People spend a lot of time and expense trying to heat their homes in the colder months, but this can be a useless exercise if you are battling against draughts allowing cold air in and warm air out.

There are always exceptions to rules, even the Healthy Homes Standards. However, it is vital that you understand exemption guidelines in order to avoid unnecessary fines. Along with general exemptions, there are also exemptions to individual standards.

As the winter cold bites and grey rainy days become a regular occurrence, we spend more time indoors and find ourselves hitting the ‘on’ switches for heating, lighting, and drying appliances to help keep life cosy and comfortable. Power usage is bound to go up during the cooler months, but by ensuring your home is optimised to be as warm and dry as possible, and with a few extra energy-saving hacks, it is possible to prevent a complete winter budget blowout.

For months now, the new Healthy Homes Standards have occupied the minds of landlords and tenants alike. Heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture ingress and drainage, and draught stopping have become familiar to us all. As a landlord, you are responsible for ensuring the requirements of these new standards are met. While it’s important to be aware of the cost of meeting the new reforms, it is also vital you know the cost of not complying.