Healthy homes standards have officially been announced and have become law on 1 July 2019.

The standards are aimed to increase the quality of New Zealand’s rental homes. It’s crucial for rental property owners to meet certain requirements to ensure their rental homes are healthy. Otherwise, property owners might face fines if their rental homes are failed to meet the minimum standards.

That’s why in this week’s blog, our guest expert in property management, Cary Chong, will lead us to get familiar with the changes in legislation and new healthy homes requirements for rental properties, so that you can be aware of what you should do to improve your rental properties.

What landlords should comply with NZ healthy homes standards?

The healthy homes standards set the minimum requirements for:

Heating

Rental property owners must ensure that they have one or more fixed heating devices in their main living room. The heaters are required to keep the room temperature at least 18°C all year round.

It’s worth mentioning that any inefficient, unaffordable or unhealthy heating devices will not meet the requirements of the standard. An online assessment tool is provided for landlords to check if their current heating is enough to meet the requirements.

Insulation

Since 1 July 2019, ceiling and underfloor insulation have been compulsory in all rental homes.

The new healthy home standards have increased the insulation thickness from 100mm to 120mm. If the existing insulation in rental homes doesn’t meet the requirements, then landlords will need to top up or replaced it.

Ventilation

Rental properties must have openable windows and doors in all living room, dining room, bedrooms and kitchen.

As kitchen and bathrooms are the primary sources of moisture in the home, extractor fan must be installed to ventilate externally and prevent mould.

Many old houses in New Zealand might not have current extractor fans that meet the healthy homes standards. If this is the situation, landlords will need to install the right extractor fans.

Moisture and drainage

To remove storm water, surface water and ground water, efficient drainage system must be installed in rental homes, which includes gutters, downpipes and drains.

Ground moisture barriers are required to be installed if there are existing subfloor in the rental property.

Draught stopping

Any reasonable gaps and holes that cause noticeable draughts must be blocked. This includes gaps or holes in walls, celling, doors, windows, and floors.

 

From 1 July 2021, landlords must ensure their rental homes comply with the healthy homes standard. Although there are less than two years remained, Cary highly recommend all New Zealand landlords start planning which parts of your rental properties need to be replaced or upgraded, so that you’ll have a clear timeline of fixing your properties and how much budgets you’ll need to comply with the healthy homes standard.

Need an excellent property manager? Here’s why you should choose Cary Chong

For some landlords, hiring an experienced property manager to look after your investment properties can be a good option. A property manager with extensive experience can help you deal with the various issues that can crop up in rentals. A property manager can also keep up-to-date with the latest, complex legislative changes regarding rental properties.

Cary has many years’ experience in property management. She has been working for New Zealand local real estate agent, Professionals, for more than five years. In 2018, Cary was awarded the top first and top two prizes in the Business Development Manager area by professionals and REINZ – the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand - respectively. In 2019, supported by Professionals, Cary founded her own property management company, Upper House Property Management, to provide Auckland landlords with rental services for their residential investment properties.

For all these reasons, we highly recommend you choose Cary to be your property manager. You can contact Cary via email: cary.chong@upperhouse.co.nz, or phone: 027 250 0389.

Disclaimer: The content in this article are provided for general situation purpose only. To the extent that any such information, opinions, views and recommendations constitute advice, they do not take into account any person’s particular financial situation or goals and, accordingly, do not constitute personalised financial advice. We therefore recommend that you seek advice from your adviser before taking any action.

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