This election many of the rights we’ve won together over the past 3 years are up for debate, find out what changes parties want to make to your rights.
We’ve researched the policies for each party likely to get into parliament this election and put them up against our Plan to Fix Renting, a comprehensive 36 point plan to make renting better for everyone in Aotearoa.
Simply sticking to the status quo or tinkering around the edges is not enough to get a good score. While we have taken previous track records into our account, our focus is on what parties are promising to deliver in the future.
Some parties are interested in looking after renters, and some are going to actively make their lives worse.
Labour has made some great steps historically but haven’t seemed to ask a renter if there’s anything more that needs to be done.
The Greens and Te Pāti Māori look to have spent some time talking to renters, and that comes through in their policies.
National and Act have clearly been talking to landlords. Their policies will make the oldest housing the most profitable, make it harder to build densely, and will allow your landlord to kick you out for any reason. It’s clear they want to actively make renters lives worse.
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
The Green Party’s pledge to renters has policies targeted at increasing security of tenure for social housing tenants. There are no specific policies that target the security of tenure of private renters, but there are some policies that could tangentially improve security of tenure such as the increase in public housing stock, decreasing demand in the private sector, and increasing the desire for landlords to continue tenancies.
In a statement to Renters United the Green Party committed to repealing section 51(2)(a) of the Residential Tenancies Act. This would ban landlords from selling a home while it’s tenanted, unless they sold the tenancy along with the property. We look forward to receiving public commitment too.
Notably the Green Party party isn’t seeking to bring back no-cause evictions.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
The Green Party has proposed both supply and demand side measures to reduce rental inflation.
The Green Party has supported our calls for rent to be capped to no more than inflation unless significant improvements have been made to the property. Rent prices will face the same controls between tenancies. They would also establish an affordability target in law.
The Green Party has also committed to providing development incentives for private developers looking to build energy efficient residential buildings, placing downward pressure on rents.
The Green Party has also committed to long term underwrites to community housing providers, which will allow them to invest in new builds with the confidence their funding will not be cut.
Alongside this they have promised to extend the Income Related Rent Subsidy to council housing tenants.
The Green Party also has also committed to extending WhaiKāinga, Whai Oranga to increase the supply of by Māori, for Māori housing.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
The Green Party has committed to implementing a Rental Warrant of Fitness that would require all landlords to get their properties checked for compliance by an independent assessor. This warrant would need to be reviewed on a regular basis.
The party has also committed to extending the Healthy Homes Standards heating requirements to bedrooms.
The Green Party has committed to providing development incentives for residential buildings that are more accessible.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
The Green Party has committed to establishing a register for landlords with information about how much rent is charged, when it has a valid WOF, who rents the property, and who owns it.
If a landlord consistently breached the rules they could be struck off of the register which would bar them from being able to rent out their home, or force them to hire a property manager.
Te Pāti Māori
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
Te Pāti Māori has not announced any policies specific to stable homes. Notably the Te Pāti Māori isn’t seeking to bring back no-cause evictions.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
Te Pāti Māori has committed to increasing taxes on homes and land that doesn’t house anyone. This includes taxing land banking (where someone holds residential land to make a profit without developing it) and ghost homes (a small and somewhat unknown number of homes that do not house anyone).
Te Pāti Māori has committed to increasing the supply of social housing through Kainga Ora and has committed to building 2000 homes on ancestral lands as part of their policy to re-establish Marae based communities.
In a statement to Renters United Te Pāti Māori committed to implementing a cap on annual rent increases to no more than CPI (minus rent) unless reasonable improvements have been made to the property. We look forward to receiving public commitment too.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
In a statement to Renters United Te Pāti Māori committed to implementing a Rental Warrant of Fitness, or increased funding for the Tenancy Compliance and Investigation team so they can work with local councils. We look forward to receiving public commitment too.
Te Pāti Māori has not announced any further policies for safe and healthy homes.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
In a statement to Renters United Te Pāti Māori committed to implementing legislation that ensures negligent landlords can be forced to stop renting out their homes. We look forward to receiving public commitment too.
Te Pāti Māori has not announced any further policies specific to safe and healthy homes.
The New Zealand Labour Party
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
Labour introduced a suite of changes to the RTA in 2021 that effectively allowed you to live in a rental property indefinitely by automatically turning all fixed terms into period tenancies, and by banning no-cause evictions. You could only be removed from your rental home under a limited set of circumstances.
Notably the Labour party isn’t seeking to bring back no-cause evictions.
Labour has not announced any further policies for stable homes.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
In their last term Labour introduced both supply and demand side measures to reduce rent price inflation. During the pandemic labour implemented rent freezes and their implementation of the MDRS and the NPS-UD are both set to increase housing supply across the country.
Labour has made it harder for people to invest in existing builds as landlords are not able to deduct the cost of their interest from the tax bill. The intent of this policy is to shift investment to new builds.
Labour has committed to continued support of helping 1000 Māori households into home ownership through Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga.
Labour has not announced any further policies specific to fair rent. The Labour Party opposes rent controls.
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
Labour introduced the Healthy Homes Standards in 2019. Since then we’ve seen some shift in the standards of homes, but it hasn’t been to the scale promised, and many renters still face health issues in their homes, especially when it comes to enforcement.
Labour has not announced any policies specific to safe and healthy homes.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
Labour is currently set to implement property manager regulation by 2026. Labour has no current plans to include private landlords in this regulatory scheme, a missed opportunity that should be remedied in the future to address the ongoing enforcement issues within the current RTA. Property managers will need to be registered, and the regulatory body could remove their licence.
