KEY POINTS:
Simon Nunns is slowly winning the war. For the past 4 1/2 years, he has been out at least once a month to spray paint over tags on the fence around his central Auckland home.
And in the past few months, those tags are not reappearing.
"I'm up very early in the mornings, before 6am, so quite often it's painted over before the sun comes up so the 'homies' don't get a chance to see their handiwork," said Mr Nunns, a winemaker.
"The tagging rates have actually dropped in our place in the last year and I don't know if that's part of a general trend. I think I'm winning - slowly."
Figures on the scale of tagging nationwide are hard to come by since no central agency collects them.
But anecdotal evidence, and the statistics that are around, suggest tagging is increasing.
Mr Nunns usually has to spray a second coat when he gets back from work in the evenings, to fully get rid of the marks.
And while it was "annoying" to begin with, it has become just a small part of everyday life.
"Once you've set up to deal with the problem it becomes more like weeding the garden or mowing the lawn."
