If landlords rent out a property contaminated by meth, they may be breaching their obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, the Building Act 2004 and the Health Act 1956.
The Residential Tenancies Act does not state what level of meth contamination is acceptable for health reasons in a rental property. However, the Standards New Zealand considers a house contaminated if meth is present at levels higher than 1.5 µg/100 cm2 and the report released by the previous Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, states that the exposure to meth should be at levels above 15 µg/100 cm2 to cause serious adverse effects.
If you suspect that your property has been used as a P-lab, you should test it and conduct decontamination before renting it out.
You might also be interested in:
‘P’ Properties: what are they and just how big a problem is it for landlords?
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