CHANGES KEEP COMING
It all started with a pot of hot cooking oil. Famously, that pot was left unattended on a Dunedin rental property’s stovetop back in 2009. The hot oil started a fire and the house burnt down. The resulting court battle over the costs involved led to the Court of Appeal’s controversial Osaki decision in 2016.
Prior to the Osaki decision, residential tenants had always been responsible for damage that they caused to their rental property. But everything changed with Osaki and landlords were left liable for accidental damage caused by tenants.
Landlord advocates have been lobbying for change ever since. The widespread dismay around the issue prompted the previous National-led Government to introduce the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No. 2) into Parliament.
As the Bill made its way through the Parliamentary process, its scope was expanded to also address public concerns around meth contamination in rental properties and unlawful residential dwellings, like illegally converted garages or sleep-outs.
In July, the Bill sailed through its final reading in parliament are now law.
