Underfloor and ceiling insulation required

From 1 July 2019, where it is ‘reasonably practicable’ to do so, all privately-owned rental properties must have underfloor and ceiling insulation installed that meet or exceed minimum requirements.

Minimum requirements

The minimum requirements are R-values of R1.3 for underfloor insulation throughout the whole country, and R2.9 for ceiling insulation in the North Island except for the Central Plateau region, which requires a minimum ceiling R-value of R3.3, as does all of the South Island. (The R-value is a measure of the thermal resistance to heat flow, measured in m^{2 o}C/W.)

‘Reasonably practicable’

‘Reasonably practicable’ means insulation must be installed where there is not a need for substantial building work. So, for example, where there is limited or no access in a roof space such as a skillion roof (i.e. a sloping roof where the ceiling lining in parallel and close to the roof slope) or a very low-pitched roof, insulation is not required because it is not easy or ‘reasonably practicable’ to install the insulation. If the roof or ceiling lining is replaced at some stage making the space accessible, insulation would need to be installed at the same time.

For underfloor spaces such as where he space is too low to the ground to allow access, or where there is a suspended floor above a habitable space, insulation is not required to be installed until such time as it becomes possible to access the space such as when floorboards are replaced. Dwellings on a concrete floor slab, are exempt from the insulation requirement.

Insulation Statements are compulsory

Insulation Statements confirming that properties are insulated are compulsory on all new Tenancy Agreements.

The properties we manage are compliant

At Nightingales, we started early on a programme of ensuring that all the rental properties that we manage are compliant with the new regulations. This means that with 1 July looming, almost all the properties that we manage are compliant and the few that are not, are all scheduled to have insulation either installed or topped up. At Nightingales, we are ready for the 1 July 2019 deadline!