Caretaker housing
What is caretaker housing?
Caretaker housing is almost exclusively at secondary schools. It was provided when it was necessary to have a live-on-site caretaker for security or because it was hard to get tradespeople due to location. As provision is historical, there’s no policy to increase the number of caretaker houses.
Boards of trustees look after caretaker houses
Boards of trustees must:
- arrange tenants
- do property inspections
- collect the bond and rent
- do annual rent reviews
- manage tenancy disputes
- pay for all operating costs, including rates
- arrange and pay for maintenance work and upgrades.
Boards must remit the rent to the housing contractor, who in turn remits this to the Ministry each month.
Help with caretaker matters
If you have any queries about caretakers rents, contact Payroll Services at the Ministry of Education National office.
For help with tenancy matters contact Darroch Limited, the Ministry’s National Housing Contractor:
Phone 0800 800 885 or 04-472 3529, Fax 04-472 0713
PO Box 1545, Wellington.
Maintaining caretaker houses
Boards get funding for property maintenance in their operational funding, in the same way as other school property. Therefore, you must plan for routine maintenance on the house in your Ten Year Property Plan (10YPP) to prevent it becoming run down.
For more information go to 10YPP process.
What if the house needs capital work?
If your caretaker house needs any non-discretionary capital upgrades to ensure the health and safety of tenants, for example a new roof, talk to your local Ministry of Education office about putting in a submission.
When considering your submission, the Ministry will assess whether the house has been adequately maintained. If we find the capital work is needed because the routine maintenance has been neglected, and the maintenance costs to bring the house to standard are too high, we will consider demolition or disposal.
If the submission is approved, the funding comes out from the unforeseen capital works funding. The Ministry will not pay for non-discretionary capital upgrades, such as remodelling a kitchen. You must budget for this from surplus operational funding.
Caretaker houses won’t be replaced
Boards are not required to arrange or pay for insurance on caretaker houses and the Ministry will not replace a caretaker house that is totally destroyed. This is because provision of caretaker houses is historical and there’s no policy to provide new ones or replace old ones once they have passed their useful life or become uninhabitable.
However, the Ministry may, at its discretion, fix damage under its Catastrophic Loss policy.