National promised a "downward pressure on rents" by undoing several of Labour’s legislative changes, some of which it suggested were anti-landlord. So, how will renters and landlords be affected by the next government?
During its six years in power, the Labour Government rolled out a plethora of changes to housing and tenancy laws which affected tenants and property owners.
However, National and its potential coalition partner ACT have pushed back on these, calling the changes part of a "war on landlords".
National's also pledged to reverse several other changes for homebuyers, which will affect the property and rental markets.
Party leader Christopher Luxon told 1News during the campaign: "We are going to put downward pressure on rents by actually unwinding the bright-line test from 10 to two years, unwinding interest deductibility and changing some of the tenancy laws."
With coalition negotiations still ongoing, these are what renters and property owners can expect to see under the next National-led government.
Restoring no-cause evictions for rentals
No-cause tenancy terminations were removed under changes enacted by the Labour Government two years ago, but National has promised to reverse it. Under the 2020 change, tenants must receive a reason when they get told to leave a rental.
Landlords currently only have the right to end a periodic tenancy if they wish to move into the home, if it will be sold or renovated, or if the tenant hasn’t been paying rent.
Otherwise, landlords have to prove a case of anti-social behaviour. Then-associate housing minister Kris Faafoi said at the time of the change: "It's simply not appropriate in 2020 for a person to be required to leave their home without knowing why."
National's housing spokesperson Chris Bishop said during the campaign that the change was "well-intentioned" but discouraged landlords from providing more housing supply.
He suggested the policy to make evictions easier was a "progressive, pro-tenant move".
Bishop said: "Labour’s removal of no-cause termination has hit vulnerable people particularly hard. Many landlords are now reluctant to ‘take a chance’ on tenants with poor rental histories, due to the difficulty of ending the tenancy if it doesn’t work out."
Under-30s can use KiwiSaver for rent bonds
A policy specifically targeted at renters during the campaign was National's promise to allow people under 30 to use their KiwiSaver savings in order to pay for rental bonds.
Bishop said: “Getting together up to four weeks rent in advance for a tenancy agreement is not easy for many people, particularly for students and young graduates, who don’t have a lot of cash.
“Our policy will mean that people who have some money saved in KiwiSaver accounts will be able to use that money to pay the bond for a rental agreement.
"The money will be transferred from their KiwiSaver account to Tenancy Services and returned to the KiwiSaver account when the tenancy ends. As is currently the case, tenants will also be able to transfer their bond to a new tenancy."
Ending the automatic roll-over of fixed-term tenancies
National has also pledged to reverse the automatic rollover of fixed-term tenancies to periodic tenancies, which were also part of Labour's changes two years ago.
Currently, fixed-term tenancies automatically roll over to become periodic tenancies unless landlords or tenants make alternate arrangements. Landlords can still terminate tenancies using the periodic tenancy rules and other grounds for eviction.
Bishop said when announcing the policy reversal: "Many landlords who would once have offered a short-term fixed-term tenancy for some months of the year have decided it is just too difficult, and instead turned to Airbnb."
Some Labour changes could stay
During its reforms, the Labour Government also banned rental bidding and limited rent increases to once every 12 months for landlords. The former means landlords must plainly list rental asking prices and cannot encourage prospective tenants to bid.
A spokesperson for National told 1News last week that the party has "not campaigned on changing these".
Labour's Healthy Home Standards also appear to be safe — despite National's opposition when they were first introduced and a promise to remove them in 2020.
The National leader was challenged on the credibility of his party's policies. (Source: 1News)
Speaking at a housing policy forum last month, the party's representative Paul Goldsmith told the audience that National would keep the standards if it were elected.
Other changes for landlords
National also promised during the campaign to bring back a tax break for landlords in the form of restoring interest deductibility on rental properties. The party said there would be a phased change, with the current deductibility of 50% holding until April 2025, when it would be raised to 75%, and then fully restored a year later.
Real estate agents have told 1News in the past month that they're seeing a spike in buyer interest after the election results.
Another change for property buyers would include reversing Labour's changes to the bright-line test. The test — which currently sees tax paid if a house is sold within a decade — would be reduced to two years under National's election promises.
The party's promised reversal of some of Labour's zoning reforms, intended to enable more affordable housing, would also affect property owners' ability to build on their land.
The combination of the reduction in the brightline test, reintroduction of landlord tax breaks and a potential influx of foreign buyers. (Source: 1News)
Labour also instigated a ban on foreign buyers of residential properties in 2018, which National has said it will overturn for some types of property transactions.
During the campaign, the party said it planned to introduce a 15% foreign buyer tax on the purchase of homes worth more than $2 million.
However, National's potential coalition partner New Zealand First has said its stance on banning non-resident foreign buyers from the housing market hasn't changed. It remains to be seen if this issue comes up in any potential talks between the two parties.
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