Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Well thank you Mr Speaker. Here we are for those people who are listening on the wireless or watching on television in urgency in the dying gasping last days of this Labour administration and they're bringing to the House under urgency a piece of legislation called the Residential Property Managers Bill and we're debating the first reading.So what does all this mean? Well it means that finally after six long years of having promised this piece of legislation finally in the very last minutes of this administration they've decided to bring it to the Parliament to pass it at first reading and we're going to be supporting it at first reading—and I'll come to that in just a moment; about why we're supporting it—and they're going to send it off to a select committee. Possibly the select committee will be able to meet to open a submission process between now and when the House rises tomorrow afternoon and then people will be able to make submissions on the bill between now and when the new Parliament is formed and a new select committee is formed at some stage after the October elections.So this is one of a number of pieces of legislation that the current Labour Government has been using urgency to bring to first reading stages. Well the Residential Property Managers Bill: the concept is relatively simple; it's been talked about for a long period of time and what the bill essentially seeks to do is to provide a regime that would set some minimum criteria around professional activities about the way business is conducted with residential property managers how they manage their affairs how they best represent the interests of both landlords and tenants and how that might be regulated.Now what we do know is that for many New Zealanders renting is a prospect that they either choose or is thrust upon them for a variety of reasons. About a third of New Zealand households live in rental accommodation we are told as a result of data and statistics. Like my colleague Melissa Lee over the years I have been both a tenant and a landlord and I've had an opportunity to engage with a number of residential property managers in both those roles over a period of time. It's been my experience that some are certainly better than others and that there are a range of skill sets—as there are with pretty much any part of the sectors of the economy. There are good and poor operators and a range in between.So we need to I think understand from submitters and that's why we are supporting this piece of legislation because we want to hear from submitters. We want to understand what people in the sector what renters what landlords and what property managers themselves think about it. We also want to hear from various agencies that might have an interest and be concerned as well. So we are interested in hearing what submitters will have to say and so we're endorsing the legislation at first reading for that reason. It's an opportunity to let people have a say to let their opinions be heard and for a future select committee to go through that process. That's part of the democratic institution that is our Parliament and we support that.But there are a couple of interesting things about this piece of legislation that's been introduced in the dying days of this current administration. One is that there is a carveout that specifically creates an exemption for Kāinga Ora (KO)—essentially an exception carve-out for the Government itself. One would have to wonder quite what the rationale for that is and why it is that property managers residential property managers in the private sector are going to be within the purview of this piece of legislation but people who act on behalf of Government agencies such as KO are going to have a carve-out exemption that precludes them from falling within the bounds of this legislation.The legislation itself is designed to create a regime that will improve provisions of residential property management services in New Zealand and that is a laudable objective. It's a laudable goal. It's something that I think that most people would agree is sound reasonable and rational. It's kind of motherhood and apple pie but there are potentials for perverse outcomes and perverse impacts. I listened very carefully to my colleague Tama Potaka the very good member of Parliament for Hamilton West describing some of the issues that relate to his electorate. Many of those even though his electorate in Hamilton West is an urban electorate—mine in the Coromandel is largely rural and provincial but rental accommodation or the lack of residential accommodation is a significant issue in my electorate just as it is in Hamilton West and in other parts of the country.Part of the reason that rental accommodation is not as prevalent or as obvious is because this Government has put in place many many hurdles for landlords. In fact there are a large number of people that I know in the Coromandel electorate who had previously been landlords—typically they are mum and dad - type investors; they might have one investment property maybe two. They see that as being part of their superannuation investment package for many of them and the hurdles that have been put in place by the current Government has actually dissuaded them from being a player in that residential rental market place at all.Many of them have actually just given up. They've actually just sold the property—they've said it's too hard too much regulation too much red tape too much cost too much ability for poor tenants not to be held accountable for poor tenancy behaviour and so they've just decided to exit the market place. That has in turn resulted in fewer rental accommodation properties being available to rent and in places like Whangamatā I'm told that sometimes because of the dire shortage of rental accommodation in that particular community people who are being interviewed for prospective jobs in Whangamatā are sometimes asked as a first question by the potential employer not anything about the job or their experience whatever—the first question their potential employer will ask is Have you got permanent accommodation?" and in many cases if they don't have permanent accommodation then there's little point in having a further conversation about the relevant merits of that person being an appropriate candidate for employment within that business. So that's the kind of issue that is concerning to people in my electorate and of course other parts of the country as well.Now a regime of the sort that is anticipated by this piece of legislation will create additional costs. There will be additional costs in terms of training in terms of materiality in terms of administration and in terms of the work paperwork and time required by the residential property managers. Ultimately that cost sooner or later gets passed on to the tenant. I listened to the very animated contribution by the Green Party member Chlöe Swarbrick who seemed not to I think completely understand the implications of cost and where the costs eventually fall—where they eventually fall. She represents an electorate where there are a high number of residential tenants and it has been very difficult for me to understand why the connection between cost and where the costs fall could not be made.But look I'm aware as I say from my personal experience as both a tenant and a landlord that typically a residential property manager will charge a percentage fee. That percentage fee almost inevitably is something that will go up under this piece of legislation and sooner or later it will be tenants that pay for it. So this is a bill that is well intended but has the potential for perverse outcomes. At a time of a cost of living crisis there will be extra costs already on tenants who are facing higher rental rates and those costs will ultimately be passed on to them.So we support the legislation in terms of it going to a select committee. We want to hear from submitters we want to hear from advisers we want to hear from officials but we do understand the potential implications of the legislation. Thank you."