Loafers Lodge in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Hamish Cardwell
Building inspectors say they are working with boarding house operators where there are fire safety problems.
The fatal Loafers Lodge fire in May prompted a Tenancy Services compliance team and council inspectors to start checking out similar buildings.
About 70 nationwide were identified in July.
They have since visited 37, focused on those three storeys or higher and already fitted with sprinklers. They have not identified them.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the teams had been making initial recommendations to councils about fire safety concerns.
It would do a whole report "with recommendations to increase safety measures for boarding houses" once it got the results of Fire and Emergency's Loafers Lodge investigation, which has been delayed.
"Since the Election, MBIE is anticipating that the new government will need to decide if changes to fire-related regulation will be a priority and the pace at which any work would progress given their key election manifesto priorities and commitments," officials said in a statement.
One change Cabinet agreed on in September was to improve building warrant of fitness checks by ensuring that private BWOF inspectors - called IQPs - only signed off a building if its safety systems matched up with its compliance schedule.
Also, the change aimed to bring in new offences and tougher penalties for building owners and IQPs.
"Changes to the Building Act are required to implement these changes," the ministry said.
"We will work with the incoming government to determine next steps, including timing of legislative changes."
Tighter fire rules that were being worked on from before the Loafers Lodge fire kicked in earlier this month; central to them is a demand for interconnected smoke alarms in new builds.
