With just a couple of weeks to go before the man in red drops in, the residential rental community face changes to Healthy Homes Standards that require landlords’ attention. But most Landlords have full-time careers and family commitments which may mean they don’t have time to learn about the changes in the middle of the busy festive season.
On the other hand, Angel Property Managers are on top of everything “rental-properties”. We’ve summarised the changes to provide an easy-to-read snapshot and give you back time to enjoy the lead-up to Xmas.
Here’s what’s changed….
In late November, with just one month to go before most New Zealanders break for a summer Xmas, Housing Minister Megan Woods announced a change to compliance timeframes for the Healthy Homes Standards. The good news is that landlords now have more time to make properties compliant for both existing tenancies and new ones. It may sound like the government is getting into the Xmas Spirit of giving; however, Wood’s said their monitoring had shown 85% of private rentals already comply. So, the reality is most landlords are not affected by this change.
If your rental property hasn’t had a new tenant since before 1st July 2021, or you’re about to convert a property into a new residential rental, it may not yet comply with the Healthy Homes Standards and the new timeframes will apply. Previously you had 90 days from the start of a new/renewed tenancy agreement to be compliant with all five healthy homes standards. That timeframe has now been extended to 120 days. And the deadline for all rental properties to comply with the standards, even without changes in the tenancy agreement, has been moved from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025. That means you can go back to concentrating on what makes Xmas and the summer holiday special with your family and friends.
You can use this online decision tool to determine when your rental needs to meet the Healthy
Homes Standards: https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/healthy-homes/healthy-homes-compliance-timeframes/compliance-timeframes-decision-tool/
The timeframe change came on the back of other welcome changes to the heating, ventilation, and moisture ingress and drainage standards that took effect in May 2022. Those were introduced for properties built to or upgraded to, the 2008 building code. They included a new Heating Formula for calculating the minimum required heating capacity, and they relaxed the requirement for types of heating and ventilation. The May changes also gave landlords an alternative to using certain qualified specialists to assess heating requirements. Read our blog about the May changes Minister Woods’ November announcement about the Healthy Homes Standards compliance deadline extension, also introduced a raft of other measures designed to regulate the rental property sector and clarify the maximum allowable levels of methamphetamine. These changes are both set to make improvements for landlords. We’ll keep you posted.
It’s important to comply with the Healthy Homes Standards and keep compliance statements current. The Angel Property Manager’s team are dedicated to protecting you from the outcomes of non-compliance. We are on call and have the knowledge to help you determine your obligations and complete the paperwork. Call us to discuss how.