The Green Party says it will ensure everyone who rents will have a safe, healthy and affordable home if elected to Government.
The party released its Pledge to Renters policy on Sunday saying it will ensure rent is always affordable and homes are warm, dry and healthy.
The party also pledged to build thousands of affordable homes.
"For far too long, inaction by successive governments has forced thousands of people to pay through the roof to live in cold, damp, and unhealthy homes that are making them sick.
"The rental market more closely resembles a game of monopoly than a public good - and it is landlords who hold all the cards," Co-leader Marama Davidson said.
"This didn’t happen by accident. It is the consequence of decisions made by successive Governments. These decisions are disproportionately hurting the 1.4 million New Zealanders who rent in this country."
Davidson said in its first 100 days the Green Party would introduce the Renters Rights Bill to effect the changes.
These changes will include rent controls limiting how much a landlord can increase rent each year.
Homes will also need to have a Rental Warrant of Fitness and there will be a national register of landlords and property managers to show who owns rental properties and how much rent is charged.
"Expensive, unhealthy housing is one of the main causes of poverty. Today’s announcement is the second part of our plan to end poverty in Aotearoa.
"The Income Guarantee will ensure no one's income ever falls below $385 per week after tax, and the Pledge to Renters will give everyone a decent place to live. Together, the Income Guarantee and Pledge to Renters will lift every single person out of poverty.
"The Greens have spent years pushing for these changes, and we will keep fighting for the government we need to make it happen. The time is now to get more Green MPs into Parliament and more Green Ministers sitting around the Cabinet table," Davidson said.
They will also build more affordable healthy homes in places where people want to live as well as ensuring people on low-incomes will be able to afford a place to live by accelerating the public building programme.
Co-leader James Shaw said access to warm safe housing is a human right.
"For decades, we have normalised a standard of housing in Aotearoa that is so bad it puts people‘s health at risk. Thousands of children are admitted to hospital each year for respiratory illnesses from living in damp, mouldy homes.
"Any party that stops short of promising to make everyone’s home healthy and affordable, is actively choosing to make life harder for thousands of people.
"Renters deserve better. We know how to make homes safe, healthy, affordable, and warm. Everything we need to make life better for people in Aotearoa exists. What’s missing is the political willpower to use it," Shaw said.
