Property owners may soon be able to find out everything they ever wanted to know about their homes or rental houses but were afraid to ask.
University of Otago researchers have developed the housing quality index, a comprehensive check-list which trained people such as building inspectors can use to grade and report on a property's attributes and defects from the ground up.
While the check-list is not widely used yet, researcher Dr Michael Keall said it could be that, in the future, homeowners could commission such a report before buying a property for themselves or tenants.
"At the moment, we do not have a network of trained inspectors to undertake this. But this could be an important and useful application ..."
The index, the first of its kind in New Zealand, has been developed over the past five years by He Kainga Organa Housing and Health Research Programme staff, including Dr Keall, at the university's Wellington campus.
Dr Keall said the work was done in collaboration with the Building Research Association of New Zealand (Branz) and based on a similar check-list produced in the UK.
At 42 pages, it was "quite comprehensive", he said yesterday.
"Inspectors may not need to fill out every page. We've designed the checklist so it can be used whether the property is a mansion or a bedsit."
It was well known New Zealand homes often had substandard heating, insulation and weatherproofing, which could lead to increased respiratory illnesses for occupants, Dr Keall said.
Occupants' wellbeing could also be affected by lifestyle factors such as lack of privacy and lack of sunshine.
The aim of the check-list was to encourage property owners to look at a variety of health and safety issues, as well as the general condition of the houses they owned or rented out, and to remedy any deficiencies.
It could be particularly useful for major property owners such as local authorities, he said.
The Christchurch City Council had already used it to survey its community housing stock, and talks were under way with Housing New Zealand, which would use it to survey its state housing portfolio.
The index would be made available free, he said.
"We see value in distributing it widely to building inspectors. Our vision would be for them to use it in exchange for supplying us with information on the results of their inspections."
