Healthy Homes Guarantee bill to be fast tracked

Under the bill, landlords will be required to meet minimum standards of heating and insulation in their rental properties. This will amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, and all landlords will be required to meet the standards.

Andrew Bruce from Auckland Property Investors Association says that while no one wants rental properties to be cold and damp, actioning the changes proposed by the bill may be problematic.

“Labour indicated that they weren’t happy with homes being insulated to 1978 standards [which was the requirement for rentals under National’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill],” he says.

He continues by explaining that research undertaken by NZ Properties Investors Federation showed that modern insulation only achieved a five per cent efficiency gain over the 1978 standard.

“It will be disappointing if landlords have to reinsulate their already adequately insulated homes to achieve these standards. The cost benefit analysis isn’t favourable.”

There will also be a minimum requirement for heating, which Labour has indicated will be in the form of heat pumps. Bruce says that this could be problematic in apartments, where body corporates sometimes have rules prohibiting use of heat pumps.

“Additionally, most apartment dwellers will tell you that the issue isn’t keeping apartments warm, it’s cooling them down,” he says.

The standards for insulation and heating will be set by MBIE within six months of the bill being enacted. Once these are established, the requirement to meet the standard will be one year for any new tenancy agreements. All tenancy agreements will be required to adhere to the standards within five years.