Meeting the Healthy Homes Standards

The Government introduced the Healthy Homes Standards for rental housing in July, in an effort to improve the living conditions of renters in Aotearoa. These standards set out new requirements for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture, drainage, and draught stopping.

From 1 December 2020 Landlords must include a statement of their current level of compliance with the healthy homes standards in any new, varied or renewed tenancy agreement.

From 1 July 2021 Private landlords must ensure their rental properties comply with the healthy homes standards within 90 days of any new, or renewed, tenancy. All boarding houses (except Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) and Community Housing Provider boarding house tenancies) must comply with the healthy homes standards.

From 1 July 2024 All Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) houses and registered Community Housing Provider houses must comply with the healthy homes standards.

From 1 July 2025 All rental homes must comply with the healthy homes standards.

Understanding the standards can be tricky, and compliance might be dependent on the age of the home, the way it is constructed, and when improvements were made. The good news is that the HomeFit team has been working hard so that you don’t have to. We’ve read the legislation, consulted with experts, and considered the implications.

In October 2019, we launched an update to the HomeFit standard. Now if you have an assessment completed by one of our trained assessors under HomeFit v2, you can use your HomeFit certificate to show the home complies with the Healthy Homes Standards. If your home is not quite up to scratch, our assessors can give you advice specific to your home to make improvements straight forward and easy. Click here to find an assessor or find out more about the new standards here.