The healthy homes standards are five minimum standards every New Zealand rental property must meet: heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping. They sit under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. The most important update for 2026 is simple. Since 1 July 2025, every private rental in New Zealand must comply with all five healthy homes standards at all times, regardless of when the tenancy started.
That single change has caught a lot of landlords out. The old framework that gave you 90 or 120 days from the start of a new or renewed tenancy to get compliant has been fully superseded. If you own a rental and let it to tenants today, it must already meet the standards. There is no waiting period left.
This guide walks through each of the five healthy homes standards in plain English, the compliance timeline, the compliance statement you must include in tenancy agreements, the penalties for getting it wrong, the narrow exemptions, and how a good property manager keeps you compliant year after year. If you would rather hand the whole thing over, our Ray White Austar property management team handles healthy homes compliance for landlords across West Auckland every day.
Quick answer: the 5 healthy homes standards in brief
Here is the short version you can lift straight off the page:
- Heating: a fixed heater that can warm the main living room to at least 18 degrees Celsius, with each qualifying heater at least 1.5 kW.
- Insulation: compulsory ceiling and underfloor insulation meeting the minimum R-values for your climate zone.
- Ventilation: openable windows or doors equal to at least 5% of the floor area in every habitable room, plus extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms.
- Moisture ingress and drainage: efficient gutters, downpipes and drains, plus a ground moisture barrier where there is an enclosed subfloor.
- Draught stopping: block unreasonable gaps and holes, and close off unused open fireplaces.
Keep these numbers handy: 18 degrees, 1.5 kW, 5% openable area, ceiling R 2.9 to R 3.3 and underfloor R 1.3, and financial penalties of up to $7,200 if you fail to comply. The detail on each sits below.
Standard 1: Heating
The heating standard requires one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room to at least 18 degrees Celsius. The main living room is the largest room used for general everyday living, usually the lounge, family room or dining room.
Each qualifying fixed heater must be at least 1.5 kW, and the heater or heaters together must meet the minimum heating capacity calculated for that specific room. You work out the required capacity using the Heating Assessment Tool on tenancy.govt.nz or the formula in the regulations. A modern, well-insulated dwelling can use a newer heating formula that often results in a lower required capacity.
Two requirements are easy to mix up here. The 18 degrees figure is the temperature the heating must be able to reach in the main living room. The 1.5 kW figure is the minimum size of a qualifying fixed heater. They are separate things, and the room-specific calculated capacity sits on top of both.
What does not qualify as heating
You cannot rely on an open fire or an unflued combustion heater, such as a portable LPG bottle heater, to meet the standard. You also cannot use a plug-in electric heater, with the exception of a heat pump, where the required heating capacity for the main living room is over 2.4 kW. The only time that 2.4 kW rule eases is when you are topping up qualifying heating that was already installed before 1 July 2019.
Qualifying fixed heaters include heat pumps, woodburners, pellet burners and flued gas heaters. For most Auckland homes a heat pump is the simplest compliant option, and it usually does double duty for cooling in summer.
Standard 2: Insulation
Ceiling and underfloor insulation has been compulsory in all rental homes since 1 July 2019. For properties consented before 3 November 2022, the minimum ceiling R-value is R 2.9 in climate zones 1 and 2 and R 3.3 in zone 3. The minimum underfloor R-value is R 1.3 in all zones. Auckland sits in zone 1, so the R 2.9 ceiling figure applies to most local rentals.
There is a grandparenting rule worth knowing. Existing ceiling insulation that was installed before 1 July 2016 only needs to be at least 120mm thick to comply, rather than meeting the full R-value. That 120mm rule applies to ceiling insulation only, not underfloor, and only to that pre-2016 installation date.
Whatever insulation you have, it must meet the NZS 4246:2016 installation standard and be in reasonable condition. That means no dampness, no damage and no gaps. Old insulation that has slumped, been chewed by rodents or soaked through is not compliant even if it was once thick enough.
Standard 3: Ventilation
Every habitable room must have at least one window, door or skylight that opens to the outside and can be fixed in the open position. The total openable area in each room must be at least 5% of that room’s floor area. Habitable rooms are the spaces people live and sleep in, so lounges, bedrooms and dining rooms.
