Posted on 16 April, 2020
The healthy homes standard set minimum requirements for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture and drainage and draught stopping in rental properties. The healthy homes standard became law on the 1st of July 2019.
Compliance timeline for the new standards:
1st July 2021: All private landlords must comply within 90 days of any new or renewed tenancy after 1st July 2021. All tenancy agreements will need to include the signed statement that the landlord will comply with the new regulations and note specific information on how they plan to follow. All boarding houses must comply by 1st July 2021.
1st July 2023: All Housing New Zealand and registered community Housing providers must comply with the healthy homes standard.
1st July 2024: All rental homes must comply with the healthy homes standard.
Healthy homes standard breakdown:
The healthy home standards combine five aspects of a property, which all present a warm dry home.
These are: Heating, Insulation, Ventilation, Moisture and Drainage and Draught stopping.
Heating
Landlords must provide one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room.
Use the heating tool developed by tenancy services to help identify what capacity heater is required for your rental property: https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/heating-tool/
The device will meet the standard if the landlord installed a heater before the 1st of July 2019, as long as the heating capacity is within 10% of the kilowatts required.
Insulation
Ceiling and underfloor insulation has been compulsory in all rental homes since 1st July 2019. Insulation stops heat from escaping which means that a better-insulated home will retain more heat. This also means that it will usually cost less to heat the property, less prone to mold and the property will be drier.
Ventilation
Moisture and Drainage
Draught Stopping
Rental properties must have no unnecessary gaps or holes in walls, ceilings, windows, floors and doors that cause noticeable draught.
Fixing draughts is an easy way to reduce heating bills and keeping rental homes warm and dry.
It is important to comply with the Healthy Homes Standard to ensure the quality of rental homes. Warmer and drier homes are less likely to have issues with mould or mildew damage, which will protect a landlords investment.