Public Housing Minister Poto Williams called for a review of policy in November last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Public Housing Minister Poto Williams called for a review of policy in November last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Claims of death threats, loud parties and speeding cars have plagued a Kāinga Ora tenant, who has a child with serious health complications, for almost three years.
The tenant, who was given name suppression at a Tenancy Tribunal hearing in February, said issues with his neighbour started on the first day they both moved into their state houses, which share a wall and driveway.
Since late 2018, there had been no respite from noisy parties for the man who cares for his 1-year-old daughter with significant health needs, despite multiple complaints to the landlord, police and noise control.
It was declared in the hearing that Kāinga Ora breached its legal obligation by failing to take all reasonable steps in ensuring the peace and comfort of their tenant.
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Nicole Walker said what was unique about the case was the tenant's young child who had recently had heart surgery and was fed through a tube.
"The tenant says that due to the noise from the neighbour it is difficult to get her to sleep. They are unable to close the windows as that would mean there was no airflow," Walker said.
The court heard the tenant moved into a new build home managed by Kāinga Ora in November 2018.
The father said issues began that same day when his neighbour held a moving-in party.
Since that time, ongoing complaints had been made to the landlord on a regular basis and 31 noise control complaints about excessive noise had been made to Auckland City Council, some on the same night.
On three instances last year the neighbour was served with an excessive noise direction and equipment was seized.
A Kāinga Ora tenant has encountered trouble with their neighbour for three years. Photo / Supplied
In June, the landlord issued a notice in relation to the excessive noise and warned that Kāinga Ora might end the tenancy.
Walker remarked that the notice did not comply with the Residential Tenancies Act and she had been told the only way to deal with the issue was to offer alternative housing to both parties.
This was done, but because of lockdown complications and unsuitable housing stock, six months later nothing has changed.
Police contacted Kāinga Ora around the same time, notifying the landlord that complaints had been made by the tenant to police.
After getting advice from the Citizen's Advice Bureau, the tenant requested the landlord escalate his complaint to the area manager.
The tenant was also concerned about speeding cars down the shared driveway because his children sometimes played there, but Kāinga Ora advised the man the driveway was not suitable to play on.
The tenant also complained of damage to the property, death threats and sexual harassment.
He said the neighbour, or her visitors, had urinated on the shared driveway and left broken glass there too.
"While the landlord took some reasonable steps, it has become clear that the action taken by the landlord was inadequate," Walker said.
"Some urgent action should have been taken for the landlord to meet their statutory responsibility."
The NZ Herald recently reported a number of stories about Kāinga Ora tenants who felt significantly victimised by their neighbours.
The testimonies had led to a review of the "sustaining tenancies" policy by Public Housing Minister Poto Williams in November last year.
In February this year, Kainga Ora national services general manager Nick Maling announced a suite of changes to policy that would strengthen the way it managed disruptive behaviour in its homes.
Maling said the Residential Tenancies Act provided more scope to deal with unruly tenants by enabling Kāinga Ora to move disruptive residents out of communities more easily.
These changes included Kāinga Ora implementing a warnings process that allowed the public housing landlord to take disruptive tenants to the tribunal to end a tenancy if three incidents of a serious nature were documented in a 90-day period.
Maling noted they did not want to make tenants homeless and would work to provide alternative housing and support to address the causes behind residents' behaviour.
The changes were part of a broader Kāinga Ora Customer Programme that was focused on the wellbeing of state housing tenants and the communities they lived in, Maling said.
