Much criticism has been levelled at the condition of many student flats in North Dunedin, and countless solutions have been proposed, but who is the blame for the situation? Is it the landlords’ fault for not caring for properties enough and allowing the condition of their property to slowly deteriorate? Is it tenants’ fault for treating the properties so poorly that landlords can only look on and ignore the much-needed renovations for the following year’s tenants due to the cost? Or is it local and national government’s fault for not implementing legislative change to prevent rental properties falling into a state of disrepute? Critic investigates the living conditions of Dunedin students.
Lack of Insulation Worrying
Every winter we see temperatures plummet; it’s not surprising given Dunedin’s proximity to Antarctica, and the southerly winds that regularly sweep through the city. Last winter we saw temperatures in the centre of the South Island plummet as low as -21 degrees centigrade, with temperatures in Dunedin reaching as low as -6 degrees. With that in mind, “our best estimate is that only a third of all New Zealand houses are insulated and as rental housing is more likely to be the older stock it’s a safe bet that a high percentage of rental properties are uninsulated too,” according to Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman, Director of the Housing and Health Research Programme. In light of this information, we can deduce that much of student rental property is also uninsulated.
Within any group of 20,000, (the approximate amount of students enrolled at the University of Otago,) people will be looking for different experiences with their flatting situation. For student Cameron Mackie, “the prices of Dunedin flats are totally ridiculous considering the standard of living some students must endure.” This is a common complaint among students, especially as one’s living costs can diminish over 75 percent after paying rent in some properties. Some students will be willing to pay premium prices for a run down flat on Castle Street, which is due in part to the weight the name ‘Castle Street’ holds with some. That goes for all streets in North Dunedin in which a premium is attached, in comparison to a reasonable market price for a similar property elsewhere.
Poor Properties and Poor Health
One of the main complaints from students does not necessarily involve rent prices but rather insulation. As Professor Howden-Chapman noted, not many rental properties have insulation. Philippa Keaney from OUSA Student Support said that some of the most common issues brought to them by students are to do with “sub-standard flats” in terms of the cold, mould, dampness and general disrepair. This is a pertinent issue for the students in Dunedin, and something that not all students are prepared for upon leaving home. Will Stovall, a postgraduate student, believes one of the drawbacks in flatting is a “poor insulation standard in Dunedin, many flats don’t have adequate and affordable heating.” Another student, Miriam Young, noted that although the landlord for her current flat is adequate in responding to problems so far during her tenancy, the state of the flat is “definitely worse than I expected. Nothing prepares you for the cold in the mornings!”
Much of the time, a cold flat is put down to being part of the student experience, a rite of passage almost, and little is made of the issue. As students, we act stoically: layering up and getting used to it. However, this situation may be an altogether more serious one than we have considered it tobe up until now. The Guardian Newspaper published an article providing research showing that living in cold properties “increases the risks of cardiovascular, respiratory and rheumatoid diseases as well as the worsening mental health.” Students are left in a conundrum between living in cold properties and facing the associated health risks but saving money, or on the other hand financing their heating by seeking employment, if one’s not lucky enough to have parents who can fork the bill for them. Either way, it is a dilemma many student tenants regularly face.
Where Does the Blame Lie?
One of the most outspoken voices on the issue of student flats is Councillor David Benson-Pope. Last year, he told Critic of how he is “embarrassed as a Dunedin resident to have a slum [Hyde Street] in the middle of the town.” When looking at the bigger picture, he seemed to deflect blame away from tenants by proposing that “if you give people pigsties to live in, do not be surprised if they act like pigs.” Conversely, Mayor Dave Cull is not so sympathetic towards the situation many students endure throughout the academic year. He argues: “given the choice that is on the market, there probably are not many students at all who can only afford really bad lower rent flats, because, for the same price, you can get a better one. It might be a few blocks further from campus, but it will be better.”
Jamal Stent, a commerce student who currently lives in a student flat, believes “if you give students a rubbish flat to live in, they will probably treat it like a rubbish flat. So the fault is with both the landlord and the tenant.”
