What can I do about a cold or damp home?

The rental home you live in should be warm and dry

A well-insulated and well-ventilated home is important for the health of you and your family.

If you own your home, there are a wide range of things you can do to make a big difference to your health and your power bill. Visit our tips and tricks page for more advice.

If you rent your home, your landlord is responsible for ensuring for your home has a heating device, insulation, and good ventilation to remove moisture. In 2019, the Government introduced the Healthy Homes standards, which are minimum standards that all rental and public housing must meet.

Under the standards, your landlord must ensure the rental property you live in has:

• One or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room
• Ceiling and underfloor insulation
• Doors and windows that can open to the outside
• Extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms
• Good drainage
• No big gaps or holes that cause draughts.

These standards protect your health and mean your rental property is less likely to have issues with cold, dampness and mould.

To find out more about the Healthy Homes standards, visit the Tenancy Services website.

How do I know if the rental property I live in meets these standards?

It is your landlord’s responsibility to prove that the property is up to scratch, and they must provide a signed statement that shows that the property meets the standards.

This statement should be in your tenancy agreement. You can also ask your landlord for a copy of it if you can’t find it, or you can talk to your landlord about how the property meets the Healthy Homes standards.

The rental property I live in is cold and damp – what should I do?

It is the law that all rental properties can be well heated, are insulated, and can be ventilated. Your landlord is responsible for doing this.

If you have any concerns about the rental property you live in, you should raise these directly with your landlord immediately. Landlords must fix issues with the rental property you live in if it doesn’t meet the Healthy Homes standards. It helps to be really specific about any problems you have, such as explaining issues with your heating or taking photos of areas of your house affected by leaks or mould.

If you’re still having issues with the rental property you live in after raising them with your landlord, there are things you can do to get problems fixed. For example, you can give your landlord a ‘14-day notice to remedy’, which is a written notice that tells your landlord why the rental property you live in doesn’t meet the standards. You can download a template for a 14-day notice period from the Citizens Advice Bureau website.

What if my landlord isn’t fixing issues with my home?

If you’re unhappy with how your landlord has dealt with issues you’ve raised, you can also apply to the Tenancy Tribunal. This is a special court in New Zealand that deals with disputes between tenants and landlords. Information on how to apply can be found on the Tenancy Tribunal website.

Getting problems with the rental property you live in fixed and understanding the Healthy Homes standards can be stressful and confusing. There are organisations in the community that can help make your home healthier:

• Community Energy is a network of local organisations that work with local communities to help keep people’s homes healthy.
• There is an EECA funded programme called Support for Energy Education in Communities, where providers offer targeted, specialised advice and education to households in energy hardship.
• The Healthy Homes Initiative is a government-funded programme supporting households with children to live in warmer, healthier homes.

If you do not need an assessment of your home, there are also simple things you can do to help keep the rental property you live in warm and dry. For example, you can:

• Open your windows and doors in the morning to give the house a good airing out – 15 minutes should do it
• Dry your washing outside if you can, or in a room with the doors closed and a window open
• Use the extractor fans in your bathroom and kitchen and open your windows when showering or cooking
• Use lids on your pots when cooking
• Wipe off any condensation from the windows
• Move your furniture away from the walls so there is a gap to let the air flow through.

Visit our tips and tricks page for more advice on keeping your home warm and dry.