Labour has not announced any further policies specific to meaningful enforcement.
The Opportunities Party (TOP)
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
TOP has not announced any policies specific to stable homes.
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
TOP’s flagship housing policy is a land value tax (paying 0.75% of the capital value each year). Commercial, rural, conservation and Māori land would be exempt from the tax and those on superannuation could defer payment until the property is sold. While we find a land value tax to be a positive move and it might help increase density, we don’t foresee it delivering to the extent TOP implies in their policy.
TOP would not allow investors to take on loans to pay for additional homes. They say that this will reduce speculation. We couldn’t find supporting evidence from TOP for this policy. Without a significant decrease in house prices we don’t believe this policy would lead to the increase in supply we need, and therefore wouldn’t positively affect rent prices.
TOP has committed to $3 billion in funding for community housing providers. Increasing the provision of affordable social housing increases competition in the lower end of the rental market, placing downward pressure on rent prices.
Top has committed to the MDRS and NPS-UD, two policies that increase the required density around public transport and public amenities in larger cities.
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
TOP has not announced any policies specific to safe and healthy homes.
STATUS QUO / LIKELY TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE
TOP has not announced any policies specific to meaningful enforcement.
The New Zealand National Party
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
The National Party has promised to allow landlords to terminate your tenancy for any reason they like, and you wouldn’t have any defence. These are called no cause evictions.
If “no cause evictions” returned it would be much easier for your landlord to kick you out because of your ethnicity, your political affiliation or just because you tried to uphold your rights. This single policy undermines almost all renters’ rights in practice, and has the potential to cause huge amounts of harm for our community.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
National has promised to return interest deductibility for landlords. Interest deductibility is being phased out for existing builds, meaning only landlords who provide new builds would be able to deduct their interest from their taxes. This would provide landlords $1bn in tax relief, but there is no evidence that would flow through into reduced rents or new construction.
National has also promised to reduce the bright line test to two years. Currently the bright line test requires people who buy and sell an existing build within ten years to pay a tax on the capital gain. Removing this would likely lead to more house flipping within the market instead of long term investment in new builds.
National will also allow councils to opt out of the MDRS, a policy introduced to make it easier to build dense, more affordable, and more environmentally effective housing.
National has promised to allow renters to withdraw money from their KiwiSaver to pay for bonds.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
National has not announced any policies specific to safe and healthy homes. They did however oppose the introduction of the Healthy Homes Standards.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
The National Party has promised to allow landlords to terminate your tenancy for any reason they like, and you wouldn’t have any defence. These are called no cause evictions.
If “no cause evictions” returned it would be much easier for your landlord to kick you out because you tried to uphold your rights. This single policy undermines almost all renters’ rights in practice, and has the potential to cause huge amounts of harm for our community.
ACT
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
Act has promised to allow landlords to terminate your tenancy for any reason they like, and you wouldn’t have any defence. These are called no cause evictions.
If “no cause evictions” returned it would be much easier for your landlord to kick you out because of your ethnicity, your political affiliation or just because you tried to uphold your rights. This single policy undermines almost all renters’ rights in practice, and has the potential to cause huge amounts of harm for our community.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
Act has promised to return interest deductibility for landlords. Interest deductibility is being phased out for existing builds, meaning only landlords who provide new builds would be able to deduct their interest from their taxes. This would provide landlords $1bn in tax relief, but there is no evidence that would flow through into reduced rents or new construction.
Act has also promised to remove the bright line test. The bright line test requires people who buy and sell an existing build within ten years (property speculators) to pay a tax on the capital gain. Removing this would likely lead to more house flipping within the market instead of long term investment in new builds.
Act will also make it harder to consent new homes by requiring explicit approval from neighbours and allowing neighbourhoods to opt out of planning rules adding more red tape to new builds, when many leading economists are calling for less red tape for construction.
Act will also remove the MDRS, a policy introduced to make it easier to build dense, more affordable, and more environmentally effective housing.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
Act has not announced any policies specific to safe and healthy homes. They did however oppose the introduction of the Healthy Homes Standards.
LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
Act has promised to allow landlords to terminate your tenancy for any reason they like, and you wouldn’t have any defence. These are called no cause evictions.
If “no cause evictions” returned it would be much easier for your landlord to kick you out because you tried to uphold your rights. This single policy undermines almost all renters’ rights in practice, and has the potential to cause huge amounts of harm for our community.
New Zealand First
New Zealand First has released a manifesto, however it doesn’t include any housing policy that we believe will make a material difference to the lives of renters. In 2020 the New Zealand First housing policy included increasing the use of pre-fabricated housing, appointing a housing commissioner, building more social housing and allowing ‘no-cause’ evictions. It’s unclear if these policies remain in place for this years election, but we believe on the balance of probabilities they don’t.
At this stage New Zealand First doesn’t have enough housing policy to evaluate. We will update our website should this change.
Request a reconsideration
If you are from a political party that has recently announced or changed their policy position and you would like this to be reflected in the scorecards please get in touch with us via inbox@rentersunited.org.nz
Scorecard history
Here’s the history of any changes we might have made to the scorecards or our reasoning over time.
07/09/2023: Presented to political parties for comments
11/09/2023: Final evaluation
12/09/2023: Initial release
Authorised by Geordie Rogers, 29 Freeling Street, Wellington