All private rentals must comply with all healthy homes standards, including the heating standard, within 120 days of any new or renewed tenancy on or after 1 July 2021, with all private rentals complying by 1 July 2025.
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 2024.
Even for those tenancies where the healthy homes standards are not yet in force, landlords already have to provide and maintain a healthy rental property that is free from damp and mould. It’s just that under the new laws, it’s much clearer what landlords are required to do.
Current minimum standards around healthy housing
Until the healthy homes standards are fully in force (see above), some important minimum rights for tenants continue to exist under the Housing Improvement Regulations 1947.
- The landlord has to provide an "approved form of heating" in the living room (reg 6). This can’t be just a power point, there has to be some kind of heating appliance.
- If there’s a fireplace, the landlord has to make sure the chimney is swept regularly.
- From 1 July 2019 all rental homes have been required to have ceiling and underfloor insulation, unless an exception applies. See Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016, regs 11–16.
- The regulations state that "Every house shall be free from dampness" (reg 15). The Tenancy Tribunal generally treats this as a dual responsibility between the landlord and tenant, so that it is both about the way the tenant lives in or ‘uses’ the property (eg, heating and ventilating the house, and wiping condensation), and the condition of the housing the landlord provides (eg, not prone to mould, and the tenant has heating and ventilation options.
The landlord also has the obligation to maintain the property in a reasonable state of repair. For details about what this means see responsibility for maintenance.
What to do if the landlord won’t meet their healthy homes obligations
Whether or not the healthy homes standards apply to a particular rental property, landlords must take action to ensure that the home is insulated, can be heated and ventilated properly, and has good drainage and moisture barriers in place.
If a landlord doesn’t meet their obligations around providing a healthy home (either current obligations, or those that must be met under the healthy homes standards), or has provided incomplete or incorrect information on the insulation statement or healthy homes standards compliance statement, they will be in breach of the tenancy agreement and the law.
We have some suggestions for strategies on what to do when the landlord is in breach of their obligations.
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