COVID-19: Can Landlords Require Tenants to be Vaccinated?
When it comes to your own private property, it's your call who you let inside. You can require tradespeople to be vaccinated and you can ask your unvaccinated friends and family to stay away. Sounds simple right? Unfortunately, it's a bit more complicated if you own a rental property.
With all the recent changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework and tenancy privacy guidelines, it’s understandable if you’re unsure where you stand when it comes to your rights as a landlord. Can you, the landlord, require tenants to be vaccinated against COVID-19? Can you even ask if they are vaccinated?
Whilst we can’t give you a definitive “yes” or “no” answer due to the constantly changing COVID-19 landscape, here is a brief overview of the current advice from various legitimate sources (as of February 2022):
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Official advice from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) is that before asking about vaccination status, landlords must first try to find an alternative way to keep everyone safe (e.g., arranging property inspections while the tenant is outside, or by social distancing and mask wearing).
Tenants do not have any legal obligation to disclose any personal medical information and can refuse to answer any questions they feel are inappropriate (which may include their vaccination status).
Community Law (communitylaw.org.nz)
Landlords can ask tenants if they are vaccinated if they have completed and passed a COVID-19 risk assessment in line with government guidelines. The risk assessment may show that the health and safety of other people outweighs the privacy rights of the tenants. If there is no alternative way to keep everyone safe, requiring tenants to be vaccinated may be the most reasonable and necessary next step, therefore, justifying asking tenants for their vaccination status (which may include asking for a copy of their vaccine pass).
Tenancy Services
Landlords are encouraged to talk openly with prospective tenants and agree on how particular concerns surrounding tenancy arrangements will be managed. This may include agreeing on whether tradespeople assigned to carry out maintenance or repairs on the tenanted property must be vaccinated.
Privacy Act 2020
It’s worth noting that according to Principle 1 of the Privacy Act 2020, landlords need to demonstrate a legitimate need to collect personal information - such as the vaccination status of current or potential tenants. Landlords also cannot pressure tenants to provide this information (see Principle 4).
To summarise, there are quite a few things to take into consideration and the advice is constantly changing. Under the right circumstances, you CAN ask tenants for their vaccination status and require them to be vaccinated. However, these circumstances are quite specific, and you must have explored all other possible options for mitigating risk before you ask. Even then, under the Privacy Act 2020 and the OPC guidelines tenants still have the right to refuse to provide such information. Unless you can justify your reasoning, you cannot pressure them to cooperate.
As property management experts, it’s our job to stay up to date on the latest legislation and use our knowledge to take the stress out of owning a rental property. If you have any specific questions surrounding your rights as a landlord, please get in touch with your local Propertyscouts team!
______
DISCLAIMER: The above advice is written by Propertyscouts New Zealand (2020) Limited and is intended as a broad guide for educational purposes only. The advice should not be regarded as legal, financial or real estate advice. In all instances, you should make your own inquiries and seek independent professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances before making any legal, financial or real estate decisions.
______