Kia ora M Quicken,
 
On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 2/03/2026 requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982, the following:
 
Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

Following the tragedy at Loafers Lodge in Wellington on 16 May 2023, the
then Minister for Building and Construction asked the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to investigate whether there
were similar buildings to Loafers Lodge vulnerable to fire, elsewhere in
New Zealand. As a result, the decision was taken to inspect properties
meeting a similar profile throughout New Zealand to identify and address
any immediate fire safety concerns. The inspections would also be used to
inform any future work to strengthen fire safety requirements in boarding
houses.

Buildings were chosen based on a similar profile to that of Loafers Lodge
with the specific requirement that the buildings needed to:
ȓ be a boarding house; and
ȓ be three storeys or more in height; and
ȓ have no sprinkler system.

The report went on to disclose that 134 issues were found from the limited
sample of 40 boarding houses where 3 refused inspection

Please provide the:

A) List of boarding houses inspected

B) Number of each issues correlated to each boarding house inspected

C) List of the three boarding houses that refused inspection
 
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no
later than 30/03/2026, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If you have any enquiries
regarding your request feel free to contact us via email to
[1][MBIE request email].
 
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Services
Strategy and Assurance
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]