An Auckland landlord says the Government's planned new "healthy homes" standards for warm, dry houses are another disincentive for property investors to increase the stock of rental properties.
The latest changes to tenancy laws follow the abolition of letting fees and the limiting of rent increases.
Auckland landlord Malcolm Knight told 1 NEWS 'raft after raft of change' is coming for landlords.
"So as an investor you're finding less confidence going out and buying additional rental properties," he said.
Mr Knight says a lot of landlords can afford to meet the extra requirements.
"Interest rates have been dropping and rents have been rising, so yields are actually looking quite good. A lot of landlords can afford to do the increased requirements, it just is more of a disincentive to add additional rental stock, you might find some landlords go, 'oh it's just too much work'."
New research out today from economic research group Motu says hospitalisations due to poor housing could be costing more than $145 million in ACC claims and medical costs, with 32 per cent of homes reporting problems with damp or mould.
The Real Estate Institute suggests the Government provide subsidies or incentives for landlords to install heating.
“If you can't afford to provide a healthy, safe place for people to live, then you can't afford to be a landlord
Housing Minister Phil Twyford says many landlords took up previous insulation subsidies and demand for those has waned in recent years.
It's expected 75 per cent of landlords will comply with the standards. And there'll be 2000 official compliance checks a year.
But renters' advocates say it should be easy for tenants to find out that information for themselves.
"The onus should be on landlords to prove compliance by providing up front some information, for instance receipts, photographs or an inspection from an appropriate assessor," Kate Upton of Renters United said.
"If you can't afford to provide a healthy, safe place for people to live, then you can't afford to be a landlord," she said.
Well Homes programme manager Talia Hinton says everyone deserves a good house.
"Everyone is human, everyone deserves to be treated and to live in a house, in a whare that is warm, dry and safe," she said.
National Party leader Simon Bridges says he fears a capital gains tax and the cost of the healthy homes initiative hitting landlords at the same time.
"If you do all this in one big bang, say, 'Right, let's pile all this on,' … there's thousands of dollars of cost – who's going to pay that? It won't be the landlord. They won’t, because they won't have to – it'll be the renter."
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