Landlords forced to pay up over missing smoke alarms

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

Tenants are required to replace worn-out batteries during a tenancy.

Landlords are being stung for thousands over their failure to provide smoke alarms in properties.

There have been a handful of cases heard by the Tenancy Tribunal already this year in which property managers and landlords have been ordered to pay exemplary damages to tenants for failing to place smoke alarms in rental properties.

Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that took effect in July 2016 mean landlords are responsible for ensuring there are working smoke alarms in their properties, and that they are in the right places.

In one recent case, Edward Eschbank sought $40,000 in compensation and exemplary damages over failings in the Kawerau property he rented from Realty House between 2013 and 2018.

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In return, the landlord applied for compensation for loss of rental income, and exemplary damages for interfering with the reasonable peace comfort or privacy of other tenants.

The Tenancy Tribunal sided with the tenant – although not to the extent he had hoped.

Landlords and tenants have not been keeping up with smoke alarm rules

It ordered $4820 to be paid to him, including $2000 for not providing smoke alarms.

In another case, Bianca Lever was awarded exemplary damages of $2000 for her landlord's failure to fit at the start of her tenancy of part of a showroom. In another, Kim Thompson was awarded $600 – but that was cancelled out by overdue rent due to the landlord.

It isn't only landlords copping punishment, though. In many more cases, tenants were asked to pay for replacement smoke alarms or batteries they removed or had let run out.

Robert Whitaker, of Renters United, said the smoke alarm rules were not working well because they were left up to tenants to enforce.

'It's not likely a tenant is going to take the landlord to the Tenancy Tribunal over the smoke alarm because that's a big deal and likely to damage or end your relationship.'

But he said the claim was often tacked on to another Tenancy Tribunal application, when tenants were dealing with other issues.

'Introducing compulsory smoke alarms is good for good landlords, they're the ones who were fulfilling their obligations anyway. But adding it on to the responsibilities of a tenant to enforce is unlikely to make a difference - they're putting themselves, their homes, at risk every time they do so.'

A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) spokeswoman said its tenancy compliance and investigations team would respond to complaints as well as taking 'a proactive approach to ensuring compliance with the Residential Tenancies Act'.

'If a tenant is concerned about the smoke alarms in their rental home, including the presence of smoke alarms, the tenant should contact their landlord to resolve the issue. If an agreement can't be reached, the tenant can apply for mediation or a Tenancy Tribunal hearing.'

The next wave of rental changes will see insulation standards introduced in to rental properties in July.

There are concerns some landlords still have not caught up with those changes, either. The Ministry warned last year that insulation industry organisations said there were more properties needing insulation than could be put in, in the time available.

But NZ Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said the situation was probably better than officials realised.

He said MBIE had used poor data to determine how many homes might need to be insulated.

'They looked at the number of properties EECA said hadn't taken up the Government subsidy to insulate and that's how they came up with that figure but lots were insulating and not using that subsidy.'