MAKING YOUR RENTAL A HEALTHY HOME

If you’re a landlord, you may well be aware of the new healthy homes standards that the Government has set for rental properties. There are a range of new standards to meet, some which come into effect from 01 July 2019, while others apply as far out as 01 July 2024.

There are a total of five standards, designed to increase overall housing levels in New Zealand with a view to improve health and wellbeing of the population at large. The five standards cover the following areas: Heating, Insulation, Ventilation, Moisture Ingress & Drainage and Draught Stopping.

For landlords, the new standards demand improvements be made to residential rental properties so they meet more recent building code levels. But how do you fund the cost?

Paying to meet the new standards

Whether landlords are in cashflow positive situations, or are topping up their current rental yield, the new standards pose an impact on both time and money – putting real pressure on cashflow. The question then, is how do landlords best fund meeting the new Healthy Homes standards? Enter Lifestyle Finance. A specialist in property related finance, Lifestyle Finance offers a smart financing solution via their Healthy Homes funding service, which provides 90-day deferred payment finance for exactly this type of work. Healthy Homes finance provides unsecured funding for up to $10,000 of healthy homes related upgrades at a time. For projects costing more than $10,000, a caveat is required, so there’s no need to get bank approval or involve Solicitors. Everything can be arranged via a simple application and approval process and, the first repayments don’t need to be made for at least 90-days. The funds are made available to landlords to undertake any work required, providing a simple solution to an otherwise stressful cashflow problem. Best of all, all interest and loan related fees can be claimed back against your tax as an expense.

If you’d like to know more about finance to cover your Healthy Homes from Lifestyle Finance, check out their website at https://www.lifestylefinance.co.nz/healthy-homes-finance

Credit: Karen Jackson at Lifestyle Finance