What does the heating standard actually ask for?
The rule comes from the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019 and covers any home let under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. The landlord must provide one or more fixed heaters that can directly heat the main living room, of an acceptable type, with enough combined capacity.
That capacity is about one room only. Tenancy Services says the heaters must be able to bring the main living room up to 18°C and hold it there, the temperature the World Health Organization recommends. Bedrooms don't come into the calculation.
The main living room is the biggest room used for everyday living: a lounge, family room or dining room. An open-plan kitchen or hallway that can't be shut off by a door or window counts as part of it, so open-plan layouts add floor area the heater has to cover.
Which heaters count, and which never do
Each heater has to be in the main living room or heat it directly, through a duct or vent for example. It must be fixed to the home, have at least 1.5 kW of heating capacity, and have a thermostat if it's electric or a heat pump. Fixed means secured, not necessarily hardwired: Tenancy Services says a plug-in heater can count once it's secured.
Where the room needs more than 2.4 kW, an electric heater other than a heat pump won't qualify, unless it's topping up qualifying heating installed before 1 July 2019. That's why BRANZ says a heater meeting the rental standard in average and larger homes will need to be a heat pump, a wood burner or something similar. Open fires and unflued gas heaters never count, not even towards part of the total.
Common heaters against the standard
| Can it count? | What to watch | |
|---|---|---|
| Heat pump | Yes | Needs a thermostat, and its nominal heating capacity at 7 degrees has to meet the tool's result |
| Fixed electric heater | Only for smaller rooms | Not where the room needs more than 2.4 kW, unless it tops up qualifying heating from before 1 July 2019 |
| Flued gas heater | Yes, if it meets the general rules | A registered gasfitter installs it |
| Wood or pellet burner | Yes, if it meets the general rules | Installing one needs a building consent |
| Open fire or unflued gas heater | Never | Doesn't count towards any part of it |
How to check a heat pump against the standard
Run the heating assessment tool
It's at tenancy.govt.nz/heating-tool. It asks about the region, the property, the size of the main living room and the surfaces heat escapes through, with their insulation, and answers in kW.
Read the label, not the brochure range
Heat pumps sold here must show a standardised heating capacity, tested at 7°C. If a range is given too, Tenancy Services says to use the nominal figure and ignore the range.
Add up what's in the room
The outputs of the heaters in the room can be combined to reach the required capacity, as long as each one meets the general rules.
Keep the evidence
Landlords must keep records showing how they comply, and give tenants that information within 21 days of a request. File the tool's report, a photo of the label and the electrician's Certificate of Compliance together.
What if the tool's answer looks too high?
It can happen. The tool guide says that for sloped or irregular ceilings it assumes a 45-degree slope and a box-shaped room based on the highest wall, which will usually overestimate the heating needed. For homes that are hard to measure, it suggests a professional such as a home performance assessor. A qualified specialist, such as a chartered professional engineer, can also assess it instead of the tool.
Newer and upgraded rentals may need less. Since May 2022 a different formula covers rentals built to the 2008 building code, certain apartments in larger buildings, and rentals upgraded throughout to the 2009 insulation and glazing standards. Tenancy Services says it generally allows smaller heaters, and the tool picks the formula from your answers.
The 7 degree figure passes the test. The 2 degree figure keeps tenants warm
The standard checks capacity at 7 degrees outside, but frosty nights are colder than that. The tool guide itself warns that some heat pumps struggle just above freezing, so a cold area needs one that performs well when it's cooler. EECA's advice: where winter nights reach 2 degrees or below, check that the 2 degree heating figure on the Zoned Energy Rating Label is at least as high as the 7 degree one.
Existing heaters, exemptions and apartments
Heating installed before 1 July 2019 can still meet the standard on its own if each heater has more than 2.4 kW of capacity, meets the general rules, and together they provide at least 80 per cent of the required capacity.
A landlord doesn't have to install a heater where it isn't reasonably practicable, for example where an experienced professional installer can't fit one without substantial building work or damage. Tenancy Services recommends getting that professional opinion in writing and keeping it.
If you don't own the whole building and can't install the right heater, you still comply as far as is reasonably practicable. Where the room needs more than 2.4 kW, that means at least one qualifying heater of at least 2 kW, and a fixed electric heater with a thermostat is acceptable here.
In a unit title, read the body corporate's operational rules before booking work. Tenancy Services gives the example of a rule banning external heating units on common property without body corporate consent, which leaves the landlord taking all reasonable steps to get that consent first.
Deadlines and penalties
Every private rental has had to comply since 1 July 2025. Kāinga Ora and registered Community Housing Providers had until 1 July 2024.
New or renewed tenancy agreements need a signed statement of the property's current compliance, and leaving it out can bring a penalty of up to $500 for each tenancy. A landlord who doesn't meet the healthy homes obligations is in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and may face penalties of up to $7,200.
Ventilation is a separate standard, and recirculating systems (products like HRV and DVS systems) aren't suitable for meeting it. Our home ventilation page explains the systems.
Unflued gas heaters are out, for safety as well as the rules
BRANZ doesn't recommend any unflued gas heater, natural gas or LPG, for health and safety reasons: burning gas produces carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, which need venting outside. Fitting a flued gas heater is gasfitting work for a registered gasfitter, and connecting a heat pump is for a licensed electrical worker. Don't do either yourself.
What a landlord can do, and what needs a licensed trade
You can
- Run the heating assessment tool and save the report.
- Measure the main living room and any open spaces joined to it.
- Photograph the heat pump's label, or keep the spec sheet with its nominal capacity.
- Check body corporate rules, or heritage rules with the council, before booking work.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Connecting a heat pump, and the Certificate of Compliance for it.
- Fitting a flued gas heater, and the gasfitting certificate.
- Maintenance that needs tools or technical know-how, or filters that are hard to reach.
- A written professional opinion if a heater can't reasonably be installed.
What we'd do
If it were our rental
We'd run the tool before talking to anyone, and buy to that number rather than to a brochure. In a town with frosty winters we'd also pick a heat pump whose 2 degree figure holds up, because the standard is a minimum, not a promise of a warm lounge. Then we'd file the tool report, the label and the CoC together, since you have to keep records anyway. Whether a heater meets the standard is checked against the tool's result, so hand that report to the installer before they quote.