All political parties in Parliament have supported a law improving regulation of body corporates, with hopes it will improve access to apartment living.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The member's bill under National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis' name has proved a great source of collaboration - both across parties, and across time.
Based on some work done by former National MP Nick Smith, it was originally championed by former National MP Nikki Kaye then was helmed by former National leader Judith Collins before she passed it on to Willis.
The complicated Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill passed its third reading in Parliament last night, bringing in a wide variety of changes to the Unit Titles Act.
These include:
- Requires more detailed disclosure of information about unit titles like apartments, including over weathertightness and earthquake strengthening
- Requires body corporates to make long-term maintenance plans and set aside funding which is appropriate to the size of the building, with detailed cost estimates for first 10 years, with projections for the following 20 years. Smaller buildings can opt out of this requirement.
- Body corporates are by default required to employ a manager, but this can be opted out of with a vote
- Electronic voting on body corporates is enabled and protected
- Conflicts of interest must be declared and managed
- Body corporates are required to keep more detailed records, so when an apartment is sold the details are available
- Makes conflict resolution easier by increasing the jurisdiction of the Tenancy Tribunal from $50,000 to $100,000, and reducing the fees to file a dispute
- If body corporates are being mismanaged or individual rights are being ignored, the chief executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment can intervene
- Body corporates cannot enter service agreements for longer than two years
- A previous requirement for any new information that has come to light between pre-purchase and settlement to also be disclosed, is retained
Willis said the changes would strengthen the management of body corporates, and ensure unit title developments would adequately plan and fund long-term maintenance.
"I think it is clear to all of us that one of the ways we can strengthen the rungs on the ladder of property ownership is to ensure there are more affordable options for buyers as they into that market," she said in her speech to the House.
She said there was much more Parliament could do to support the goals of increasing the levels of home ownership, but she was certain the bill would give people confidence to at least look with fresh eyes at the option of buying an apartment or unit title.
She paid tribute to Kaye, as well as Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick who was Kaye's successor in the Auckland Central seat, and who she said "has carried your legacy on with pride in this regard and has been a good advocate for these changes".
Building and Construction Minister Poto Williams joined in on the love-fest, heaping praise on all - including Willis who as National's former Housing spokesperson had been a frequent critic of hers.
Swarbrick herself said it had been a "genuine pleasure" to work with Willis, and also acknowledged the efforts of Collins, and Kaye "for the years of work that she actually did in working with those in the sector and with constituents in putting forward a draft piece of law which I think, through the parliamentary process, has ended up being improved massively".
She also acknowledged Williams for "enabling us to have her officials in front of FEC allowed us to really chew over a number of quite complicated and nuanced details".
She wanted further work to be done on the matter however, including limiting the number of proxy votes able to be held on body corporates, and introducing a legislated professional body for body corporate managers.
National's Building and Construction spokesperson Andrew Bayly noted apartments accounted for just 6 percent of the housing market, compared to 10 percent in Australia, 14 percent in the United States, and 32 percent in Canada.
He recalled some of the problems the bill could help fix.
"I bought an apartment in Wellington a few years ago, and I was particularly concerned about the seismic issues ... the agent was a little less than forthcoming, and it took quite some time to be able to actually assess the seismic rating of the building. In fact, it was good in the end. But that information should have been made available," he said.
"With the move to living in towns around nodes, this is the way we need to get people into their first home, and particularly apartments because they're cheaper and they're convenient for many younger people."
ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden noted it was often harder to access infromation in body corporates than for stand-alone homes.
"A good example was accessing ventilation systems. That's just not something that you can easily do when you're in an apartment building, versus when you're in a stand-alone home," she said.
"As a member of a body corporate, you're also liable for shared obligations that you wouldn't be if you were living in a stand-alone home, for things like repair upgrades that everybody needs to agree to. So the integration of that system and the integrity of the system relies on access to good information and the relationships between the buyer and the seller."