This is what professional meth-testing looks like. Cheap DIY tests could mean it becomes easy, cheap and quick for homebuyers, landlords and prospective tenants to get an indication if a property has meth contamination.

Insurers have been told they must do more to help landlords protect their properties from meth contamination, but landlords say they've got their own self-help plan.

Speaking at the Financial Services and Insurance Ombudsman conference, Miles Stratford from Meth Solutions appealed to insurers to take a lead in helping landlords protect themselves from the synthetic drug known as P.

That included better landlord education, and using their buying power to negotiate discounted meth testing deals.

DAVID WHITE/STUFF Andrew King of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation says landlords are working on a DIY meth-testing scheme to protect their homes.

Insurers could even use their financial muscle to take civil and criminal action against tenants who smoked or manufactured meth in their policyholders' houses.

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"The thing I would like to see insurers doing is really educating their clients, and making it clearer on the steps landlords can take in order to mitigate their risk," Stratford said.

SUPPLIED Meth Solutions Director Miles Stratford says meth use is widespread.

That included making it crystal clear landlords needed to test their properties regularly to ensure they could prove any contamination happened under their current insurance contract.

"I believe most people want to do the right thing. They just don't know what to do," Stratford said.

But landlords' spokesman Andrew King, from the Federation of Property Investors, said insurers were doing fine, and it had its own plan for low-cost DIY swab testing for landlords that would do the job.

DEREK FLYN/STUFF Positive meth-tests can cause heartbreak. Tasha and Jamie McCracken have had a meth test on the property they let out come back positive.

King said professional meth-testing was too slow, and too expensive for landlords.

Cheap DIY testing kits can be bought for around $15 which would give landlords a "yes/no" to the presence of meth contamination in their properties.

A "yes" would then result in a company like Meth Solutions being called in to do full testing, King said.

The tests would be done in the presence of a witness, should a claim for contamination later be made.

It would give tenants confidence they were not moving into meth-contaminated homes, but also put them on notice not to smoke, or manufacture meth in the property ,or they would be caught.

King said insurers had indicated they would support the DIY plan provided landlords were properly trained, and were using government-approved testing equipment.

"The insurance companies will allow it," he said.

Meth testing of homes prompted by media coverage has revealed a rising number of contaminated homes, though there is still debate about what a safe level is for human contamination.

It's also sparked a lot of insurance claims, and resulted in insurance companies being more explicit about what is covered.

Some insurers have moved from excluding meth damage as not being "sudden" damage under their policies, or capping it to a maximum of $30,000 or $50,000.

In March IAG, which operates insurance brands including NZI, State and AMI, said the number of claims it got for meth contamination had increased from about 10 a month in 2015 to 50 a month last year.

Stratford said the long-term average for the proportion of the houses it tested had not fallen far since Meth Solutions launched five years' ago, and was running at nearly 39 per cent.

However, he said that may not represent anywhere near a national average as landlords who choose to meth-test their properties might be sparked by suspicions about specific tenants.

Brendan McGillicuddy from giant insurer IAG said his company had produced a detailed self-defence guide for landlords insured with it, and – prompted by concerns that not all meth testers were doing a good job – had built a referral network of trusted testers companies its policyholders could use.