Kitchens and bathrooms need an extractor fan that vents to the outside. For fans installed after 1 July 2019, kitchens need a minimum 150mm diameter fan or 50 litres per second exhaust capacity, and bathrooms need a minimum 120mm diameter fan or 25 litres per second. A continuous mechanical system must extract at least 12 L/s in the kitchen and 10 L/s in the bathroom.
Those fan size requirements only apply to fans installed after 1 July 2019. If your property already has an older extractor fan that vents outside and works properly, it can usually stay. You do not need to rip out a perfectly good older fan just to fit a larger one.
Standard 4: Moisture ingress and drainage
The property must have efficient drainage for stormwater, surface water and ground water, with an appropriate outfall. In practice that means functioning gutters, downpipes and drains that move water away from the building.
Where the home has an enclosed subfloor, you must install a ground moisture barrier if it is reasonably practicable to do so. A compliant barrier is either a polythene sheet installed to NZS 4246:2016 section 8, or a material with a vapour flow resistance of at least 50 MNs/g that is fitted by a professional installer. The barrier stops ground moisture rising into the home, which protects both the structure and your tenants’ health. Damp subfloors are a common cause of the mould and condensation problems that drive maintenance complaints.
Standard 5: Draught stopping
Landlords must block any unreasonable gaps or holes in walls, ceilings, windows, skylights, floors and doors that cause noticeable draughts. The age and condition of the house cannot be used as an excuse to leave gaps unsealed. An older villa still has to meet this standard.
Any open fireplace must be closed off, or the chimney blocked, to stop heat escaping and draughts coming in. The one exception is where the tenant asks in writing for the fireplace to remain available and you agree. In that case it must be in good working order. Whichever way it goes, the healthy homes compliance statement must record which option applies to the property.
The compliance timeline: why the 1 July 2025 deadline changes everything
The healthy homes standards rolled out in stages, and the staged approach is exactly where out-of-date guides trip landlords up. Here is the accurate position.
Boarding houses had to comply by 1 July 2021. Kainga Ora and registered Community Housing Provider properties had to comply by 1 July 2024. For private landlords, earlier transition rules required compliance within 90 days of a new or renewed tenancy between 1 July 2021 and 27 August 2022, then within 120 days between 28 August 2022 and 2 March 2025.
All of that phased timing has now been replaced by a single universal deadline. Since 1 July 2025, every private rental must comply with all five healthy homes standards at all times, not only when a tenancy starts or is renewed. If your property had never triggered the standards because you had no new or renewed tenancy, that loophole is gone. Compliance is now continuous.
This matters most for long-term tenancies that have rolled on for years. Plenty of those properties skated under the old new-tenancy trigger. They no longer can. If you are also planning any tenancy changes, our guides on the Auckland rental market for landlords and the notice to end a tenancy in New Zealand sit alongside this one in the landlord toolkit.
The healthy homes compliance statement
A healthy homes compliance statement is a signed statement of the property’s current level of compliance with the standards. New, renewed or varied tenancy agreements must include one, and this has been required since 1 December 2020. The statement sets out where the property stands against each of the five standards and is signed as part of the tenancy paperwork.
Leaving the statement out is not a minor slip. Failing to include it when required can attract a financial penalty of up to $500 for each tenancy, or other enforcement action. The statement is separate from the standards themselves, so you can be penalised for a missing statement even on a property that is otherwise fully compliant.
It is worth being clear on what the statement is not. There is no government-issued healthy homes certificate. Landlords self-assess and sign the statement themselves. A professional healthy homes assessment is best practice and gives you solid evidence, but it is not a statutory requirement. Do not let anyone tell you a particular paid certificate is legally mandatory, because it is not.
Record-keeping and tenant information requests
You must keep all records and documents showing how you comply with the standards and make them available on request. That includes insulation statements, heater specifications and capacity calculations, fan details, drainage and moisture barrier records, and any assessment reports.
