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Regulations · 2019 · Tier 2

Healthy Homes Standards

Full title: Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019

Last verified against legislation.govt.nz on 17 April 2026. Regulations commenced 1 July 2019; staged compliance from 1 July 2021.

What it is

The Healthy Homes Standards are regulations made under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. They set minimum standards for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping in residential rental properties. Landlords must ensure their rental properties comply within the staged deadlines. The regulations are administered by Tenancy Services (MBIE) and policy is led by Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga / Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The standards apply directly to rental tenancies. For owner-occupied property, the standards are not mandatory — but compliance is often treated as a sale-relevant benchmark, particularly where the purchaser intends to rent the property.

What it covers

  • All five standards: heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping.
  • Deadlines for compliance: staged from 1 July 2021 onwards, with requirements that compliance be achieved within 120 days of any new or renewed tenancy (extended from 90 days, effective 28 August 2022).
  • Tenancy agreement documentation: landlords must include a statement of compliance in the tenancy agreement.
  • Exemptions: where compliance is not reasonably practicable (e.g., due to the physical characteristics of the property), limited exemptions apply.
  • Remedies: tenants can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal if the property is non-compliant; landlords can face fines and compensation orders.

What it gives you

If the property you are selling is a rental:

  • A clear compliance framework. Your buyer (if also a landlord) will continue the rental and must meet the standards.
  • A reason to document compliance via a Healthy Homes assessment report, which becomes a saleable piece of evidence.

If the property you are buying is rented out:

  • A statutory entitlement, as the new landlord, to a property that meets the standards within 120 days of the tenancy being renewed under your ownership.
  • A benchmark against which to assess the property's condition, independent of the vendor's characterisation.

If the property is owner-occupied:

  • No direct legal requirement applies, but the standards serve as a proxy for home quality. A Healthy Homes compliant home is well-insulated, heated, and ventilated — characteristics that matter for comfort and running costs regardless of rental status.

The five standards

1. Heating

The main living room must have a fixed heating device capable of heating the room to at least 18°C, with a minimum calculated heating capacity based on the room's size and characteristics. The calculation method is set out in regulation 11. Most typical NZ main living rooms require a heat pump or equivalent fixed unit sized to the room.

2. Insulation

Ceiling and underfloor insulation are mandatory where reasonably practicable. Minimum R-values apply: broadly R2.9 for ceilings (varies by climate zone), and R1.3 for underfloor. Insulation installed before 1 July 2016 can remain if it meets the earlier Building Code standards; insulation installed after must meet the 2016 Building Code requirements. Walls are not covered by the standard.

3. Ventilation

The living room, dining room, kitchen, and bedrooms must have openable windows, doors, or skylights. Kitchens must have extract ventilation (typically a rangehood or extract fan) venting externally. Bathrooms, showers, and separate toilets must have extract fans venting externally.

4. Moisture ingress and drainage

The property must have efficient drainage for stormwater, surface water, and groundwater, including gutters, downpipes, and drains. Where there is an enclosed subfloor space, a ground moisture barrier must be installed if reasonably practicable.

5. Draught stopping

Unreasonable gaps and holes in walls, ceilings, windows, skylights, floors, and doors must be closed to prevent noticeable draughts. Unused fireplaces and chimneys must be blocked where they cause draughts (with provision to reverse if the fireplace is to be used).

How the standards are applied in practice

For rental properties, compliance is assessed in a Healthy Homes assessment. Many assessors are qualified tradespeople or specialists who produce a report documenting the property's state against each of the five standards. The report is not itself a statutory document — it is evidence of the landlord's compliance effort.

For sales where the property has been rented:

  • The vendor's existing Healthy Homes assessment report is typically provided as part of the listing materials.
  • The buyer, if continuing the rental, inherits the compliance obligation within 120 days of any new or renewed tenancy (extended from 90 days, effective 28 August 2022).
  • The ADLS standard vendor warranties include that the property complies with any mandatory regulations that apply to it, which includes Healthy Homes Standards for rental property.

For sales of owner-occupied property being sold to investors or landlords, a Healthy Homes assessment is often commissioned to give the buyer confidence about post-sale rental compliance cost.

Common misuses

"The Healthy Homes Standards apply to all houses"

They apply to residential rental properties. Owner-occupied homes are not required to comply. Marketing language that implies universal applicability is misleading.

"A Healthy Homes compliant home is a Building Code compliant home"

The Healthy Homes Standards and the Building Code are different. Healthy Homes covers ventilation, heating, insulation standards for rental suitability. The Building Code covers building construction compliance generally. A property can be Healthy Homes compliant without being Building Code compliant for specific works (e.g., unconsented additions) and vice versa.

"The report is too old to be useful"

A Healthy Homes assessment documents the state of specific fixtures at a specific time. Unless the underlying fixtures have changed (new heating, insulation removed or added, new extract fans), the assessment remains accurate. See Healthy Homes reports: the age question.

When you might cite these regulations

  • Selling a rental property. The standards are part of what the buyer is taking on; your existing assessment is useful evidence.
  • Selling an owner-occupied home to an investor buyer. Pre-assessment is a positive signal about future rental costs.
  • Responding to agent language that overstates the standards' applicability to owner-occupied sales. Healthy Homes is a rental compliance framework; non-compliance of an owner-occupied home is not a legal defect, even if it is a practical consideration.
  • Where a vendor's assessment shows non-compliance that the buyer (if a landlord) must remedy. Adjustment of price or vendor-undertaken remediation can be negotiated.

Related rules

Authoritative sources

Our guides that use these regulations