Whanganui tenant abandoned Kāinga Ora home, ordered to pay $13,300

Whanganui, where the state house tenant left her place last February. Photo / Bevan Conley

A Whanganui state house tenant abandoned her place last February, a relative was living there rent-free but it wasn’t until last month that the Crown entity got a ruling terminating her tenancy for which she must pay $13,300 back rent.

New Zealand’s largest residential landlord, Kāinga Ora Homes and Communities, brought a case against their tenant at the Tenancy Tribunal.

The tribunal issued its decision on December 6 and published it this week.

The state house agency is in charge of 72,000 residences nationally, providing housing for around 200,000 Kiwis. It sought an order for back rent on the Whanganui home but it all took a long time.

In the interim, a relative was living in the house where no rent was being paid, the tribunal noted.

Tracey Leigh Williams stopped paying rent on her state house in Castlecliff last February, the tribunal said.

But that wasn’t all.

When staff from the state agency visited her, they found one of Williams’ relatives had been living there instead for a time, all while the rent was unpaid.

“At a visit to the premises on October 18, it was apparent that the tenant’s mother-in-law remained there. Photos of a subsequent visit on November 22, 2023, show the property empty. Because the premises have been abandoned, and rent is in arrear, the tenancy is terminated immediately,” the tribunal added.

The tenant couldn’t be reached for the hearing, although two phone calls were made to her and messages left.

The hearing was to get a ruling on the rent arrears as well as termination of the tenancy for abandonment. Both orders were granted.

Kāinga Ora sought an order terminating the tenancy and for back payment for the rent owed. Photo / Getty Images

A spokeswoman for Kāinga Ora said contact details for Williams could not be provided because those were private, meaning the Herald could not ask her about the tenancy.

In August, the tribunal ordered her to pay rent arrears of $10,900 but the further amount of time that elapsed since means money payable escalated to the $13,300 rent arrears.

The latest ruling cited that larger figure.

Nick Maling, Kāinga Ora national services general manager, said steps were taken fast to try to contact Williams but matters took time to resolve.

“We work hard to engage with our customers and resolve tenancy matters with them directly when they arise. However, sometimes we need to use other tools such as mediation or the Tenancy Tribunal to achieve the right outcome, which is what happened in this case.

Nick Maling, Kāinga Ora national services general manager. Photo / Kāinga Ora

“When the customer stopped paying their rent in February 2023, we immediately tried to contact them to resolve the situation. As this was unsuccessful, we applied to the Tenancy Tribunal in April and began the mediation process, which was completed in August 2023.

“When we became aware that the main tenant was no longer living in the home and had no intention of returning, we took steps to address this and applied to the tribunal to end the tenancy in November. We received an order confirming the tenancy had been ended in December,” he said.

Kāinga Ora cases are going before the tribunal regularly, often daily.

On December 6, tenant Maria Andrews was ruled liable to pay the Crown agency $2400 in rent arrears and the cost of hiring a skip for the Naenae place she had lived in.

State-house tenant Sylvia Gondwe was ordered to pay $479 in rent arrears on her place in Totara Vale, Auckland, that same day.

The tenant was obliged to pay rent but she left the house and was found to owe $13,300.

Also on December 6, the tribunal heard Kāinga Ora’s case against tenant Shannon Lee Te Pua O Williams. She rented a place in Petone but her tenancy was terminated and possession granted to the landlord.

But in a reversal of those cases, a Kāinga Ora tenant took a case against the agency over a place he rented at Belmont on Auckland’s North Shore.

That tenant’s name was suppressed but he won $1520 after Kāinga Ora was found to have failed to take steps to protect him against a neighbour’s interference with his reasonable peace, comfort and privacy.

The neighbouring property was also a Kāinga Ora one.

A property in Belmont, on Auckland's North Shore, that the state housing agency owns was at the centre of a case brought against the landlord. Picture / Chris Gorman

The man with three young daughters moved into what was a new build in June 2022.

But he told the tribunal how he had suffered and brought to its attention “a lengthy list recording the dates of complaints made to the police and to the landlord’s tenancy support managers about the behaviours to which he was being subjected, which included exposure to family violence, noise and disturbance and being subjected to threats, intimidation and abuse”.

The tenant was granted a restraining order against the neighbour’s partner, who had been remanded in custody but was due to be released on bail to an address in another city, the ruling noted. The neighbour’s partner was not a Kāinga Ora tenant.

But the neighbour herself was exonerated.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.