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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Rights and obligations of parties

45A: Protection from liability for landlord who complies with contaminant regulations

You could also call this:

“If a landlord follows the rules about harmful substances, they won't get in trouble for having those substances in the house.”

If you’re a landlord, you need to know about rules that protect you from being blamed for contamination in your rental property. These rules apply when there’s a contaminant present, but the property isn’t actually contaminated, or if it is, you don’t know about it. There also need to be specific regulations in place about that contaminant.

If you follow these regulations, you can’t be held responsible under this law for not providing a clean or livable property because of the contaminant’s presence. This protection only applies during the time when you’re following the rules.

It’s important to understand that you’re only considered to know about contamination if tests, done according to official methods, show that the property is contaminated. If you haven’t had these specific tests done, you’re not considered to know about any contamination.

This section is linked to section 138C(3)(c), which talks about the regulations for contaminants in more detail.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS447056.

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Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Rights and obligations of parties

45AProtection from liability for landlord who complies with contaminant regulations

  1. Subsection (2) applies to a landlord of premises during any period where—

  2. a contaminant is present at the premises, but either—
    1. the premises are not contaminated with the contaminant; or
      1. unknown to the landlord, the premises are contaminated with the contaminant; and
      2. regulations made under section 138C(3)(c) are in force in respect of the contaminant and apply in relation to the premises.

        1. The landlord (having complied with those regulations during that period) is not liable, under this Act, for not having provided the tenant with clean or habitable premises during that period on the basis of the presence of the contaminant in the premises.

        2. For the purpose of this section, a landlord knows that premises are contaminated only if the landlord knows that tests carried out in accordance with a relevant prescribed method have established that the premises are contaminated.

        Notes
        • Section 45A: inserted, on , by section 29 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 37).