Why are HAP so picky during a housing crisis?

A mate of mine rented out his house to a couple, a year into renting the missus claimed the hubby had gone back home n she needed to go on hap. He had to spend 5k getting it up to scratch for them.

Just hang on for non hap tenants op

Be careful refusing HAP tenants. It's illegal to refuse them, having a house not suitable isn't an excuse!, so they could easily get a nice few Euro off you from the WRC.

Don't say "no HAP", and don't deny them "because of HAP". Just pick someone else, and say someone else got it. Giving reasons will just get you sued.

It is foolish that rental requirements are higher than residential requirements. I know so many new builds that dont meet these excessive rental requirements. Whole brand new housing estates built under nzeb rules

Full time LL.

god, where do I start.

a lot of the anti HAP comments above are bizarre, and you’d do well to ignore the ‘advice’.

firstly, you cannot simple ignore HAP tenants and pick someone else. HAP tenants are used to being turned away, but if you’re being prissy about it, expect to be reported for clear discrimination. HAP tenants talk to the council all the time, after all. My advice is to have a viewing day, invite 8 or 9 prospective tenants, nod and smile at them all and then choose.

next, HAP rules are not different - as one LL said above, HAP properties all have inspections and normal rentals do not. The minimum rental living standards are actually pitifully low.

I have a bunch of 03-05 built houses and all of them fail Hap inspections, usually for silly stuff like having child restrictors on every window upstairs and downstairs (and they have to be ones with a latch and not a key!).

HAP itself is definitely a pain to set up for a landlord and can take 6-8 weeks. you have to keep your nose VERY clean too, and provide a considerable amount of proofs for ownership of the house, LPT paid, tax clearance etc etc.

Next. There’s no recent examples of the council stopping payments to landlords if a HAP tenant stops paying their small share, that I’ve ever seen. The council know the tenant will just be another homeless statistic that the government doesn’t need.

finally, I’ve got mostly HAP tenants these days, most are people who are elderly but not retirement age, or disabled folks, or people with a long term (genuine!) illness etc etc.

I can tell you with certainty that the Covid lockdowns cost a lot of LLs a lot of losses from tenants who weren’t on HAP. The State is a good creditor to have in times of strife.

as an example, I had a senior airline worker move out in Feb 2020, and 6 weeks later they were put on a 2-day work week.

HAP is also paid in arrears, another pain, as it can mean a new tenant is in the house for 2-3 months before the claim is processed and you get the back rent.

sooooo …. thread carefully when choosing tenants, like we all do, but don’t dismiss HAP before you even start because you think you’re gonna end up with some sort of Addams family!

They do have different standards, or at least their own interpretation of the rules laid out within. For example, a very common occurrence, the cooker hood has to be vented external versus a non-vented filtered hood which 99% of new build apartments have installed. This is usually in apartments with a sitting room/kitchen areas with their own vents/windows which clearly meet the needs of the regulations. Other examples would be knocking holes in walls for vents into the corridor in the apartment, demanding the electricity be up to current regs, like insulated earth/CPC for all wiring(newer regulation), demanding a heater in the corridor of a apartment etc.

Lots of the other checks I agree with, especially the fire related ones. And a minimum standard for rented accommodation would be good, like relatively new wiring/plumbing, eg if the house hasn't been renovated in 40 years it probably shouldn't be rented.

If a council inspector tells you that you need hole in the wall vent and ducted extractor and your management company says these alterations are forbidden, I don't know what one can do. It is not really the landlord's fault.

You mean you cant afford not to have escapable windows .

I get that, bit there was talk of it coming in as a rule. What are your options when rules change?

I'd guess either the bottom pane doesn't open. Used to be kinda the common window type but you get new windows installed today they will always allow egress at the bottom.

Can a HAP inspection be requested before renting ? If you're undecided between renting and selling, its outcome could be the difference in which way you go.

It's not a certification or pre clearance process. Most of the stuff is online regarding what you need to do to meet the standard, being mindful they are the same standards as renting to anyone.