Calls for regular inspections of boarding houses

Photo / Jason Dorday

A central registry for boarding houses and regular inspections would help protect the most vulnerable living in squalid boarding houses around the country, Parliament has heard.

The social services select committee yesterday heard from health advocates and local authorities as part of its inquiry into boarding houses.

Wellington regional public health adviser Clare Aspinall said a register could be used to monitor problems and ensure tenants were not left to live in squalor.

"Some groups feel they have not the capacity to complain about the standards in boarding houses without actually being evicted."

Conditions were sometimes poor, including instances of broken windows, no hot water, rotting floorboards and carpets, and holes in the bathroom floors.

She said boarding houses needed to be inspected regularly to ensure they were sanitary and safe.

Kate Amore, from Otago University's housing and health research programme, said people living in boarding houses long-term were deprived of the same rights as those in private tenancies.

"If you are renting an apartment [and owe rent] you have to be given 21 days' notice, but if you live in a boarding house you only have to be given 48 hours," Dr Amore said.

Someone in a boarding house can be immediately evicted if they cause, or threaten to cause, serious damage to the property, or if they endanger people or seriously disrupt other tenants. But for immediate eviction of someone living in an apartment, the landlord had to apply to the Tenancy Tribunal.

- additional reporting NZPA