Meth contamination report may ease rent pressure, says REINZ

Tenants could be in for an easing of rental costs after a report suggesting risks from methamphetamine contamination of houses may have been vastly over-stated.

Just two months after a top university revealed Hawke's Bay has the nation's second-highest rate of P use — new scientific findings show there is no correlation between third-hand contamination and health risks — boarded up "meth houses" could be a thing of the past.

The new report from the prime minister's chief science adviser suggested people had previously been unduly led to believe their health was in danger from microscopic levels of meth in their homes.

Earlier this year, Massey University found Hawke's Bay was one of the regions in the North Island with the worst rates of drug dependency, ranking second for the use of methamphetamine (43 per cent of respondents having tried the drug).

However, with today's report finding a 900 per cent increase in the level that is deemed to be safe, the Real Estate Institute called for immediate clarification from the Real Estate Authority as to what to do when dealing with their clients in terms of disclosure.

Ray White Hastings managing director Elanor MacDonald said any potential new guidelines could have financial benefits for tenants and landlords.

"That's because [at present] the added costs for landlords gets pushed on to the tenants one way or another.

"If there's no health risk — and people are not spending a lot of money — that's going to be beneficial to tenants who will benefit from those decreased costs."

It could also help free up more properties to enter the region's rental stock.

"An investor wouldn't want to buy a property that has been contaminated at the moment. If that guideline were to change, it may free up more available, suitable investment properties."

Property Brokers regional manager Paul Whitaker said it would be interesting to see what the government guidelines would be, going forward.

The new report was produced by the prime minister's chief science adviser, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, who was commissioned by Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford to assess all the available scientific and medical literature about the risks of exposure to meth residue.

"I was concerned at the time, and I remain so, that there has been some anxiety about meth contamination, and a testing and remediation industry has grown up around this," Twyford said yesterday.

"The report is a comprehensive, up-to-date and plain English understanding about the risks of meth exposure for people living in houses where meth was manufactured, and for those in which meth was smoked."

Sir Peter's report found that remediation according to the NZS 8510: 2017 standard is appropriate only for identified former meth labs and properties where heavy meth use has been determined.

The findings would contribute to any regulations that might be made under the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No 2), soon to have its second reading in Parliament.

Havelock North IANZ accredited meth testing company Drug Smart welcomed the report but said more detailed research was needed.

"We've always said that more research needs to be done into the health effects of living in a meth-contaminated property," director Sam Murdoch said.

"I think we will need to wait and see how insurance companies react, as for a lot of landlord insurance policies baseline testing is required between tenancies.

''So unless that is removed I don't think people will want to risk breaching their insurance obligations.

"Determining the difference in contamination caused by use compared to contamination caused by manufacture is really the key, and I'm not sure if any commercial laboratory will be willing to determine that based on a contamination level reading."

Murdoch pointed out that the report stated "that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence of an effect".

"This has been known for years, it's not a new discovery, and still, more definitive research has not been done," he said.

"There is a clear need for more research and a co-ordinated inter-agency effort to build up a robust dataset."