Team achievements, and as the weather cools we talk new heating regulations

1. Zack Cathcart
2. Vanessa Day
3. Lisa Brown

While you’re in good hands with any one of our 22 experienced property management consultants, if you’re working with one of our top three we hope you feel proud of their achievements – we certainly are!

As the temperature starts to cool, the rental market continues to do the opposite, remaining strong with our team leasing 128 properties over April. Another interesting statistic that we’ll be monitoring over the next few months: 27% of those tenancies were to people who are new to Hamilton. We’ll keep you posted, but it does show the tangible growth of our city.

Speaking of heat, the 12^th of May saw the Government’s updates to the heating standard of the Healthy Homes regulations come into force. These affect new homes built to the 2008 building code requirements for insulation and glazing, and apartments. I hosted a recent webinar on these changes with REINZ and Tenancy Services, so I’ll be discussing the new rules in more detail later in this blog.

For those in the real estate market looking for a new investment property, June is looking promising as the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) initial changes are expected to be in force following consultation closing in April.

Another boost to the rental market has come in the form of international students returning to the University of Waikato and taking up new leases. We haven’t seen an ‘influx’ quite yet, but hope to as the July start to Semester B draws closer.

Changes to the Healthy Homes heating standard

These changes have come in response to feedback from our sector that the heating requirements under the Healthy Homes Standards should better reflect the higher thermal performance of new homes built to the 2008 building code requirements for insulation and glazing. Therefore, all new homes built to this code, as well as apartments of at least three storeys and six units or more will be subject to the new heating requirements.

The heating assessment tool on the Tenancy Services website will incorporate these changes after 12 May. Generally, the new standards enable smaller heating devices to be installed in newer homes and provides more flexibility for properties with innovative and energy-efficient technologies. Plus, good news for developers; they can access an alternative route using a specialist to certify a rental’s heating system, which should be more economical given these specialists are often already engaged on larger developments.

For those buildings subject to the new heating formula, the heating compliance date is nine months after the changes come into effect, 12 February 2023, to allow landlords time to alter potential heating plans for their rental properties.

There’s plenty more detail in these updates, such as increases to the transitional ‘top up’ heating allowance and that landlords don’t need to install an alternative moisture barrier, so I’ll leave the specifics for this blog. The best course of action if you’d like to learn more about these modifications is to give me a call to talk through your situation. I’m always happy to help.

See you next month,

Jason Waugh

General Manager, Lodge City Rentals