11 September 2017

Tenant and landlord awareness of the 2016 changes to the Residential Tenancies Act has been measured in a new report, along with their intent to take action around the smoke alarm and insulation changes.

The report follows a digital survey of 1,000 landlords and 1,000 tenants in May 2017, funded by MBIE. The findings will inform Tenancy Services’ activities to advise tenants and landlords of their rights and responsibilities. The data will also be used for reporting purposes.

One of the key findings was that nearly half (48 per cent) of landlords with properties that required additional insulation said they planned to install insulation within the coming year, with another 23.4 per cent planning this within the two-year window, before the July 2019 deadline.

Most tenants (92 per cent) said their properties had at least one working smoke alarm installed at the time of the survey. However, only 22 per cent of tenants were aware they are responsible for changing batteries that wear out during their tenancy.

The survey will be run annually to build a picture of behaviour change in the New Zealand rental sector over time

Download a copy of the report from the MBIE website.(external link)

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