Benson-Pope looks beyond tenants, though, and rather sees landlords as being the predominant guilty party here. This is because “landlords are in charge of the properties, so they know what they are like, they choose who goes into them and monitor how they are used.” Another Dunedin councillor, Jinty MacTavish, who has flatted in Dunedin for many years, believes landlords are often culpable for the state of flats in Dunedin, especially those she labelled “old, cold, and unhealthy” properties. She believes “it’s totally inexcusable to be renting out something that is so poorly maintained and with such inadequate insulation and ventilation as to be a health hazard, and I think that’s the case in some of Dunedin’s rentals” […] “it comes down to landlords taking responsibility for the quality of those premises.”
It’s hard to deny that landlords are more culpable than tenants in relation to the standard of rentals in our city, but are local and national governments doing enough to help the situation?
Government Culpability and Legislative Progresses
Some people say local and national governments’ have failed to protect renters thus far. Benson-Pope said that both the “City [council] and University, but the City Council in particular, need to use all the tools they can to remove the people who aren’t playing the game properly. For me, I have no interest in the slum landlords. I think it’s disgraceful and an embarrassment to Dunedin.”
MacTavish agrees. She recognises the power councils have on issues such as this one, and assures those concerned that “the Council will continue to advocate for this issue. There are a number of things that the Council is doing to try to contribute towards ‘fixes’, but until all landlords are compelled by law to improve the quality of their rentals, I don’t think we will see all of Dunedin’s rental stock up to an acceptable standard.”
Among many other important pieces of legislation on the issue, the most important is the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. The most relevant parts to this ensure that tenants’ enjoy “quiet enjoyment of the premises”, requiring landlord’s to “maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair” throughout the tenancy, and compelling landlords’ to “comply with all requirements in respect of buildings, health, and safety under any enactment so far as they apply to the premises.” However, seeing as this is a pertinent issue almost thirty years after the assent of these provisions, further or different legislation is needed to secure safe and healthy flats for tenants across the country.
The Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No.2), which many considered to pass without any problem, was picked in the legislative ballot, although it was deemed too similar to its predecessor (HHGB No.1), and was therefore dismissed. David Carter, speaker of the house, said that “In future, bills that are the same in substance as ones read or defeated in the same calendar year, will not be permitted into the ballot.” The bill provided a ‘minimum standard’ for flats, thus providing qualitative information on what the lowest accepted standard of rental properties must adhere to in order to remain a lawful property for rental. Although this is a step in the right direction, many people interested or invested in this issue, along with Vernon Small of stuff.co.nz, say it falls “short of a full “warrant of fitness” for rentals but is aimed at ensuring all tenants have a safe and healthy home to live in.”
Warrant of Fitness
One of the most popular proposals among those privy to this issue is a Warrant of Fitness (WOF) type test for rental properties, similar to the method used to determine if one’s vehicle meets required safety standards. Jinty MacTavish believes the introduction of a WOF test is “totally essential” to address the problem that faces us and assures Otago University students that “the Council will continue to advocate for this.” Moreover, David Benson-Pope told Critic, “I am an absolute advocate for a warrant of fitness, and I don’t mind whether it is implemented by central government or local government, but I sure as hell think we need it.”
Dave Cull, however, dismisses the WOF because it “is just a means to an end for ‘minimum standards.’ The more factors you include in any move, the more expensive and complicated the process gets and there is a point where it becomes too hard, as there is an extra cost to the landlord and that, in turn, gets passed on to the tenant. My instinct would be to start slowly, just with a few factors and work the system in, before adding other necessary factors.” In addition, the Green Party have been scathing of Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith, saying he must explain how many New Zealanders need to die and be admitted to hospital before he will add a life-saving rental housing warrant of fitness to the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill. Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei assured the public that “a rental housing warrant of fitness will save lives and keep kids out of hospital – that’s the bottom line” before adding that “New Zealanders would be horrified to hear the Government doesn’t think it’s ‘cost effective’ to save children and older people’s lives by making homes dry and warm.” “It’s the Government’s role to keep its citizens safe. With rental housing, the National Government is completely dropping the ball,” said Turei.
Cull reassures people that “minimum standard is a good start. I see it as a consumer issue, for example, we do not allow café and restaurant owners to sell food that makes people sick, so I do not see why we allow people to sell accommodation that makes people sick.” It seems that the National Government have sided with Cull on this issue, rejecting Andrew Little’s first Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill earlier this year, which provided for a full WOF style test before properties could be legally rented. Many consider it a huge shame that the WOF test and now the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No.2) have been rejected, but at least there is significant movement to help people nationwide who are plighted by cold, damp, and decrepit accommodation.