Healthy Homes Window Compliance in Dunedin – Openable Area, Ventilation & Landlord Sign Off

Every private rental has had to comply with all five standards since 1 July 2025. Dunedin has been under a brighter light than most cities on this. MBIE inspectors visited 53 student rentals in the city over May and June and found widespread maintenance failings including mould, damp and broken heat pumps, and the student association has been public about flats that are colder inside than the street.

What the ventilation standard really requires

Every habitable room, so living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and bedrooms, needs openable windows, doors or skylights totalling at least 5 percent of the floor area of that room. Each one has to open to the outside and be able to be fixed in the open position.

Kitchens need an extractor fan or rangehood venting outside, with a minimum duct diameter of 150mm or an exhaust capacity of at least 50 litres per second where it was installed after 1 July 2019. Bathrooms need a fan venting outside with a minimum 120mm duct or 25 litres per second on the same basis.

Most failures are repairs, not replacements

The common finding is not that a window is too small. It is that the sash is painted shut, the stay has corroded so it will not hold open, or the catch has failed so it cannot be fixed in position. All three are repairs measured in minutes, not new joinery.

We free sashes, replace stays and catches, and confirm each window can be fixed open. Replacement only comes into it where the openable area falls short, which is rare outside of small ensuites and awkward internal rooms.

Documentation for your compliance statement

Landlords have to record how the property meets each standard, including confirmation of openable windows and the fan diameters or exhaust capacities. Penalties for breaching a standard run up to $7,200 per breach.

We give you a room by room record: floor area, openable area, the percentage, and what we did to each window. That drops straight into your compliance statement.

Doing the calculation properly

Measuring openable area, not window area

The standard counts the area that actually opens, not the size of the window. A large fixed pane with a small awning sash above it contributes only the awning sash.

We measure the openable area of every window in each habitable room, divide by the floor area of that room and record the percentage. Anything at or above 5 percent passes, and we note the figure rather than a tick.

The paperwork a landlord actually needs

Compliance statements have to record how the property meets each standard. For ventilation that means the openable area, the floor area and confirmation that each window can be fixed open, plus the fan duct diameters or exhaust capacities.

You get all of that room by room in a form you can attach, rather than an invoice that says windows serviced.

How Window and Glass Repair Dunedin delivers healthy homes window compliance in Dunedin

Dunedin is the hardest thermal environment in the country for windows, and it is the one place where the wrong specification is genuinely expensive over time.

1. Assess the room, not just the window

   How the room is heated, ventilated and used decides as much about the outcome as the glass does. Upgrading glazing in an unventilated bedroom moves the condensation to the frame edges rather than removing it.

2. Establish the requirement that applies

   Dunedin is H1 climate zone 5, the highest window performance requirement in New Zealand. Window and Glass Repair Dunedin confirms whether your work is consented and therefore has to meet it, or a like for like replacement that does not, because the two lead to very different products.

3. Measure and record what exists

   Opening sizes, room floor areas, existing glass type and frame construction. On compliance work that record is the evidence behind the statement you make to a tenant or to council.

4. Specify the unit deliberately

   Glass thickness, cavity width, low emissivity coating, argon fill and spacer type all get chosen for the orientation and the exposure rather than sold as a package. Window and Glass Repair Dunedin explains what each component does.

5. Be honest about the frame

   Retrofitting a sealed unit into a standard aluminium frame improves the glass and leaves the frame conducting. In a city with fifty frost days a year that frame will still sweat, and Window and Glass Repair Dunedin says so before quoting rather than after.

6. Manufacture and install

   Units are made to the measured openings, so there is a lead time and nothing is adjusted on the day. Installation includes new tape, new beads and clearing the rebate drainage.

7. Verify, document and hand over

   Every sash checked to operate and to fix open, then a written record of what was installed where. On a rental that document is what supports compliance if it is ever questioned.

What healthy homes window compliance is worth in a Dunedin home

The case here is stronger than anywhere else in the country and the numbers are worth knowing.

The highest requirement zone in New Zealand

Climate zone 5 carries the country's highest window performance requirement because heat loss here is greater. A specification that satisfies a warmer city does not satisfy this one, which is why comparing a Dunedin quote to a friend's Auckland quote is misleading.

