Prime Minister John Key is in the papers today foreshadowing possible government “regulations and/or incentives” for private landlords to insulate residental rental properties.

Number of Insulated Rental Homes Alarming

The Warm Up New Zealand scheme has been operating since 2009 and provides a 33% subsidy/up to $1,300 for insulating houses built before 2000.  60% subsidy is available for Community Services Cardholders or their landlords.  The New Zealand Herald quotes an alarming figure of the number of rental properties that are still uninsulated:

Of the 230,000 houses insulated with a Warm Up New Zaland subsidy, just 25,000 have been rentals. That’s only 5 per cent of the country’s rental stock – leaving an estimated 1,000,000 rental properties uninsulated.
 

Landlords Are Being Discriminated Against

APIA member Peter Lewis describes to the Herald the difficult process he had to go through to get one Manurewa rental property insulated.  One particular insulation provider would not offer the 60% subsidy to Peter even though the occupying tenant has a Community Services Card.  Alarmingly, this particular provider has refuses to offer 60% subsidy for rental properties, 

“We think that landlords will use the tenant to get a 60 per cent subsidy, and after the work has been done throw the tenant out and go and live in the house themselves,” the contractor explained. “So we won’t let that happen.”

Cynical much?

We are not aware that installation providers have the regulatory power to lessen a landlord’s entitlement to government subsidy based on uninformed assumption of the latter’s motives. 

APIA landlords own on average 3 properties on top of their own homes.  Most of our members do not live in the same parts of Auckland as their tenants.  To suggest...