So one of our members, G, recently went through a Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT) assessment and posted this on our Facebook:

Looks like we need to clear up a couple of things about Healthy Homes Standards (HHS) compliance – not just about those compliance statements, but also what’s what with property inspections.

A New Statement for Each Tenancy (Yes, Really!)

Don’t begrudge the TCIT. They are just following the law.

Section 13A of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) explicitly requires the landlord to include in all new, renewed and varied tenancies a signed statement that ‘on and after‘ the start of the (new, renewed or varied) tenancy, the landlord will comply with all HHS requirements. ‘It is the “on and after” that effectively prohibits a landlord from recycling a statement from a previous tenancy even if the property has sustained no change whatsoever,’ says APIA general manager, Sarina Gibbon. However minor or inconsequential this may seem, the TCIT is raise it landlords.

In plain English? A fresh statement for every new tenancy. No shortcuts!

What You Need To Do

Keep it simple:

  • New tenancy = new statement. E-V-E-R-Y-T-I-M-E
  • Hold onto your compliance documents for at least 12 months after the tenancy ends (s123A(1))
  • Meet HHS compliance by compliance deadline and keep your property compliant throughout the tenancy

What You Don’t Need To Do (But May Want To)

Here’s a surprise for you – those professional inspections everyone’s talking about? They’re not actually required by law.

There is some general...