In the Hawkes Bay, your local council is responsible for enforcing laws around meth contamination. However, even with the new standards, there is still currently no legal requirement to test a property and councils generally don’t find out about it unless notified by the Police.
Councils do have powers under the Building Act 2004 and Health Act 1956 to force actions, which can include:
>>> recording the contamination on the property’s Project Information Memorandum (PIM) or Land Information Memorandum (LIM);
>>> requiring the building owner to clean and/or close the building;
>>> requiring the building owner to re-test the building;
>>> requiring the building owner to demolish the building.
The Gluckman Safe Level is the most widely used standard now and has been used by Housing NZ and the Tenancy Tribunal.
The requirements around sampling, reporting and decontamination still adhere to NZS8510:2017.