Shanks Katrina: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Shanks Katrina: Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:661;Page:9875] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to continue my call on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill tonight. The bill is long overdue to be modernised in order to meet the needs of our current environment. The original Act came in 23 years ago and the residential tenancies market has undergone significant change in that period. Both landlords and tenants have been keenly awaiting reform to the tenancy laws since the previous Labour Government commenced a drawn-out long-winded review in 2004. This bill is important because it will affect one-third of New Zealand households. One-third of New Zealanders live in rented accommodation. Private rental housing has a significant impact on housing in New Zealand and social and economic outcomes much more than it did when the original legislation came before the House in 1986. 
A review of the Act commenced in 2004 and identified five primary issues with the current Act: insufficient compliance enforcement and dispute resolution; lack of knowledge about landlord and tenant rights and obligations; mixed capacity to manage properties and tenants; variable standards of rental housing; and lack of stable tenure for longer-term tenants. Those were the five primary issues identified by a review of the original legislation. 
Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act were proposed by the previous Government as early as 2004 but no tangible progress was ever made. In fact the sector has been left in limbo for a very long time. This Government is focused on progressing modifications to the legislation in order to make a difference to make a change and to deliver on our promises. We want to give certainty to a sector that has been waiting for years for amendments to be made to the Residential Tenancies Act. The changes will make a difference to many people. Those people are generally our most vulnerable people; many of our most vulnerable are renting houses or flats and trying to get ahead week by week. 
This Government wants to see landlords able to manage their investment portfolios in a way that optimises their return and enables them to be responsive to demands responsive to the environment that they are in and responsive to the changes in our economy. But the Government also wants to see tenants have access to suitable rental accommodation and able to make informed choices about where they live how long they live there and what they are paying for. This legislation has to work for both our tenants and our landlords so that both parties can come together to form a renting environment that is healthy for all. We want to see a rental market that is efficient responsive and well informed. This bill goes a long way to delivering that vision. 
One of the main initiatives in the bill is to provide protections for vulnerable tenants who live in boarding houses. They are currently not covered by the tenancy legislation. The most vulnerable tenants had fallen into a void. This bill brings boarding-house tenancies under the umbrella so that the minimum rights and obligations of people living in boarding-house accommodation are clear adequate and readily enforceable. 
I thank the officials and the submitters who came forward during the select committee process. We had many many submissions from many groups individuals and non-governmental organisations and from landlords in the sector as well. They all added considerable depth and knowledge to what we learnt in the Social Services Committee and because of that many changes were made to the initial legislation to make it a much better bill for all—landlords and tenants alike. This has been a short call. Thank you very much.