A tenant can request your compliance information, and you must provide it within 21 days. Good records are not just box-ticking. If a dispute reaches the Tenancy Tribunal, a clear paper trail is the difference between proving compliance and arguing it. Keep the documentation organised from day one, because reconstructing it years later is painful. The same discipline applies to your regular property inspections, and our rental property inspection checklist for New Zealand pairs neatly with healthy homes record-keeping.
Penalties for non-compliance
Failing to meet your healthy homes obligations is a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. A landlord may be liable for financial penalties of up to $7,200, which the Tenancy Tribunal can award to a tenant.
Larger-scale landlords, defined as those with six or more tenancies, can face higher financial penalties of up to $50,000 for failing to meet healthy homes obligations. That higher figure reflects the expectation that portfolio landlords have the systems to stay compliant.
Be careful how these numbers are framed. The $7,200 figure is the maximum for a standard landlord, not a flat fine that applies in every case, and the $50,000 figure only applies to larger-scale landlords with six or more tenancies. There are no per-day fines attached to the standards. The risk is real, but the figures are specific.
Exemptions to the healthy homes standards
A small number of genuine exemptions exist, mostly around insulation and moisture barriers. Insulation and a ground moisture barrier are not required where a professional installer cannot access the area without substantial building work, substantial damage, or health and safety risks. There are also exemptions for low-pitched roofs with a limited ceiling cavity that meet compensating Building Code insulation levels, and for existing certified underfloor insulation.
Treat exemptions with caution. They are narrow, they are assessed case by case, and they must be documented and evidenced. An exemption is not an easy escape route, and claiming one you cannot back up leaves you exposed at the Tribunal. If you think a property qualifies, get the impracticability properly assessed and recorded before you rely on it.
How a property manager keeps you compliant
Healthy homes compliance is ongoing work, and it is exactly the kind of detail that slips when a landlord is busy. A property manager takes the whole cycle off your plate.
At Ray White Austar we arrange the healthy homes assessment, source compliant and reliable tradespeople for any work needed, draft the compliance statement correctly for each new, renewed or varied tenancy, keep the records in order, and re-check compliance whenever a tenancy changes. Because the 1 July 2025 deadline now requires continuous compliance, that ongoing oversight is more valuable than ever. We also keep an eye on related obligations, including the methamphetamine regulations for rentals, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Whether the landlord or the property manager is responsible comes down to your management agreement, but in practice a good manager carries the compliance load and keeps you on the right side of the rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 healthy homes standards in NZ?
The five healthy homes standards are heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping. Together they set the minimum standard every private rental in New Zealand must meet under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.
Do all rentals have to comply with healthy homes standards?
Yes. Since 1 July 2025, all private rentals must comply with all five healthy homes standards at all times, regardless of when the tenancy started. Boarding houses have had to comply since 1 July 2021, and Kainga Ora and registered Community Housing Provider homes since 1 July 2024.
What temperature do healthy homes standards require?
The heating standard requires a fixed heater that can warm the main living room to at least 18 degrees Celsius. Each qualifying fixed heater must be at least 1.5 kW, and the heating must meet the capacity calculated for that specific room using the Heating Assessment Tool.
How much can a landlord be fined for not meeting healthy homes standards?
A landlord may be liable for financial penalties of up to $7,200 for failing to meet healthy homes obligations. Larger-scale landlords with six or more tenancies can face higher penalties of up to $50,000. Leaving the compliance statement out of a tenancy agreement can cost up to $500 for each tenancy.
Do I need a healthy homes assessment or report?
A professional healthy homes assessment is best practice but not legally required. Landlords self-assess and sign the compliance statement themselves, and there is no government-issued certificate. That said, an independent assessment gives you solid evidence of compliance if a dispute reaches the Tenancy Tribunal.
Get your rental healthy homes compliant
The healthy homes standards are now fully in force across the entire private rental sector, and the universal 1 July 2025 deadline means there is no margin left for waiting. Getting it right protects your tenants, your property and you.
If you would like a hand, Ray White Austar can take care of compliance from assessment through to record-keeping. Book a free rental appraisal in Auckland to see what your property could earn, and explore our property management service to have the whole healthy homes process handled for you. For the official detail, the tenancy.govt.nz healthy homes pages remain the authoritative reference.