Learn about the requirements for maintenance and inspections at a boarding house, including information about locks and security, the rules for entering a tenant’s room and what to do if there’s a problem.

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Maintenance and inspections

Maintenance

The maintenance requirements for boarding houses are the same as standard tenancies.

Landlords must make sure the boarding house is in a reasonable state of repair. This means making sure they’re safe and healthy to live in. Landlords should also ensure the facilities, for example the kitchen and bathroom, are in a reasonable state of cleanliness. If a landlord does not do this then they could be liable for a financial penalty.

Tenants in a boarding house are responsible for keeping their room reasonably clean and tidy.

Find out more about property maintenance.

If something gets damaged in the boarding house, or needs repairing, the tenants must tell the landlord as soon as possible.

Find out more about repairs and damages.

Inspections

If you’re a landlord, it’s a good idea to regularly inspect your boarding house. Inspections help you check everything’s working well, there’s no damage, and your tenants are keeping things reasonably clean and tidy.

  • Landlords must give at least 24 hours’ notice to inspect the room.
  • The maximum frequency for room inspections is once every 4 weeks.
  • Inspections must happen between 8am and 6pm for boarding houses, unless the tenant and landlord have agreed on a time outside of these hours.
  • The landlord can reinspect the room if the tenant has agreed with the landlord that they will fix or clean something by a certain date. The landlord must still give the correct amount of notice (24 hours’).
  • The landlord can enter the boarding house (not individual rooms) at any time. However, the landlord, or any other tenants, can’t interfere with a tenant's quiet enjoyment of the premises.

What is quiet enjoyment?

Other reasons for entering a tenant’s room

Other than for inspections, a boarding house landlord may enter a boarding house room after giving at least 24 hours’ notice to:

  • inspect the room, if the landlord believes the tenant has abandoned the room or breached the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (the Act) in another way
  • show the room to a possible tenant or buyer
  • fulfil their obligations under the Act
  • inspect work the landlord required the tenant to carry out, or work the tenant agreed to carry out
  • show the room to a registered valuer, real estate agent, or building inspector, prospective buyer or lender, or prospective tenant.

A boarding house landlord may enter a boarding house room without notice:

  • if a tenant of the room agrees at, or immediately before, the time of entry
  • if the landlord believes there’s a serious risk to life or property and their entry is necessary to reduce or remove the risk
  • to provide any agreed services, as long as entry meets the conditions of the agreement or house rules
  • in accordance with an order from the Tenancy Tribunal.

Locks and security

  • The house and all rooms must be reasonably secure.
  • The landlord must provide enough locks to ensure this.
  • Tenants must have access to their room, and toilet and bathroom facilities, at all times.
  • Before changing any lock, the landlord must tell every tenant who will be affected.
  • Tenants must not alter, add to or remove any lock or similar security device.

Smoke alarms

Working smoke alarms or detectors are compulsory in all rental homes. New smoke alarms must be photoelectric and have a long battery life, or be hard-wired.

Smoke alarm requirements for rental properties (transcript)

Transcript:
Smoke alarms save lives.

As a landlord, it is your responsibility to make sure there are working smoke alarms in the right places in your rental property.

Working smoke alarms are compulsory in all rental homes, boarding houses, rental caravans and self contained sleep outs.

There must be a smoke alarm in every room where someone sleeps, or within 3 meters of each bedroom door.

In multi storey or multi level homes, you must install a smoke alarm on each level or storey.

Smoke alarms installed after July 1st 2016 must be long life photoelectric alarms that meet the required international standard. You can purchase these from most hardware stores. [visual shows online purchase screen]

If you have a smoke alarm that was installed before this date, it must be replaced by one that meets the standard once it reaches its expiry date. [visual shows a hand removing old smoke alarm and replacing with new photoelectric alarm]

If you don't comply with the regulations, you can be fined [visual shows a penalty notice being removed from an envelope] and the consequences of not having working smoke alarms in your rental home could be far worse. [visual shows a phone screen with a phone call being made to Emergency 111, and a house on fire with flames in windows and smoke rising]

So do the right thing. Make sure your rental property is properly equipped with smoke alarms and check your smoke alarms regularly to make sure they are still operational. [visual shows a hand installing a smoke alarm, then testing the alarm by pressing button, then a thumbs up gesture]

If you have a hardwired smoke alarm system in your property, make sure it is maintained per the manufacturer's requirements. [visual displays a hard wired smoke alarm and a sheet of paper titled "photoelectric smoke alarm instructions"]

For more information on how to install and test smoke alarms properly, head to tenancy.govt.nz.

Smoke alarms must be installed:

  • within 3 metres of each bedroom door, or in every room where a person sleeps
  • on each level or story of a multi-storey or multi-level home
  • in all rental homes, boarding houses, rental caravans, and self-contained sleep-outs.

Landlords must make sure smoke alarms are working at the start of each new tenancy and that they remain in working order during the tenancy.

Tenants cannot damage, remove or disconnect a smoke alarm. They must replace dead batteries (if they are the older style alarms with replaceable batteries), and if there are any problems with the smoke alarms they must tell the landlord as soon as possible.

Find out more about smoke alarm requirements

What to do if there are problems

A breach is when someone (a tenant or a landlord) doesn’t follow the rules of the Residential Tenancies Act.

When a tenant or landlord breaches the Residential Tenancies Act, it’s important to understand what you can do to put it right.

If you’ve got a dispute with your landlord or tenant, try and resolve it between yourselves. We call this self-resolution, and have tips on how to do this.

Self-resolution

If there is an agreement about how to fix the problem, make sure it is in writing and signed by the tenant(s) and the landlord.

Sometimes you won’t be able to reach an agreement on how to sort out the problem. In this case you may consider serving a ‘notice to remedy’. This notice tells the other person what they’ve done to breach the agreement, what they need to do to fix it and how long they have to fix it. If it isn’t fixed in that timeframe you can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to have the matter sorted out. This may be a mediation or a court hearing.

Find out more about breaches and the notice to remedy.

Find out more about applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.

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Last updated: 22 February 2022