour.  

 

 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?

 3. Answer: As stated above, there is no Public Health Act and our powers
are limited to the nuisance provisions for the Health Act. Where
tenants contact council alleging a public health nuisance, an EHO
would inspect the property and where possible take appropriate action.
However, we believe that most dissatisfied tenants contact and seek
advice from the Tenancy Tribunal in the first instance, where the
landlord was unable or unwilling to assist and as we deal with very
few such complaints and as stated above our ‘powers’ are limited.

 

 5. What information is available on your website or in your publications
on rental housing inspections provided by the Council?

 4. Answer: Council staff, including EHO’s do not carry out this type of
‘service’ and as WDC does not provide this service, we do not have
information on our website.

 

 6. What is your process for engaging with the Tenancy Tribunal to provide
reports on the rental housing inspections you conduct?

Answer:  WDC does not conduct tenancy inspections. If the Tenancy Tribunal
were to contact us and request an “inspection” and according to our
records and recollection they haven’t to date or over the last 11 years,
then we could carry out a visit and record our observations in a letter to
the tribunal.  Having said that, staff from the Tenancy Tribunal a number
of years ago contacted WDC staff (myself) and left their contact details
with the request that any tenancy issues or complaints be referred to them
in the first instant, but as I’ve said, we don’t get any.

 

I hope this information is of some assistance in responding to your
request.   If you believe we have not responded appropriately to your
request, you have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of
the Act, to apply to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation and review of
the decision.

 

Yours sincerely

Reiner Mussle

Manager | Health and Bylaws

Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei
0148 | [1]www.wdc.govt.nz

P 09 430 4200 | E [2][email address]

[3]Like us on Facebook

 

[4]Whangarei District Council logo.

 

 

Dear Whangarei 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)
<[5]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).

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Aaron Packard

 

References

Visible links
1. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
http://www.wdc.govt.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. Link to the Whangarei District Council's Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/WhangareiDC/
5. https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/your-...