Chair of the Government Administration Committee

For immediate release - 12 May 2016

Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2) -
Setting standards for heating and insulating rental properties

A new set of minimum standards of heating and insulation for rental properties in New Zealand is being proposed in the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2).
Landlords currently have obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act with respect to the properties they let out. However, there is no guidance about the specific standards they must meet to ensure warm and dry accommodation.
The requirement to meet the standards proposed in the bill would apply to all tenancy agreements made within a year of the Act coming into force. The natural process of tenant turnover would see most tenancy agreements containing the requirement by the end of 5 years. At that point, all residential tenancies must meet the standards.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment would set the standards and landlords would be required to meet them.

Chair of the Government Administration Committee, Hon Ruth Dyson MP, said: "The committee recognises that this is an important issue to a large number of people and is looking forward to hearing what New Zealanders think on the standards proposed in the bill."

Submissions to the Government Administration Committee are due by midnight on Thursday 23 June 2016.

ENDS

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