Was the meth panic a myth and why are there still contamination threshold gaps? – Editorial

Lifelong investments can be wiped out in one fell swoop if properties have been contaminated by methamphetamine. Photo / File

Editorial

It must have come as a shock to former Auckland mayor Phil Goff that his rental property was being used as a gang meth lab.

It must have come as an even bigger shock that it would eventually cost him $160,000 for the clean-up.

The lab was discovered in Goff’s property in Clevedon in April last year.

The home tested for a methamphetamine level of 200mcg per 100sq cm, he said.

The safe level is 15mcg per 100sq cm, according to Settled.govt.nz – but this is debated.

He’s had to fork out $160,000 in renovations for damage done by tenants who were there for just nine weeks.

It’s understood that Goff is taking legal action against the rental property management.

This may be the only viable recourse – landlord’s insurance typically covers up to about $30,000 and trying to recover costs through a Tenancy Tribunal case can be difficult if the tenants have no money or have moved on.

A meth lab was discovered in Phil Goff’s property in Clevedon in April last year. Photo / Alex Burton

But Goff is more worried about the human cost than the financial cost – his tenants had children living in the home.

“Now what’s going to happen to those kids? How are those kids going to grow up? That’s what really worries me.

“I can deal with the financial side, but what do we do with those kids?”

His concerns are valid – children are the hidden victims of meth labs.

Notwithstanding the tragic social damage, landlords, too, are exposed if clean-up costs exceed the maximum insurance coverage, as Goff’s case demonstrates.

Lifelong investments can be wiped out in one fell swoop for those who can’t weather a $160k hit.

The Gluckman report, released in 2018, torpedoed the meth testing and remediation industry.

“There’s absolutely no evidence in the medical literature anywhere in the world, of anybody being harmed by passive exposure to methamphetamine at any level,” the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, said in the report.

Pre-Gluckman report, claims for meth-contaminated properties were estimated to cost insurers more than $30 million per year or 100 properties per month, the Insurance Council of NZ says.

It was a big business.

But landlords – and innocent tenants – are stuck in the middle because, adding to the confusion and the frustration, no legally binding contamination threshold exists.

The NZ standard of (1.5mcg per 100sq cm) is widely used by insurers, while the Gluckman Report (15mcg per 100sq cm) is often preferred by the tribunal.

For a property testing at 5mcg per 100sq cm, insurers may consider it contaminated and deny coverage unless clean-up is done. The tribunal may say it’s not contaminated enough to warrant tenant liability or compensation.

Despite the meth panic being debunked by Gluckman, there are still discrepancies plaguing the industry.

Should it fall to insurance companies and the Tenancy Tribunal to clean up?

Until the Government can close the gap through legislation and universal industry standards, landlords can only do their due diligence and hope their investments are spared the meth scourge.

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