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Chris McKeen/Stuff
The Greens Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw.
The Green Party wants to bring in rent controls by introducing a yearly cap on how much a landlord can increase a tenant’s rent.
The Green Party co-leaders will be speaking about the proposal, which will be streamed live on Stuff from 11.35am.
The proposed cap would be at a maximum of 3%, but could be reduced in years of low inflation and low wage growth. Increases of more than 3% would be allowed if substantial changes were made to the property, such as kitchen renovations. The tenant would also need to agree to the increase.
The party also wants to introduce a ‘rental warrant of fitness’ to ensure rentals were not breaching the Healthy Homes Standards.
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The Green Party raised the idea of rent controls mid-2021, in a discussion document on housing, and also made the proposal last year.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson promised in the first 100 days of a new government the Greens were part of, “we will introduce a new Renters’ Rights Bill to give effect to these changes”.
“The solutions are as clear as they have always been: controls on rent increases, a rental warrant of fitness, and thousands more new homes.”
The party also wanted to require landlords to tell new tenants what they charged previous tenants, and wanted the rent control to extend across different tenancies – meaning the new tenants would not be charged more than the rent cap.
“For far too long, inaction by successive governments has forced thousands of people to pay through the roof to live in cold, damp, and unhealthy homes that are making them sick,” Davidson said.
”The rental market more closely resembles a game of monopoly than a public good – and it is landlords who hold all the cards.”
Davidson said other political partes “will do little more than tinker around the edges… only the Green Party will take the bold action necessary”.
Rents started this year with the national median rent at a high of $595 a week in January, and it rose further to $600 in February, Trade Me figures showed.
However, drawing from data on actual rents paid, CoreLogic in March reported rents were flat or even falling.
Landlords and some economists have previously warned that rent controls can act to reduce the supply of rental proprieties.
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