The Healthy Homes standards: a plain-English guide for New Zealand landlords
By Chris Matulke, founder of Dunmore Property Management. Published 21 October 2026.
The Healthy Homes standards set five minimum requirements for every rental home in New Zealand: heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture and drainage, and draught stopping. Private landlords have had to meet all five since 1 July 2025, at all times. This guide explains each one, the paperwork that goes with it and what a breach can cost.
What are the Healthy Homes standards?
The rules are often called the Healthy Homes Act, but they sit in the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019, made under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. They cover almost every residential rental, whoever owns it, and sit alongside the separate rules on smoke alarms. In short:
Standard
What it requires
Often found in older rentals
Heating
Fixed heating that can keep the main living room at 18°C
No fixed heater, or one too small for the room
Insulation
Ceiling and underfloor insulation to the required level, in reasonable condition
Thin, gappy or missing ceiling insulation; none under the floor
Ventilation
Windows that open in living areas and bedrooms; extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom
Fans that vent into the roof space, or no fan at all
Moisture and drainage
Working gutters, downpipes and drains; a ground moisture barrier under an enclosed subfloor
No moisture barrier under the house
Draught stopping
No unreasonable gaps or holes; unused open fireplaces closed off
Gaps around doors and windows; an open chimney
Does my rental have to comply now?
Yes. Since 1 July 2025, every private rental has had to comply, whenever its tenancy started. The earlier grace period of 90 or 120 days after a new tenancy no longer applies. Boarding houses had to comply from 1 July 2021, and Kāinga Ora and registered community housing providers from 1 July 2024.
Compliance is also continuous. A heat pump that breaks or a fan that stops working takes the home out of compliance until it is repaired, so the standards are a maintenance question as much as a one-off upgrade.
What does the heating standard require?
The main living room needs one or more fixed heaters that can keep it at 18°C. The main living room is the largest room used for everyday living, and the capacity it needs depends on its size, its windows and how well the home is insulated.
Each heater must be at least 1.5 kW, and heat pumps and electric heaters need a thermostat. Open fires, unflued gas heaters and portable heaters do not count. Where the room needs more than 2.4 kW, a plain electric heater cannot meet the standard on its own, which is why most rentals end up with a heat pump. Heaters installed before 1 July 2019 can still count if each is over 2.4 kW and together they reach at least 80% of the capacity required.
Tenancy Services offers a free Heating Assessment Tool, often called the Healthy Homes heating calculator. It works out the capacity your living room needs and produces a report to keep with your records.
What insulation does a rental need?
Ceilings and suspended floors need insulation wherever a professional installer can reasonably reach. The minimum is R1.3 under the floor, and R2.9 or R3.3 in the ceiling depending on the climate zone. Ceiling insulation installed before 1 July 2016 passes if it is at least 120 mm thick. Insulation that is damp, mouldy, compressed or full of gaps does not count, whatever its rating.
What does the ventilation standard require?
Every living room, dining room, kitchen and bedroom needs windows, doors or skylights that open to the outside and can be fixed open, adding up to at least 5% of the room’s floor area. Kitchens and bathrooms also need an extractor fan that vents outside.
A fan fitted since 1 July 2019 must be at least 150 mm in diameter or move 50 litres a second in a kitchen, and at least 120 mm or 25 litres a second in a bathroom. Older fans can stay while they vent outside and work; when one fails, its replacement has to meet the current sizes.
What do the moisture and drainage rules require?
The property needs efficient drainage for storm water, surface water and ground water: gutters, downpipes and drains that carry water away from the house. If the home has an enclosed subfloor, it also needs a ground moisture barrier, usually polythene laid over the ground under the house. A subfloor counts as enclosed when airflow is blocked around at least half of its perimeter. The barrier is not required where an installer cannot reach the subfloor without substantial work or risk.
What counts as an unreasonable gap or draught?
Gaps or holes in walls, ceilings, floors, windows, skylights and doors that let in noticeable draughts must be blocked. The regulations set no exact size, but Tenancy Services guidance treats a gap wider than 3 mm, about the edge of a $2 coin, as one that usually needs fixing. An open fireplace that is not in use must be closed off or its chimney blocked, unless the tenant asks in writing to use it and you agree.
What paperwork do landlords need?
Three things:
A healthy homes compliance statement in every new or renewed tenancy agreement, showing how the home meets each standard, down to heater capacities and insulation levels.
Records that back the statement up: heating calculations, invoices, product details, photos and any assessment report.
Those records on request. A tenant can ask for them, and you have 21 days to provide them.
The statement must be signed by the landlord or an agent acting for the landlord, such as a property manager. An assessor can supply the information but cannot sign it for you. Tenancy Services publishes a template for the statement.
Do you need a Healthy Homes assessment or certificate?
No law requires a professional assessment, and there is no government-issued Healthy Homes certificate. You can check the home yourself with the Tenancy Services tools, as long as the statement you sign is accurate and backed by records.
Many landlords still use an assessor, because the report, often called a Healthy Homes report, gives measured figures for the statement and a clear list of what needs doing. A report labelled as a certificate is the assessor’s own document, not an official one. Assessors set their own prices, so ask for a written quote first. How we arrange assessments for the properties we manage is explained on our Healthy Homes page.
What happens if a rental does not comply?
A tenant can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal, which can order the work to be done and award exemplary damages of up to $7,200 for a breach of the standards. Leaving the compliance statement out of a tenancy agreement can cost up to $500 for each tenancy. Because compliance is continuous, a home that met the standards at the start of a tenancy can still be in breach later if something has stopped working.
Healthy Homes checklist for landlords
Run through this before every new tenancy and keep a dated copy with your records:
A fixed heater in the main living room, sized with the Heating Assessment Tool, with the report saved.
The thermostat on every heat pump or electric heater working.
Ceiling insulation checked: depth or R-value recorded, with no gaps, damp or damage.
Underfloor insulation checked wherever the floor can be reached.
Windows that open in every living area and bedroom, at least 5% of each room’s floor area.
Kitchen and bathroom fans venting outside and working.
Gutters, downpipes and drains clear and carrying water away.
A ground moisture barrier in place under an enclosed subfloor.
Gaps over 3 mm around doors, windows and floors sealed, and any unused fireplace closed off.
The compliance statement completed and signed.
Smoke alarms are a separate legal requirement, not one of the five standards, but checking them on the same visit saves a second trip.
Have the rules changed recently?
Only slightly. The deadline for all private rentals passed on 1 July 2025. On 25 September 2025, two technical changes took effect: an insulation exemption for homes with very limited roof space returned, where extra insulation elsewhere makes up for it, and the standards now take precedence over overlapping parts of the Housing Improvement Regulations 1947. As at October 2026, no further changes have been announced.
Frequently asked questions
Do rentals need double glazing under the Healthy Homes standards?
No. The standards do not require double glazing. Windows matter for ventilation and draught stopping, and better glazing can reduce the heating capacity a living room needs, but single glazing is allowed.
Does a new build automatically comply?
No. A newer home still needs a compliance statement, and the ventilation, drainage, moisture barrier and draught rules all apply. Homes built to the 2008 Building Code or later can use a lower heating formula, and insulation installed to the 2021 Building Code is treated as compliant.
Can I enter the property to do Healthy Homes work?
Yes. You can enter to carry out work needed to comply with the standards, or to prepare for it, as long as you give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice.
Every free rental appraisal from Dunmore includes a first look at the Healthy Homes standards, so you know where your property stands before you decide anything.
Check your rental against the standards.
Book a free rental appraisal and we look at the Healthy Homes standards on the same visit. Your written report arrives within 48 hours.