From 1 July, landlords have 90 days from when a tenant moves in to show the rental has good heating, ventilation, insulation and other features, collectively known as the Healthy Homes Standards.
HomeFit is being used by several property management companies to show compliance with HHS and has more than 70 trained assessors offering the service around the country. Installers are also being trained to include HomeFit compliant products in their quotes. Recent companies to train their installers include Brightr (previously known as Smart Energy Solutions) and Healthy Homes NZ.
Landlords Jackie Thomas-Teague and her husband Alister Christie were keen to ensure their rental properties in Wellington, Lower Hutt, Porirua and Levin are not just up to standard but exceed them. So she called on HomeFit assessor Clint Radersma.
“I was delighted that the assessments he was doing included HomeFit PLUS, far more than just the mandatory requirements for Residential Tenancies,” Jackie said.
“We knew our 1960s properties would need some work to become compliant, so we treated the initial assessment as creating a ‘best practice to-do list’ for us, rather than meeting just the minimum requirements.”
Helen O’Sullivan, chief executive of Crockers Property Management, said the company assessed their managed rental homes against the HomeFit criteria while checking compliance with the Healthy Homes Standards. “HomeFit is the next quality target once all meet the HHS,” she said.
Most of Crockers assessments were carried out by HomeFit assessor Warm Fuzzies. Chief executive Jonathan Duncan said:
“NZGBC has been an excellent and valuable partner to Warm Fuzzies for several years. True to their vision, their professional training and Homefit Certification offers landlords an effective way to meet Healthy Homes compliance requirements. Many of our clients pride themselves on going above & beyond for their tenants, and NZGBC’s Homefit Certification has been an excellent way for them to showcase their hard work.”
HomeFit has very similar criteria in the five HHS mandatory standards (insulation, ventilation, heating, moisture and drainage, and draughts), plus the smoke alarms requirement in the previous RTA standard.
Homes also need to meet three other mandatory standards around the absence of mould, hot water efficiency and window furnishings or double glazing. Recognition can also be extended to efficient lighting, hot water safety and low flush toilets.