The results of a nationwide rental housing ‘warrant of fitness’ programme trial have been released, showing the majority of assessed homes would not pass the draft criteria. More than 140 rental properties were given the once-over by home assessment experts in Christchurch, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Dunedin earlier this year.

The pilot aimed to test whether draft WOF checklists and methodologies were practical for landlords, assessors and tenants. Christchurch City Council Housing Committee chair
Glenn Livingstone said with a third of New Zealanders living in rental accommodation, the trial had made it clear that this sort of system would be highly useful to potential renters.

“It would give prospective tenants the ability to make quick decisions about whether they want to look more closely at a property,” he said. “They would be able to easily see whether a house is safe … this would hopefully make tenants want to stay in their rental homes for longer, benefiting both landlords and tenants.”

Spokesperson for the steering group, University of Otago’s Dr Julie Bennett, said work was now underway to tweak the WOF checklist. “We have received good feedback from landlords, tenants and the assessors and we are now going back to look at the checklist and criteria to make sure we have a robust and usable housing WOF for the rental market,” she said.

“The trial was really important so that we could gain an understanding about what is going to work for landlords, assessors and tenants.”

After the inspection system has been refined, it will be presented to the participating councils for discussion with the aim of facilitating agreement on the next steps. The introduction of a voluntary WOF system will be investigated, while discussions with central government will be maintained with the aim of developing a nationwide WOF tool.

The pilot in summary:

■ 144 homes surveyed across the country

■ A checklist of 31 items was utilised

■ Only 36 per cent of those surveyed would pass a WOF based on the draft guidelines, and that would be with minor fixes

■ Whether a house needs a fixed form of heating such as a wood burner or heat pump to pass a WOF is being evaluated post-trial

■ Security stays on all windows was a requirement intitally, but was dropped post-trial

■ Many homes still lack smoke alarms

■ About 94 per cent of homes did not pass based on at least one checklist criteria

■ 40 per cent of houses did not pass the water-temperature check

■ 30 per cent of bedrooms did not have a working smoke alarm within three metres

■ 31 per cent of houses lacked code-compliant handrails and balustrades

■ 37 per cent of houses did not have a fixed form of heating

■ 38 per cent did not pass the security stays check