I have now been an MP for nine months, having come in after 27 years in the law. Law is a wonderful career – I loved it – but it had its frustrations. I would constantly see things that were just plain wrong, or unjust, or wasteful.

One area I have been working in is trying to improve the experience people have when they live in apartments. Apartment living and terraced housing is the most affordable option if we want to live close. It is great for the environment, because people don’t travel to go to school and work. It is great for our city centres, because it makes them alive. I want a lot more people to live in Auckland City, including our families. That means this kind of housing needs to be a safe and secure investment. Having clear and effective law that ordinary people can understand and apply is really important to that end.

There is currently a private member’s bill, which was drafted by Hon Nikki Kaye, which aims to improve the Unit Titles Act. This has also been a chance to work co-operatively across the political parties. I welcome that chance, to make good law for all New Zealanders as much as possible by consensus. I am finding Parliament a lot more co-operative than often portrayed.

The government is using many levers to encourage housing. It is reforming the RMA. It is spending $ 3.8 billion on the infrastructure needed to accelerate housing growth and make it affordable. Apartment and terrace housing in our cities is an important part of the solution. But while such housing has many advantages, sometimes things go terribly wrong. I have heard heart-breaking stories.

Buildings need a good maintenance plan and owners need sound ways to resolve disputes. The body corporate needs reliable management and functional governance. When you buy an apartment you need to be able to really understand what you are buying, including any upcoming costs. If you are a small body corporate you may need something quite different from a large building with hundreds of apartments in it.

As an MP based in Central Auckland I am not only looking at the current bill, but into the many other things we might be able to do support ordinary New Zealanders who buy apartments.

Community living is new to many New Zealanders. In so many other places in the world people have been living closely together for hundreds of years. We don’t really have established traditions and our law needs to adapt as we change in this way.

The select committee is still considering the suggestions made by the submitters, so I can’t tell you what changes will be agreed to yet, but I can say that we are all working hard to make the law as sensible as possible. – Helen White, Labour List MP based in Auckland.