Healthy Homes Guarantees Act 2017

June 21, 2018 at 2:26 PM

 

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What is the Healthy Homes Guarantee Act?

The Healthy Homes Guarantee Act 2017 is legislation that will ensure all rental properties meet minimum standards in insulation, heating and ventilation, draught stopping, drainage and moisture ingress. There will be requirements for each of these around what must be installed and provided in the rental property.

 

As a landlord, what does this mean for you?

Landlords are to expect a gradual upgrade of rental properties if required. Many landlords will already meet these standards and will not have to change anything. For those that need to upgrade their properties, some of these upgrades must be in place by 1 July 2019 and additional upgrades will have a deadline of 1 July 2024.

Rules around new insulation requirements haven’t changed. This means if your rental property does not meet the insulation requirements, you must still insulate in the ceiling and underfloor by 1 July 2019.

 

As a tenant, what does this mean for you?

For tenants, it means living in a healthier home, being less prone to illness, saving money on doctors’ visits and power bills. This will also reduce the financial pressure on our society related to poor living conditions.

 

What do you need to do as a landlord?

For those that need to upgrade their properties, government grants of up to $2000 for installing heating and insulation will be available.

The law requires landlords to guarantee that any new tenancy from 1 July 2019 must either be properly insulated or contain a heating source able to make the home warm and dry. All new tenancy agreements must have an Insulation Statement to disclose the level of insulation at the property, at the time of the tenancy start date. Landlords failing to comply with the Section 45 (1A) may face a fine up to $4000 for insulation and other compliance issues may also carry the same penalty.

The other standards have not yet been created and it is expected that they will develop over the next year. It is highly likely that heating will be addressed next and these deadlines will be rolled out over the next few years. This will spread the costs to landlords over a number of years as the various Standards and Regulations are put in place.

 

 



Tags: Healthy Homes
Category: Legislation