Healthy Homes Guarantee Act standards announced

[Don't believe the Hype]

I suspect it's the shutters which are being referred to. Most newer models have thermo-couple-operated shutters, but they are not totally airtight when closed.

yeah I understood. Was just offering a solution Phil might take and add to the legislation.

[Don't believe the Hype]

I wonder if that means spot checking rentals for compliance with the temperature standard?

Steve Watson (Tenancy Services LL Compliance Team manager) will be rubbing his hands together with glee at the prospect of more, staff, a bigger dept., a promotion, a raise, etc.

Then, if Steve and his fellow Gestapo folks find that the heaters have not been turned on because tenants can't afford the electricity SOE dividends paid to the gummint, will the tenants be hauled before the TT for non-compliance with the temperature standard of 18 degrees Celsius?

who is going to foot the bill for the power when the TT gumbies turn up and ask to run the heater to see if they can achieve 18 degrees? I can see a whole series of tenants claims against the TT inspectors for the cost of the power to do the test.

[Perry]

Dhil? Hell, no! Dhil's standard response goes something like:

"Aahhhs assume that's not going to happen." (Like LLs seeking to recover the costs of his insanity by increasing the rent.)

No different to the socio-commies minimum wage edict.

Prices wont go up as a consequence because the money will just materialise from the air - thin, thick or otherwise.

[klauster]

Dhil? Hell, no! Dhil's standard response goes something like:

"Aahhhs assume that's not going to happen." (Like LLs seeking to recover the costs of his insanity by increasing the rent.)

No different to the socio-commies minimum wage edict.

Prices wont go up as a consequence because the money will just materialise from the air - thin, thick or otherwise.

Lots of things for healthy home standards make sense, but it isn’t an investor/landlord issue. A healthy home legislation should (must) apply to all residential homes.

If the govt is serious about their doing, why then is the dated housing stock so terrible and the new housing stock not even better looking at the earthquake and leaking building issues.

Wake up NZ – not landlords are the problem – home destroying people and a failing housing policies need attentions.

[Bob Kane]

A healthy home legislation should (must) apply to all residential homes.

Well said.
Every home or none.
Otherwise it's a landlord-envy reaction.
Same as CGT.

[artemis]

who is going to foot the bill for the power when the TT gumbies turn up and ask to run the heater to see if they can achieve 18 degrees? I can see a whole series of tenants claims against the TT inspectors for the cost of the power to do the test.

I know (hope) you are not serious DBTH but it was announced that some sort of app is going to be available later in the year to input something or other and have the app return options that will meet the 18 degrees requirement. So the landlord will have to install tht or better and then there would be no comeback from the tenant. Given the history of this government around housing and other delivery, I don't have much expectation that the app will deliver.

Assuming the app will ask for volume of the living area, high studs and open plan will bump up the cost.

[Perry]

Don't fret! The TS Compliance Team will be on the case of errant tenants who don't turn on those heaters.

[eri]

if you wanted to best improve the health of our most disadvantaged kids

you'd stop their parents; drinking, smoking, drug-taking, gambling...

[Don't believe the Hype]

I know (hope) you are not serious DBTH but it was announced that some sort of app is going to be available later in the year to input something or other and have the app return options that will meet the 18 degrees requirement. So the landlord will have to install tht or better and then there would be no comeback from the tenant. Given the history of this government around housing and other delivery, I don't have much expectation that the app will deliver.

Assuming the app will ask for volume of the living area, high studs and open plan will bump up the cost.

Of course it was a bit tongue in cheek but also a bit to point out the stupidity of this requirement.

[sidinz]

Smaller ones a $20 wall mounted plug in heater will do the trick.

Nope. They are specifying how efficient/economical the heating needs to be. Anything that costs too much to run won't meet the requirements.




On another note, I have a kitchen that you can't install a rangehood in. The standards say that in this case, you need to install a window-mounted extractor. In my case, the window directly behind the stove is an opening one. Oh, the irony.

I will also need to install a through-wall/horizontal bathroom fan (not even sure where the motor goes?) which will not be very effective, I'm guessing, in a stucco wall, right next to an opening window. And God knows how it will even be able to be wired up, as there's no ceiling cavity to run cables through.

So on two counts, (times two, as two flats) I will need to spend extra money (nonstandard installations) to put in sub-optimal products right next to, or through, an opening window. You couldn't make this stuff up!

[Perry]

Nope. They are specifying how efficient/economical the heating needs to be!

How?

The idea of 100 watts of electrical energy in will give 1000 watts of heat energy out is a fantasy that only Dhil Twitford and other socio-commies can conceive of.

[Bob Kane]

Nope. They are specifying how efficient/economical the heating needs to be. Anything that costs too much to run won't meet the requirements.

That's hard to believe.
I must have missed that.
Can you give me more details please?
I only saw the bit about reaching 18C.

In my case, the window directly behind the stove is an opening one.

I have to install two fans in opening windows.
If the tenant doesn't want to open the window, will they use the fan?

[Bob Kane]

Found it:

In most cases, the fixed heating device required will be a larger device such as a heat-pump or wood burner. In some cases such as small apartments, a smaller fixed electric heater will be sufficient. The minimum size of the small fixed heater that the online tool will recommend is 1.5 kilowatt.


Some heating devices are inefficient, unaffordable or unhealthy to run, such as unflued gas heaters, open fires, electric heaters (except heat pumps) with a heating capacity of greater than 2.4 kilowatts, and multiple electric heaters (except heatpumps) in one room. These particular heating devices will not be accepted in the heating standard, meaning that while they can still be used, they won’t meet the standard and the landlord will in most cases need to provide an alternative, acceptable fixed heating device.

So an electric heater between 1.5 and 2.4 kw will do.
About $100?
And if the living room is too large an area to warm up?
Simple, divide it in half with a new wall.
Let the other half be a study with no heating.

[sidinz]

I posted about my bathroom fan thing on Graeme's FB group page. It just gets worse. Apparently to put a fan in the exterior wall, I'll have to run ugly cable through a conduit, either from the light bulb, right above the shower and down the wall, or from the laundry next door, across the wall (above laundry fixtures) out the exterior wall, along it and back in again.
All to install a fan that is a permanent draught, (as in-wall fans are) when the rules state that draughts around windows and doors must be stopped!
Worse, it will require a new RCD. Only they're not allowed to put new ones in my board because it's made of asbestos. So to put a new fan in, I'll need to replace my circuit board. We are talking thousands.

[Perry]

So an electric heater between 1.5 and 2.4 kw will do.
About $100?
And if the living room is too large an area to warm up?
Simple, divide it in half with a new wall.
Let the other half be a study with no heating.

Or two heaters - one at each end of the room?