The Coalition Government has pulled the plug on plans to regulate property managers, saying it won't fix New Zealand's housing crisis.
The move has upset the Green Party which is accusing the Government of overstepping its Ministerial powers.
The Coalition Government announced on Tuesday it will not proceed with the Residential Property Managers Bill.
The Bill was proposed by the previous Labour Government in 2022 and introduced to Parliament in 2023. It aimed to regulate property managers by subjecting them to a code of compliance. Property managers would have also needed to complete training before starting the job and undergo continuing professional development.
The Bill would have also established a new regulatory framework to deal with complaints and disciplinary matters.
The Social Services Committee was still considering the Bill and was due to report back to Parliament this year.
However, on Tuesday, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said he had written to the chairperson of the committee to request they end consideration of the Bill as the Government does not intend to support it through further Parliamentary stages.
Bishop said the country was in the middle of a housing crisis and adding more regulation to the rental property market wasn't the way to open up the housing supply.
"Instead, we need our officials working on policies that will make a real difference to improving housing supply, such as our sensible changes to the Residential Tenancies Act which will encourage more landlords into the market and apply downward pressure to rents," Bishop said.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called the move a "Ministerial overstep" and "slap in the face" to Kiwis who have engaged in the democratic process by submitting.
"I've written to the Social Services Committee to remind them that there is a constitutional separation of powers between the legislature and the executive," she said.
"The power to end consideration of the Bill sits with them, not the Minister. The least they can do is their due diligence and report back to the House, making it clear precisely what the Minister is trying to quietly put in the bin."
Swarbrick hit out at the decision, saying the Government is axing yet another opportunity to improve rentals by dropping the Bill.
"What's this Government so scared of? A bit of accountability and proper democratic process? Or, perhaps, the one and a half million renters in Aotearoa realising their collective power to turf them out?" Swarbrick said.
Bishop said the Government is focused on policies that will get more houses built to fix the crisis, adding the previous government's analysis of the Bill showed the cost-benefit analysis was very marginal.
"The analysis also noted that even those marginal benefits were highly uncertain, with the most certain aspect being the costs," he said.
"Our Going For Housing Growth plan will smash urban limits holding our cities back, fix infrastructure funding and financing, incentivise cities to go for growth, improve competition and lower costs for building and construction, and provide better social housing for those who need support."
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), which has been advocating for property managers to be regulated for over five years, said it was extremely disappointed to learn of the Government's decision not to support the Bill.
"In an industry where a modest one-person property management business can oversee assets totalling $60 million in retirement savings, it is inconceivable that such a significant sector remains unregulated," REINZ CEO Jen Baird said.
"No other profession handling assets of this magnitude operates without oversight in New Zealand."
Baird said there are currently no minimum standards requiring residential property managers to ensure they are up to speed on landlord and tenant laws.
Amidst a housing crisis, she said the need for landlords to have confidence in professional management of their assets is paramount.
