Time is up for landlords who haven’t yet updated their rental properties to meet Healthy Homes standards.

The standards became law in 2019, introducing minimum requirements for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties.

While the standards have been introduced in stages, meaning some properties must already comply, from tomorrow (Tuesday July 1) all rental properties in the country must meet the standards and landlords can face penalties for non-compliance.

Tenants who do not believe their homes meet the standards can contact Community Link for advice on how to take action.

Community Link community services coordinator Kim Baker told the Wānaka App the organisation would normally direct a client to Community Law – Dunedin Community Law Centre or Tenancy Services. 

“We have a lawyer from [Community Law – Dunedin Community Law Centre] visit once a month and meet with clients - during her visit last week, I know she saw at least one person with a tenancy issue relating to Healthy Homes.”

If a tenant takes their landlord to the Tenancy Tribunal, they can be fined up to $7,200 for each Healthy Homes breach. 

Healthy Homes standards have already improved life at home for many renters.

According to research by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) released last year, between 2020 and 2024, the proportion of private renters who said their homes could be heated to a comfortable temperature year round increased from 50 percent to 77 percent.

However, in the same four-year period, landlords’ commitment to updating their homes to meet the standards barely changed.

In 2024, 45 percent were committed to meeting the standards; 31 percent were described as fluctuators, who had indicated they ‘might’ update to meet the standards; 17 percent had a lower level of commitment than the fluctuators; and seven percent were classed as ‘in denial’.

Whether that commitment level has changed in the time since isn’t known, but some renters the Wānaka App spoke to ahead of the final compliance deadline said they had low expectations for improvements to make their homes warmer.

Their concerns also pointed to issues highlighted by critics of the standards as well as by HUD research - that for many, fears of having their tenancy negatively affected stops them from complaining.

One Wānaka renter said she had been told her rental met the standards, but she’d never been provided with a Healthy Homes completion checklist (a requirement of all new tenancies).

“I never got a signed contract back from the landlord because I don’t think they could be bothered filling out all the Healthy Homes standards stuff,” she said.

The same renter said water comes up from the ground and pools onto her bedroom when it rains.

It’s one of a number of issues she’s hesitant to bring up with her landlord. The fear of bothering her landlord and potentially having to move outweighs the benefits of getting them to comply. 

“I’m scared they’ll tell me they need the house back in three months if I do [complain].”

Another renter who said she had been told her home met Healthy Homes standards - yet she could feel the cold rising up from the carpet in her $650-per-week house.

Her power bill last month was $630 - and she feels there is nothing she can do.

Another has secured a warm rental but she said she had experienced many years of cold rentals in Wānaka and understood well the sentiment among renters.

“You want to feel grateful for living here, you don’t want to complain…” she said. “People are here because they love the lifestyle but they’re going home to a place that’s cold.”

A starting point for renters to check the level of compliance in their property:

• Is there a fixed heating source that can sufficiently heat my living room?
• Does each liveable space have a window or door opening to the outside that can be fixed open?
• Do my kitchen and bathroom both have extractor fans?
• Have unreasonable gaps or holes in windows, doors, floors and doors that cause draughts been filled?

Renters can find the full checklist, as well as more information for how to bring up a non-compliance issue with their landlord, here.

PHOTO: Supplied