Healthy Homes deadline fast approaching

The tribunal says it has heard of landlords operating boarding houses without realising it and it means they are unaware of the different dates for these properties to comply with the standards.

A boarding house is defined as any rental property with a communal bathroom or kitchen intended to be shared by six people or more. Boarders occupy a single room and have an individual tenancy agreement.

The standards are for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties.

When heating properties landlords must provide one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room.

The heater(s) must be acceptable types, and must meet the minimum heating capacity required for the main living room.

The ventilation standard requires rentals to have openable windows in the living room, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms. Kitchens and bathrooms must have extractor fans.

Landlords must ensure their rentals have efficient drainage for the removal of storm water, surface water and ground water under the moisture ingress and drainage standard.

Rental properties with an enclosed sub-floor space must have a ground moisture barrier.

Under the draught stopping standard landlords must make sure the property doesn’t have unreasonable gaps or holes in walls, ceilings, windows, skylights, floors and doors which cause noticeable draughts.

All unused open fireplaces must be closed off or their chimneys must be blocked to prevent draughts.

The tribunal says boarding house landlords have an earlier blanket deadline for meeting the Healthy Homes standard.

By July 1 all boarding houses, excluding Kāinga Ora and community housing providers, have to comply with the standards.

In comparison private landlords have 90 days from July 1 for any new or renewed tenancies.

With the boarding house deadline less than a month away the tribunal says landlords should be making the final touch-ups to their properties.