Willis NicolaUNIT TITLES (STRENGTHENING BODY CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): I move That the Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.In this Parliament we have different types of legislation. Some of it is things that make profound and significant changes that fundamentally change something. Other times what we do is we modernise and update and incrementally improve the law as it stands. This bill falls into that latter category.It is a member's bill and I want to acknowledge that it is unusual to have a member's bill of such technical matters and actually of such complexity as we have in this bill. I want to acknowledge Government members for supporting this member's bill in a way that I think has been very constructive and collaborative because it matters. The reason we need to modernise unit titles law in New Zealand is that we have far more people today living in multi-dwelling housing arrangements than we did when the Unit Titles Act was first enacted.Actually we want to continue to encourage more New Zealanders to feel confident about choosing this style of housing. That's because we are now in New Zealand one of the least affordable places in the world to own a home. I have given many other speeches in this House about why that is and what the underlying causes of that are. But certainly I think we can agree across the Parliament that one of the solutions to increasing the choices and options of the kind of housing there'll be available to New Zealanders is to encourage higher-density housing in our urban areas and to ensure that New Zealanders are readily able to choose that kind of housing when it suits their circumstances.However at the moment there's a lot of people who are very scared about buying an apartment. This bill is about making it less risky for them and taking away some of their fears. Furthermore there are a lot of people who aren't just concerned about the buying process and what might or could go wrong during that process. There are a lot of people who are concerned that once they live in an apartment or a multi-dwelling block they will be constrained by difficulties in the bodies corporate and all sorts of challenges in how shared property will be arranged. So this bill is a very good step forward in addressing some of those concerns.It's a bill which I think has had many mothers. So I want to acknowledge in particular the Hon Nikki Kaye who as the Auckland Central MP at the time picked up the need for reform in this area. She had many apartment dwellers living in her electorate who pressed home to her how important it was that this law be modernised. She picked up reforms that had been canvassed through a review in 2016 that had been conducted by the ministry of business and progressed them in this member's bill. The member's bill has also been in the name of Judith Collins then National's housing spokesperson and I have willingly taken it up.The bill essentially does five big groups of things. It has a better disclosure regime for buyers with the intention that they be able to access and have confidence that they will get the information relevant to their property before they offer on it. It improves the governance of bodies corporate; it improves the regulation of body corporate managers and ensures professional standards apply; it puts better rules around long-term maintenance planning; and it improves dispute resolution practices.It's a bill that has been much enhanced by the select committee process. I want to thank the 85 submitters who submitted on the bill and the officials who helped us work through the issues that they raised. We had a range of experts submit many who'd lived in apartments themselves others who'd been tied up in litigation or legal disputes arising in part from the poorly drafted law and some individuals had terrible stories of what had gone wrong for them for what they saw as inadequacies in our current unit titles regime. We also had brought to bear people with international experience who were able to provide us some comparison with how behind the pace New Zealand's unit titles regime has become relative to other countries. The submissions varied in terms of the areas that they focused on. There were a range of views but broadly there was consensus about the need for greater transparency greater accountability and protection of unit title owners.The select committee made a range of changes. They're detailed very well in the select committee report. I would encourage those interested in this debate and these issues to read that report thoroughly. I would summarise the judgments that were made as this: that the balance must be struck—it was the view of the committee—between ensuring that those who are purchasing a property in a unit title arrangement or living in a unit title arrangement have their rights and interests protected and are able to access good amounts of information balancing that set of rights with the need also not to create such a cumbersome and bureaucratic regime that in itself it puts people off this kind of living. Striking that balance as you'll appreciate is challenging and involves some nuanced judgments. So the committee I think would join me in my gratitude towards the officials for helping us work through some of that balancing act and the resulting changes that came out of it.However as is often the way with these things having published our select committee report I have gone and engaged further with people living in apartments or who are experts. They have highlighted for me three residual issues which I believe and hope we as a House can continue to collaborate on to make this an even better bill in the committee of the whole House. I wish to signal that I will be putting forward three further amendments. I have written to the Minister to highlight that I would like to work with her and her officials on these if possible. Those three issues are first around the disclosure regime. Now this is an area where there are conveyancing lawyers who have a range of opinions. I would summarise where they have come to is saying that they share the intent of the officials but they do not believe that the drafting as it currently stands adequately meets their intentions. I understand that behind the scenes they have been meeting with Government officials to explain and further understand those concerns. I would simply ask that the Minister gives mind to that and that we consider whether further technical amendment is needed in this area.The second key issue is around remediation reports. Now it was noted by some stakeholders following our select committee report that actually we should be quite specific about the fact that people buying an apartment should be able to access as of right any remediation reports that have been produced. I find myself in favour of that.Finally we had quite a debate about proxy voting. This was about limiting the number of proxies a person can hold and exercise in a body corporate. The bill in its original form is as it was brought to this House sought to limit those proxies. Now some submitters said—and this is a debate that will be familiar to members of this House who have taken part in political committees and other groups where proxies are exercised. Others said Look it's going to be very hard to make quorum if proxies aren't enabled in the way that they have been previously." We did in this process seek to alleviate that by allowing unit title holders to direct and specify how their proxy vote would be cast on their behalf. However I have had it put to me by people with direct experience that they believe as a committee we did underweight the reality of proxy farming as it stands and its ability to subvert the democratic process when it comes to the governing of bodies corporate. I propose that we do continue to progress some limits to proxy voting and I will be putting forward an amendment to achieve that.I want to acknowledge Chlöe Swarbrick who as the member for Auckland Central has taken a particular interest in this bill carrying it on from the Hon Nikki Kaye who previously had shown such an interest in it. This has been a truly collaborative cross-parliamentary process the drafting of this law. I want to thank the Minister for her generosity in providing her officials to the committee. I commend this bill to the House."