Published 29 August 2025 | Effective from 25 September 2025
The Government has just announced two changes to the Healthy Homes Standards
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No need to reach for the oxygen mask. These are not big compliance shocks but small technical adjustments designed to clear up old confusion.
Ceiling insulation: limited roof space exemption returns
If the roof cavity is too tight to fit the required insulation, you can comply by providing compensating insulation elsewhere in the home.
This applies to “modern” dwellings only. A dwelling is modern if its first building consent was granted after the Building Code insulation step-ups for its climate zone:
Zone 1 on 30 September 2008,
Zone 2 on 30 June 2008,
Zone 3 on 31 October 2007.
Keep evidence that the roof space is genuinely constrained and document the alternative insulation work.
Healthy Homes overrides the 1947 rules for rentals
The update confirms that the Healthy Homes Standards override the Housing Improvement Regulations 1947 for rental compliance.
Apply Healthy Homes for these items:
- Heating: meet Healthy Homes regulation 8 with one or more qualifying fixed heaters or geothermal heating sized to the living room, rather than relying on a fireplace or “approved heater”.
- Bathroom ventilation: extractor fans are required in bathrooms with a bath...
