Govt considers 'warrant of fitness' for rental houses

Prime Minister John Key has hinted National is considering a limited form of a 'warrant of fitness' for rental houses likely to include insulation and smoke alarms.

Yesterday he said the Government had got advice on the matter and he believed there was more the Government could do for substandard housing.

He said there was broad agreement about the need for insulation and smoke alarms in as many houses as possible.

The issue came to the fore after a coroner's finding into the death of Emma-Lita Bourne, 2, said it was partly down to a damp, cold state house.

That house was insulated but the family could not afford to run heating.

Mr Key said he did not believe National had sat on its hands over the issue, saying it invested a significant amount in revamping run down state houses and in home insulation schemes targeting low income households.

"The question is do we need to do more. I think the preference is yes, it would be better for us to do more. But how that works and who pays is a different issue."

However, he was reluctant to consider rigorous requirements for the private rental market, saying the Government had to be careful of unintended consequences.

"I would just caution if we went to a really rigid warrant of fitness it would see more cost on landlords. Some of that would be warranted but some would be without question be passed on. Some of the advice we've seen is not only would rents rise but its likely some landlords would pull out of the market."

Some of the early advice he saw specified minimum bedroom sizes, the number of light sockets and room placements.

There were also questions about policing any such rules. Relying on tenants to dob in landlords would result in disputes and relying on the state to police it was expensive "and you'd have a lot of people wandering about with clip boards".

He ruled out one-off winter grants for the lowest income, saying it was hard to target those who needed it. He believed the current process of providing emergency support to those who approached Work and Income was better.