Maintaining school houses
School boards are responsible for maintaining board-owned core and caretaker houses to meet normal housing standards.
Boards must understand and comply with the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes) Standards.
Paying for maintenance on board-owned core houses
Boards must fund maintenance or capital costs for core houses. Planned core house maintenance is included as a board-funded item in your school's 10-year property plan (10YPP). Boards must keep a reserve for major upgrades and health and safety work.
Overview of the 10 Year Property Plan
If the rent doesn’t cover your maintenance costs, you can pay for work on the house with:
- your school’s operational funding for house expenses (but only if you’ve met all the other operating costs for the school first)
- board funding, like fundraising and grants.
You can use our housing cashflow model to budget for rental income and expenses.
Paying for maintenance on caretaker houses
Schools are funded to maintain caretaker houses through the property maintenance grant. Any work to the house should be included in the 10YPP.
Non-essential upgrades must be paid for using board funding, such as fundraising and grants.
If a caretaker house needs significant capital upgrades to meet the current housing standards, talk to your property advisor about funding. They’ll decide if the work will be funded, or the house disposed of.
Using rental income from school houses
Schools can keep the rent from board-owned core houses. You must use it to make sure the house meets regulatory standards and for school expenses before using it for anything else.
The rent from caretaker houses must be paid to Colliers, our National Housing Contractor, who will then pay it to us.
Income tax and GST
Under the Education and Training Act 2020, boards do not pay tax on any profit they make from rental income from school-managed houses.
Exemptions from taxation – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new
Boards can’t claim GST on expenses for school houses.
You’ll find more information in the Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH).
Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH) handbook – Ministry of Educationopen_in_new
Council rates for school houses
The council rates the board is responsible for depends on the type of tenant you have living in the board-owned core house. If the tenant is:
- a teacher, principal or caretaker, the board will pay service rates – such as water rates – but are exempt from general council rates
- a private tenant, the board will pay full rates.
Exemptions from general council rates are set out in the notes for Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
Categories of non-rateable land – New Zealand Legislationopen_in_new
If you have any problems with the rates your council charges, contact your school property advisor for advice.
Insurance for school houses
School boards must insure board-owned core houses at replacement value with an insurer of their choice. However, caretaker houses don’t need to be insured as they won’t be replaced if they become uninhabitable.