COMMENT: Checking in on insulation

It’s been just over seven months since ceiling and underfloor insulation became compulsory for all rental properties around New Zealand.

However, that insulation requirement was well-known to landlords for years before. That’s because they were due to changes made to the Residential Tenancies Act back in 2016 and were widely publicised.

Despite this, in the lead-up to insulation D-Day on 1 July 2019, there was widespread concern that thousands of rental properties would not meet the new requirements in time.

In the months before, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) estimated that there was between 126,000 and 220,000 rentals which still needed to be properly fitted for insulation.