Dunedin Property Management

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Health Home Standards

What is Health Home Standards?

The healthy homes standards introduce specific and minimum standards for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties.

All private rentals must comply within 90 days of any new or renewed tenancy after 1 July 2021, with all private rentals complying by 1 July 2024. All boarding houses must comply by 1 July 2021. All houses rented by Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) and registered Community Housing Providers must comply by 1 July 2023.

Landlords are responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of their rental properties. These standards will help ensure landlords have healthier, safer properties and lower maintenance costs for their investments.

Heating

All rental properties must have one or more fixed heaters, which can directly heat the main living room and meet a required heating capacity. Certain heating devices that are inefficient, unaffordable or unhealthy will not meet the requirements of this standard. A heating assessment tool is provided at tenancy.govt.nz/heating-tool, which provides a report that shows the minimum heating capacity required. It can be used to check if current heating is sufficient to meet the standard, or if it is necessary to install a new heater.

Insulation

Ceiling and underfloor insulation has been compulsory in all rental homes since 1 July 2019, where it is reasonably practicable2 to install. Underfloor insulation needs a minimum R-value* of 1.3. Existing ceiling insulation may need to be topped up or replaced if it is not in a reasonable condition, and in most situations, existing ceiling insulation needs to be at least 120mm thick. If ceiling insulation needs to be topped up, it needs to meet minimum R-values as set out in the 2008 Building Code.

Ventilation

Rental properties must have at least one door or window (including skylights) that opens to the outside in all bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, lounges and kitchens. The openable windows and doors must have a total area of at least 5% of the floor area in each respective room. The windows or doors must be able to be fixed in the open position. All kitchens and bathrooms must have an extractor fan that ventilates externally.

Moisture ingress and drainage

Rental properties must have efficient drainage for the removal of storm water, surface water and ground water, including an appropriate outfall. The drainage system must include gutters, downpipes and drains for the removal of water from the roof. If the rental property has an enclosed subfloor, a ground moisture barrier must be installed if it is reasonably practicable to do so.

Draught stopping

Landlords must block any unreasonable gaps and holes in walls, ceilings, windows, floors and doors that cause noticeable draughts. Open fireplaces must be blocked unless the tenant and landlord agree otherwise.