Ka¯inga Ora tenant fed up with noise and rows
Claims of death threats, loud parties and speeding cars have for three years plagued a Ka¯inga Ora tenant whose child has had heart surgery.
The tenant, 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.
Since late 2018, there had been no respite from noisy parties for the man who cares for his one-year-old daughter with significant health needs, despite multiple complaints to Ka¯inga Ora, police and noise control.
It was declared in the hearing that Ka¯inga 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 the tenant’s young child 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 Ka¯inga Ora in November 2018.
The father said his neighbour held a moving-in party on the same day, and since then ongoing complaints had been made to Ka¯inga Ora. As well, 31 excessive noise complaints had been made to Auckland Council, some on the same night.
The neighbour was served with an excessive noise direction three times last year.
In June, Ka¯inga Ora issued an excessive noise notice and warned it 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.
This was done, but because of lockdown complications, six months on nothing has changed.
Police notified s Ka¯inga Ora that the tenant had complained to police.
The tenant then asked Ka¯inga Ora to 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 Ka¯inga Ora told him 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 driveway and left broken glass there.
“While the landlord took some reasonable steps, it has become clear that the action was inadequate,” Walker said. “Some urgent action should have been taken.”
The NZ Herald recently reported stories about Ka¯inga Ora tenants who felt victimised by their neighbours.
The testimonies had led to a review of the “sustaining tenancies” policy by Public Housing Minister Poto Williams in November.
In February, Kainga Ora national services general manager Nick Maling announced 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 Ka¯inga Ora to move disruptive residents more easily.
These changes included setting up a warnings process that allowed the public housing landlord to take disruptive tenants to the tribunal to end a tenancy if three serious incidents 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.