Heating standard
Landlords must provide one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room. The heater(s) must be acceptable types, and must meet the minimum heating capacity required for your main living room.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum indoor temperature of 18˚C. By installing heating that can reach this temperature on the coldest days of the year, tenants will be able to keep warm all year round.
To find out the heating capacity required for a main living room, landlords need to use the Heating Assessment Tool or the formula outlined in the regulations.
Healthy homes standards regulations - Schedule 2 (formula)(external link)
All private rentals must comply with all healthy homes standards, including the heating standard, within 90 days of any new or renewed tenancy on or after 1 July 2021, with all private rentals complying by 1 July 2024.
All boarding houses must comply by 1 July 2021. All houses rented by Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) and registered Community Housing Providers must comply by 1 July 2023.
Landlords that don’t meet their obligations under the healthy homes standards are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. They may be liable for exemplary damages of up to $7,200.
What is the heating standard?
There must be one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room.
The main living room is the largest room that is used for general, everyday living – for example a lounge, family room or dining room.
Heater(s) must be fixed (not portable), and must be at least 1.5 kW in heating capacity and meet the minimum heating capacity needed for the main living room. This capacity can be calculated using the Heating Assessment Tool or the formula outlined in the regulations.
Heater(s) must not be an open fire or an unflued combustion heater, e.g. portable LPG bottle heaters. If you use a heat pump or an electric heater as part of your solution to meet the healthy homes heating standard, it must have a thermostat. You can’t use an electric heater (except a heat pump) if the required heating capacity for the main living room is over 2.4 kW, unless you’re ‘topping up’ existing qualifying heating that was installed before 1 July 2019.
In most cases, the acceptable types of heater(s) will be a larger fixed heating device like a heat pump, wood burner, pellet burner or flued gas heater. In some cases, e.g. small apartments, a smaller fixed electric heater may be enough. For more information about different heating options visit the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority website.(external link)
Our guidance document has more details on how to meet the heating standards.
How to find out what size heater(s) you need
You can use our online heating assessment tool to help calculate the minimum heating capacity required for heaters in your rental property.
The tool provides a report that sets out the minimum heating capacity required for each property. You can use it to check if your current heating is sufficient to meet the healthy homes standard, or if you need to install one or more new heaters. The report can also help prove a rental home meets the heating requirements in the healthy homes standards.
If you have a complex room layout, or you’re not sure what figures to include, we recommend asking a professional for advice.
Use the online heating assessment tool
If you have existing heating
You don't need to add more heating if you have one or more existing heaters that:
- were installed before 1 July 2019
- each have a heating capacity greater than 2.4kW
- meet the requirements in the standards (for example, not an open fire or an unflued combustion heater)
- are not electric heaters (heat pumps are acceptable) if the required heating capacity for the main living room is over 2.4 kW, and
- have a total heating capacity that's at least 90% of what you need to meet the required heating capacity.
If an existing heater is a woodburner, it will likely have a label stating the heat output. Landlords can also check the manufacturer's information or council records for information on the heat output of their woodburner.
Central heating will meet the standard as long as:
- it provides heat directly to the living room (e.g. through vents, ducts or radiators)
- it meets the required heating capacity.
Top up existing heating
If you’re adding a new heater or heaters to a room with existing heating, each heater must meet the requirements in the healthy homes standards, with one exception. If your existing heating doesn’t have the required heating capacity, you can add a smaller fixed electric heater to ‘top up’ your heating. If you do, you must meet all these conditions:
- you installed your existing heating before 1 July 2019
- the required heating capacity is more than 2.4 kW
- the ‘top up’ you need is 1.5 kW or less.
For example, if you have a heat pump with a heating capacity of 3.3 kW, but you need a total heating capacity of 4.5 kW, you can add a fixed 1.5 kW electric heater with a thermostat to meet the standard.
Exemptions to the heating standard
There are specific exemptions to the heating standard. The exemptions are:
- where it is not reasonably practicable to install one or more qualifying heating devices.
- where the rental property is a certified passive building.
It is not reasonably practicable to install heating devices if a professional installer can’t access the area without:
- carrying out substantial building work, or
- causing substantial damage to the property, or
- creating greater risks to a person’s health and safety than is normally acceptable, or
- it is otherwise not reasonably practicable for a professional installer to carry out the work.
These are in addition to the general exemptions.
Further information
The heating standard is one of five healthy homes standards. Find out about the other healthy homes standards:
