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Tougher rules could be on the way for landlords in move to create warmer and healthier homes

The Government’s proposed standards include putting heating in bedrooms and installing extractor fans.

Tougher rules could be on the way for landlords as the Government moves to create warmer and healthier rental homes.

But the Housing Minister concedes rent prices could rise as a result.

With over a million and a half people renting, it’s thought a lot of tenants are living in unhealthy homes.

“We’ve had this old fashioned mentality, just go and put another jersey on when you’re cold and don’t worry about the fact that you’re breathing icicles,” Housing Minister Phil Twyford says.

The Government’s proposed standards include putting heating in bedrooms, at the moment it’s just require in living rooms.

Installing extractor fans in kitchen and bathrooms, closing all draughts in walls and gaps in windows, and higher standers for floor and roof insulation are also proposed measures. 

“We don’t allow pilots to fly planes that are unsafe… but until now we have allowed landlords to rent out homes that are a threat to the health people living in them,” Phil Twyford says.

The Government says the changes could cost landlords several thousand dollars per house.

Property Institute chief executive Ashley Church says newer investors are already making a loss on their property.

“This is simply another cost that has to be recovered and they either bear that out of their own pocket or at least recover part of that from tenants,” he says.

The Government will also consult on when the regulations should be rolled out, but the changes are expected sometime before 2024.

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