All landlords must comply with the healthy homes standards. In some situations, a property is not required to meet the healthy homes standards or parts of the standards. This is called an exemption.

Landlords who do not meet their obligations under the healthy homes standards are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 – and may face consequences, like financial penalties of up to $7200.

Landlords who are not sure where to start, read our healthy homes toolkit for landlords.

Healthy homes toolkit for landlords

Exemptions must be included in the Residential Tenancy Agreement.

Demolition and renovations

For tenancies that began before 1 July 2025

A property could be exempt if the landlord has applied for the relevant resource or building consent before the healthy home compliance date.

If an exemption is granted, it provides a grace period of up to 12 months from the compliance date. Any work required to meet the standards must start within the 12 month period.

If requested, the landlord will need to provide evidence that they have applied for the relevant resource or building consent. They must provide this within 10 working days of receiving the request.

For tenancies that begin after 1 July 2025

Landlords who wish to rent out a property that they intend to demolish or substantially rebuild must have applied for the relevant resource or building consent before starting the tenancy in order to qualify for an exemption of up to 12 months.

A landlord who plans to demolish or substantially rebuild their property may not begin a tenancy unless:

• they have applied for the relevant building or resource consent, or
• their home currently complies with the healthy homes standards.

If requested, the landlord will need to provide evidence that they have applied for the relevant resource or building consent. They must provide this within 10 working days of receiving the request.

Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019 – Legislation New Zealand(external link)

Additional exemptions

If the tenant is the immediate former owner of the rental property and the tenancy started immediately after the landlord acquired the property from the tenant. In this situation, an exemption will apply for 12 months from the date the tenancy commences.

If a rental property is in a building the landlord does not fully own, for example, an apartment, they may be partially exempt from healthy homes standards due to restricted access or shared ownership.

Landlords must still take all reasonable steps to ensure the rental property or building complies with the healthy homes standards to the greatest extent reasonably practicable.

Heating standard

If one of these exemptions no longer applies during the term of the tenancy (for example, the building consent expires), the landlord must comply with the healthy homes standards as soon as is reasonably practicable.

If the exemption is because of a pending application for a resource or building consent and it is refused then the landlord will have 120 days to comply with the healthy homes standards. If the landlord challenges the refusal then the exemption will be reinstated while the challenge is determined.

Specific exemptions

Some standards also have specific exemptions that apply only to that standard. The specific exemptions may apply to the whole standard or parts of the standard. Some standards also have specific exemptions that apply only to that standard. These include:

• Exemptions to the heating standard
• Exemptions to the insulation standard
• Exemptions to the ventilation standard
• Exemptions to the moisture ingress and drainage standard

There are no specific exemptions to the draught stopping standard.