Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. That was a little sooner than I anticipated but it is with pleasure that I rise now to offer the Green Party's support for the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No 2) which we opposed at first reading out of concern for the provisions in this legislation that would have enabled the eviction of tenants on the basis of pretty unsound science around meth testing. I would just like to in specifically referencing some of the speeches I've heard this evening about the best science available reference some of the points that were made in the Green Party's speeches at first reading on this point which will then link to the changes made in select committee.So we noted that this meth testing—this was Marama Davidson saying that This meth testing has an underlying problem. The advice from the Drug Foundation is that representatives of the meth-testing industry"—hello—"are overrepresented on the panel developing this standard. The Drug Foundation worries that the bill will legalise those silly standards and will result in a whole lot of harm. Bottom line: there is no science for setting a contamination level for meth use." That was further emphasised by Metiria Turei stating that "We know that as a result of a poor standard and poor testing quality Housing New Zealand has spent millions of dollars using shoddy tests and making unnecessarily harmful decisions that have led to families having to leave their homes for no good reason." At that stage that policy was being soundly defended by the then Government and our concern at that time was that this legislation was reinforcing that shoddy science to enable good families to be evicted from their homes and at times lose their children because of the consequences of industry interests leading Government decision-making.So it is with a huge sense of relief post change of Government to see some actual rigorous science in this area and some legislation that is sensible and that enables some science-based regulation of this issue rather than a hysterical industry-driven response that hurts our communities and families. So—tick—it's good to see that change Minister Twyford.Also one of the other points of this bill which we are happy to support and were happy about in the first instance is about ensuring that illegal dwellings—we're trying to change the behaviour where some unscrupulous people are renting out spaces that are completely inappropriate for people to live in. If I think back to some of the stories that we'd been hearing in 2016 and 2017 there was a case of a property manager commandeering a garage converting it and renting it to separate tenants although it was only consented as a garage for around $400 a week. We were seeing property managers renting out garages for $400 a week. That was a factor of our housing market at that time. Auckland Council in 2017 reported an increase in complaints around substandard so-called housing and noted that just within one six-month period alone and just in central Auckland they had had over 750 complaints of substandard and inappropriate housing.We've heard stories coming out—if anyone thinks this is an Auckland-only issue I certainly have been on drives around my community and have seen people living in garages and there is a chance that they are being charged rent for that. We have heard stories coming out of Queenstown of rooms being divided into smaller units just separated by sheets hanging from the ceiling and of people being rented beds for 12 hours while they're hot-bedding because the landowners can and they are making a buck off it at the moment.So what this legislation will do now is give the Tenancy Tribunal full jurisdiction over cases concerning premises unlawful for residential purposes and it will enable the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to take action against landlords in those cases. Some of the examples that were given around unlawful residential premises are commercial buildings being used for residential purposes existing dwellings being used for more than one household group garages being rented out for residential use and premises which don't have the appropriate resource consent. Going through the Tenancy Tribunal they will then have the power for those specific remedies which may be a full or a partial return of rent to the tenants or an order for the landlord to make alterations to make the dwelling lawful.I think it's sending a really clear message to landlords that the exploitation needs to stop. We need our people to be in warm safe housing because we all pay when people aren't. We know that there were significant hospital admissions being driven by the poor standard of housing in this country and unlawful housing is part of that picture. And while we've got other legislation that's addressing the warrant of fitness on housing and improving the quality of housing more generally this is a really important part of the puzzle that we need to address and it's great to see that happening now.And finally the third part of this is what I consider a smaller point and it is around where there have been careless actions by tenants resulting in damage to a house. There was a High Court decision in 2016 Holler v Osaki where the result was landlords bearing most of the costs of careless damage caused by tenants. The previous Government and the Governance and Administration Committee decided there needed to be in legislation an incentive for tenants to care for the properties that they're in and to put if possible landlords in a cost-neutral position in relation to damage through a lack of care. And when I'm saying a lack of care that is not intentional damage—that's something separate.So in this situation if it's been careless then tenants will now be liable for the insurance excess that their landlord covers and so up to four weeks' rent that was regardless of whether you've got income-related rent subsidy—it's four weeks' market rent but that is the limit on that. And if it was intentional damage then the tenant remains liable with no cap on that. The select committee through their process strengthened—as an incentive for tenants taking care—provisions for landowners to be required to provide the tenants with that information so that they can see what they would be liable for in the event of careless damage that the landlord needs to pick up.So it is very good to have seen a change of Government and some evidence-based policy making rather than—Hon Phil Twyford: Policy-based evidence making.JAN LOGIE: —yeah policy-based evidence making indeed or self-interest makes policy making and seeing this jigsaw puzzle where we know we've got a housing crisis that's not going to be solved overnight. We need to build more houses we need to improve the quality of our housing we need to be supporting people who are homeless and we need to be doing this work as well. It's a much improved situation and it's great to see the work happening."