Healthy Home Standards: Your rights as a tenant. Video / OneRoof
A tenant feared for her safety in a state housing complex despite making numerous complaints to the landlord.
Since living in the Kāinga Ora property in 2017, who the Herald agreed not to name, claims she suffered constant violent behaviour, police involvement and criminal behaviour from her neighbours.
Numerous complaints were made by Anne to the landlord, including:
• Continuous loud music from neighbours. • Constant partying by the neighbours. • Fighting on the street, and at neighbouring parties. • Gang presence in the neighbourhood. • Verbal abuse from neighbours. • Neighbours constantly parking in or blocking her driveway. • Police attending the neighbours.
The women also laid a complaint with the landlord due to "upsetting criminal behaviour", including an attempted murder.
Kāinga Ora is a state department housing and urban development in Auckland. Photo / File
On a separate occasion, she was woken up in the middle of the night by a gang member looking for her neighbours.
The tenant said this behaviour interfered with her comfort and privacy in the use of her property.
The woman, who is in her 50s and lives in the property alone, has a chronic medical condition where she suffers from extensive and different migraines.
Her condition can be brought on by stress, temperature and light.
The tenant says she was in a constant state of worry and stress, which was caused by the actions of her neighbours.
When she first moved into the property, she was reluctant to report the issues as her teenage son went to the local high school.
The Tenancy Tribunal asked the landlord to provide the Police Log of all incidents at the neighbouring houses.
Attempts by the landlord to request the log under the Official Information Act, were replied to by Police "that there have been no known incidents that relate to the tenant".
However, the landlord provided the Tenancy Tribunal with a computer log for each neighbouring property.
The logs mirrored the tenant's claims of issues, with partying, fighting, noise and car-parking being noted, including a few complaints from other neighbours.
Action was taken by the landlord when requested by the tenants.
The tenant's proposed building a fence around her property, creating a barrier to people gathering outside or knocking on her property.
Although the Tenancy Tribunal was happy with the actions of the landlord, it decided "the landlord has taken reactive rather than proactive steps".
"I do not think it took all reasonable steps to ensure that the tenant's comfort, peace and privacy were not interfered with," the tribunal stated.
The tribunal ordered that the landlord must help the tenant find a more suitable home and the tenant was ordered to provide a letter from her doctor stating her medical condition.
