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If you own a rental property anywhere in New Zealand, the Healthy Homes Standards are no longer something on the horizon. Since 1 July 2025, every private rental must comply with all five standards, and the heating standard is the one that trips up more landlords than any other. It is also the one with the clearest fix.
This guide explains what the heating rules require, which heaters qualify, how capacity is calculated, and what happens if you get it wrong. It draws on decades of experience helping Auckland landlords reach compliance through our dedicated Healthy Homes compliance service for landlords.
The heating standard sits within the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019. In plain terms, it says this. Every rental home must have one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room to at least 18 degrees Celsius on the coldest day of the year for that location.
Three words in that sentence carry most of the weight.
Fixed means permanently installed. A plug-in heater that a tenant could unplug and move does not count, no matter how powerful it is. The heater must be wired or plumbed in place as part of the property.
Directly means the heater must heat the living room itself. A heater in the hallway that warms the lounge indirectly does not satisfy the standard, and neither does a central system unless it delivers heat into that specific room.
Main living room means the largest room used for everyday living, typically the lounge or an open-plan living and dining area. The standard applies to this room only. You are not legally required to heat bedrooms, although doing so makes a property warmer, drier, and easier to rent.
The 18 degree benchmark comes from the World Health Organization, which identifies it as the minimum indoor temperature for healthy living. Cold, damp homes are strongly linked to respiratory illness, which is exactly what the standards exist to prevent.
Not every heating device meets the standard, even some fixed ones. Here is how the main options stack up.
A qualifying heater must be fixed, must not be an open fire, and must have enough capacity for the room. In practice, the compliant options are:
An unused open fireplace also creates a draught stopping problem, since the chimney must be blocked off. Many older Auckland villas fail on both counts at once.
You cannot simply install any heat pump and call the job done. The heater must meet a minimum capacity calculated for that specific room, based on its size, ceiling height, insulation, glazing, and the climate zone the property sits in. The regulations assume the coldest day of the year for your location, so the calculation is deliberately conservative.
Tenancy Services provides an online heating assessment tool that produces the required wattage once you enter the room details. A typical uninsulated older Auckland lounge might need 5 to 7 kW, while a modern insulated apartment might need far less, a difference the 2022 amendments formally recognised for homes built to the 2008 Building Code insulation and glazing requirements.
There is also a tolerance rule. Where an existing heat pump falls just short of the required capacity, a top-up heater may be permitted in limited circumstances rather than full replacement, and professional assessment establishes whether it applies.
Before quoting, our team measures the room, checks insulation and window areas, and runs the numbers properly. You can get an early indication yourself using our free heat pump size calculator, then have the result verified on site. Undersizing risks non-compliance. Oversizing wastes capital and can cause the unit to short cycle. Right-sizing does neither.
For most Auckland rentals, meeting the heating standard follows a simple path.
Step one: assess the main living room. Confirm which room qualifies, measure it, note insulation, ceiling height, and glazing, and check whether any existing fixed heater is compliant and in good working order.
Step two: calculate the required capacity. Use the Tenancy Services methodology for your climate zone. Keep a record of the calculation, because you must include heating details in the compliance statement attached to every new tenancy agreement.
Step three: install a compliant heater. For the vast majority of landlords, this means a heat pump sized to the calculation. Installation quality matters as much as the unit itself, because poor placement or sloppy electrical work undermines performance on cold days, which is exactly when the standard is tested. Our licensed technicians handle professional heat pump installation across Auckland, typically completing a standard install in three to four hours with a 12-month workmanship guarantee and a 5-year warranty on parts and labour.
Step four: document everything. Keep the capacity calculation, invoices, and product specifications. If Tenancy Services or the Tenancy Tribunal ever asks questions, paperwork is your protection.
Step five: maintain the heater. Compliance is ongoing, not a one-off event. The heater must remain in good working order throughout every tenancy. Regular heat pump repairs and servicing keeps filters clean, efficiency high, and warranties intact, and gives you dated service records that demonstrate you are meeting your obligations.
Failing to meet the Healthy Homes Standards is an unlawful act under the Residential Tenancies Act. The Tenancy Tribunal can order exemplary damages of up to 7,200 dollars per breach, payable to the tenant, on top of orders to complete the work. Property managers also increasingly refuse to take on non-compliant stock.
Against that risk, the numbers favour action. Typical heat pump installation costs in Auckland are modest compared with a single Tribunal award, the asset adds rental appeal and value, and running costs for tenants drop compared with portable electric heating.
It is worth remembering that heating is only one of five standards. Ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, insulation, and draught stopping all apply as well, and they interact. A well-heated room with poor airflow will still grow condensation on winter mornings. If your property struggles with damp, pairing the heat pump with proper ventilation and moisture control addresses the cause rather than the symptom, and helps you meet the ventilation standard at the same time.
Whether you own one rental or a whole portfolio, heating compliance is straightforward when it is handled properly and expensive when it is ignored. Varcoe has installed over 20,000 heat pumps across Auckland since 1975, and we work with landlords and property managers every week to assess rooms, calculate required capacity, install compliant systems, and keep them maintained.
Book your free Healthy Homes heating assessment and quote today, or call our friendly team on 0800 088 888. We will confirm exactly what your property needs, give you transparent pricing with no hidden costs, and have a compliant, correctly sized heat pump installed by licensed technicians, usually within three to four hours. Protect your tenants, protect your investment, and put compliance behind you for good.
No. The heating standard only requires fixed heating capable of reaching 18 degrees in the main living room. That said, many landlords heat bedrooms as well, because warmer homes attract better tenants and command stronger rents.
Not necessarily. The heater must be an acceptable type, in good working order, and it must meet the calculated capacity for the room. A small fixed electric heater in a large lounge, or an ageing heat pump that no longer performs, may still leave you non-compliant. An on-site assessment settles the question quickly.
No. Portable heaters do not count towards the standard under any circumstances, even if they can easily heat the room. The heater must be fixed in place.
It depends on the room dimensions, ceiling height, insulation, glazing, and location. The required capacity is calculated using the Tenancy Services methodology, and in older uninsulated homes the answer is often larger than owners expect. Varcoe calculates this for you as part of every quote, at no charge and with no obligation.
The landlord is responsible for keeping the heater in good working order for the life of the tenancy. Tenants should use it reasonably and report faults, but repair and servicing costs sit with the owner. Planned annual servicing is far cheaper than emergency winter repairs and keeps your compliance records tidy.