Retrofit is usually the best value route

Around $450 to $800 per square metre of glass, or roughly $550 to $850 per aluminium window and $800 to $1,250 for timber. A whole house commonly lands between $10,000 and $24,000, and the existing frames and finish stay.

Do the rooms you use, first

Bedrooms and living areas on the cold elevation return most of the benefit. Small hallway and toilet windows return the least and are worth doing last, or not at all.

Cold housing is under real scrutiny here

MBIE inspected fifty three Dunedin student rentals across May and June 2026. Whatever your view of the rules, the direction is clear, and upgrading ahead of enforcement is cheaper than upgrading during it.

What healthy homes window compliance costs in Dunedin

Thermal work here has a stronger case than anywhere else in New Zealand, and the numbers are worth seeing before the sales pitch.

Retrofit double glazing

Roughly $450 to $800 per square metre of glass, or about $550 to $850 per aluminium window and $800 to $1,250 for timber. A whole house commonly lands between $10,000 and $24,000 with the existing frames and internal finishes untouched.

Sealed unit upgrades

A low emissivity coating, an argon fill and a warm edge spacer add very little to a unit being made anyway. In climate zone 5 they are close to free performance, and retrofitting them later means paying for the unit twice.

New thermally broken joinery

Meaningfully more per window than standard aluminium and it is the only route that removes the cold bridge through the frame entirely. On consented work in this zone it is effectively the requirement rather than an upgrade.

Compliance work on a rental

Most Healthy Homes ventilation failures are hardware rather than glazing. Freeing painted shut sashes, replacing seized stays and fitting working catches usually brings a house into compliance for a fraction of what owners expect.

Where to spend it in a Dunedin home

The same budget produces very different outcomes depending on where it goes.

Bedrooms and living rooms on the cold elevation

These return most of the comfort benefit and most of the condensation reduction. Small hallway and toilet windows return the least and are worth doing last or not at all.

Extraction before glazing, every time

A vented range hood and a ducted bathroom extractor remove moisture where it is produced. This is the cheapest intervention available and it is frequently the only one needed. Upgrading glazing in an unventilated house moves the condensation rather than removing it.

The frame is the limit on a retrofit

Retrofitting a sealed unit into a standard aluminium frame improves the glass and leaves the frame conducting. With fifty frost days a year that frame will still sweat at the edges, and anyone who does not tell you this before quoting is selling rather than advising.

Stage it by room, not by elevation

Doing the rooms people actually use gets you most of the benefit for part of the spend. Doing it by elevation looks tidier from the street and delivers less.

What the ventilation standard requires in Dunedin

The window part of Healthy Homes is specific and it is easy to check.

Five percent of floor area, openable

Every habitable room, meaning living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and bedrooms, needs openable windows, doors or skylights totalling at least five percent of that room's floor area.

They have to be able to be fixed open

An opening that cannot be held open does not count. Painted shut sashes, seized stays, missing catches and broken handles all make an otherwise compliant window non compliant.

Extraction is separate and also required

Kitchens and bathrooms need mechanical extraction venting outdoors, to the minimum duct or capacity the standard sets. That is a separate obligation to the openable area.

Getting a Dunedin rental compliant

The practical path for a landlord, and what it typically costs.

Measure and document first

Room by room floor areas against openable areas, with the result written down. That document is what supports the compliance statement in the tenancy agreement.

Most failures are hardware, not glazing

Freeing painted shut sashes, replacing seized stays and fitting working catches usually brings a house into compliance for a fraction of what owners expect.

Penalties make this worth doing properly

Failing to comply with the Healthy Homes standards can attract financial penalties per breach, and a breach is assessed per standard rather than per property. Doing it once, properly, is cheaper than being assessed twice.

Healthy Homes Window Compliance at a glance

Requirement

Openable area at least 5 percent of floor area, per habitable room

Fixable open

Every openable window must hold in the open position

Kitchen extraction

Ducted outside, 150mm minimum or 50 litres per second

Bathroom extraction

Ducted outside, 120mm minimum or 25 litres per second

Deadline

All private rentals since 1 July 2025, no grace period remaining

Our output

Room by room measurements and a written record of the work