Every rental property in New Zealand will be required to comply with Healthy Homes standards by 2025. For the nitty gritty of this government directive it might pay to go to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development website but in a nutshell, if you own a rental house you will be required to keep your tenants warm, dry, and draught free – and yes, this even applies to student flats in Castle Street.
The Healthy Home standards are as follows:
Heating: every living area must be provided with one or more fixed heaters, which can consist of a heat pump, log burner, flued gas heater, or if the room is very small, a fixed electric heater.
Insulation: Ceiling and underfloor insulation must be installed if physically possible. Apart from this, insulation requirements will vary depending on which area of the country you live in, but as a rule, insulation that has been installed since 2016 should be up to code.
Ventilation: your living room, kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms must have windows to the outside that can be opened. Kitchens and bathrooms are also required to have extraction fans.
Moisture ingress and drainage: the drainage on your property should allow for the removal of stormwater, groundwater and surface water.
Draughts: there must be no significant gaps or holes in ceilings, walls, skylights, doors, floors or windows and all unused fireplaces should be closed off. Presumably, this is a non-issue in Christchurch as the majority of fireplaces had to be de-bricked after the earthquakes.
Landlords who haven’t managed to comply with the healthy homes standards by 2025 can be fined up to $7,200.00 under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, so if you haven’t started getting your property up to scratch, you’re running out of time.
Over the last four years the team at Juice Electrical have been busy installing a NZ-made and manufactured ventilation system, the Smooth-Air Dry-Matic into a number of Canterbury rental properties, and it’s proven to be a cost-effective and efficient way to reduce condensation in both old and new houses.
By taking warmed air out of the ceiling cavity, filtering it, then pumping it back into the house, this powerful but whisper-quiet system significantly reduces your tenants’ heating bills while keeping homes warm and dry. If your rental isn’t up to scratch and you’re wondering where to start, call Greg on 0800 277 275 or email helen@juiceelectrical.co.nz today and get the ball rolling. Remember, 2025 is only 30 weeks away!
