Are there Healthy Homes grants for landlords?

Mostly, no. As at September 2026, the government's main insulation and heating grant, Warmer Kiwi Homes, run by EECA, is only for people who own and live in their home, and EECA states that rentals and homes owned by businesses are excluded. There is no national grant that pays private landlords to meet the Healthy Homes standards. What landlords do have is the ordinary tax system, where some compliance costs are deductible and others are treated as capital.

Warmer Kiwi Homes: who it is actually for

EECA's eligibility, as published in September 2026, requires that you own and live in a home built before 2008, and that you hold a Community Services Card or SuperGold Combo card or live in an area the government has identified as lower income. Insulation grants range from 50% to 90% of the cost depending on the area. Heat pump grants are limited to the highest-need households. EECA also says the grant is only for the home you live in, not a bach, Airbnb or holiday home.

That rules out a tenanted rental, even where the tenant holds a Community Services Card: the landlord does not live there and the tenant does not own it. You may find older articles or installer websites describing landlord co-funding for rentals. That is not what EECA's current page says, and EECA's page is the one to trust. Eligibility is confirmed by the service provider, and the criteria do change, so check before planning around it.

Council finance schemes

Some councils have offered to pay for insulation, heating or ventilation upfront, with the property owner repaying through a voluntary targeted rate over several years. Hawke's Bay Regional Council's Sustainable Homes scheme, for example, was described by the council in 2022 as letting eligible ratepayers borrow up to $20,000, repaid over ten years through a voluntary targeted rate. These are repayable finance, not grants, and whether a rental property qualifies varies from scheme to scheme. If you want to spread the cost, ask your regional and district council what they run now.

How tax treats Healthy Homes spending

Inland Revenue addressed this directly in QB 20/01, published in June 2020. The broad shape:

• Generally deductible in the year you spend it: repairing items that would already meet the standards if they worked or were in reasonable condition; minor work that does not change the character of the building, such as blocking an unused chimney or fireplace, or making mechanical ventilation compliant; and the cost of record keeping and providing the information required in tenancy agreements.
• Usually treated as part of the building: insulation, ducted or multi-unit heat pumps, flued wood or gas fires, new or replacement openable windows, new exterior doors, most extractor fans and rangehoods, ground moisture barriers and drainage systems. Those costs are added to the building's cost, and the depreciation rate for residential buildings is generally zero.
• Depreciable as separate assets: some items that are not part of the building, including electric panel heaters, single-split heat pumps, through-window extractor fans, window stays, door stops and external door draught excluders. Low-value assets may be written off in full in the year bought.

Inland Revenue's own rental expenses page gives installing a heat pump where there was none as an example of a capital improvement, not a repair. The line between repair and improvement depends on the facts, depreciation settings can change over time, and Inland Revenue itself suggests talking to a tax agent if you are unsure. Keeping each invoice itemised helps, because a single job can mix deductible and capital costs.

What this means in practice

Compliance is the landlord's cost. The way to keep that cost down is to spend only where the house actually falls short. Start with a free self-assessment to find out what, if anything, needs doing, and pay for professional help only where you need it; who can do a Healthy Homes assessment covers when that is.

Whatever you spend, keep the paperwork twice over: once as Healthy Homes evidence, and once for your tax return. An invoice showing a heat pump's model and output does both jobs. Filed per standard in Landy, it is there for the next compliance statement and for the accountant. Whether upgrade costs can flow into rent is a separate question, covered in can rent go up because of Healthy Homes work.