Some Wellington flat hunters are frustrated they can't get information about the earthquake resilience of potential rental accommodation.
If a building is above 34 percent of the city's building code, the council is not obligated to step in and make any decisions. Photo: 123RF
The Wellington City Council said most professional landlords were aware of the current condition and standard of their building but the council had no regulatory power to force them to tell tenants.
Tenants can ask for information, but there are no legal requirements for landlords and building owners to share that information if the current standard of their building is over the 34 percent requirement of the current standard building code.
Christian Casbolt, general manager of property management company Oxygen, said it had not been easy to get all landlords to share information about earthquake resilience of their properties.
Mr Casbolt said many units with body corporates were reluctant to share information in case it affected the future sale of their property.
"There are some buildings we know have obvious damage and we will ask the owner of the property if they have that information.
"On some occasions they do and otherwise they need to source that information from the body corporate or the owner. We will try to get the information when we see obvious issues or ask the question," Mr Casbolt said.
However, landlords and building owners had been very upfront if their buildings had been yellow-stickered, he said.
All buildings built before 1976 have had initial scans to determine whether they could be prone to further earthquake damage.
Mike Mendonca of the Wellington City Council said their interest was in those buildings that are 34 percent and below the standard requirement of the current building code.
"There are some buildings that are just above the threshold, and if a building is above 34 percent, there is no regulation available to the council to make any decisions," Mr Mendonca said.
His company was aware of likely vulnerable buildings that are just above the 34 percent threshold that have people living or working in them, and have been talking to those landlords.
"It's fair to say that we are aware of several buildings around Wellington that we're looking at," he said.
"Most professional landlords are aware of what their rating is, especially multi-units with a body corporate or investor."
"We would encourage tenants, workers or employers in particular to ask the building owner for that information and generally speaking they are happy to share it," Mr Mendonca said.
