Tenants move for quake proofing work

Housing New Zealand is relocating a number of tenants in Napier so it can earthquake proof the buildings shown above.

Housing New Zealand is relocating tenants so it can carry out earthquake strengthening work on some of its Napier properties.

Over the next few months, the corporation will relocate the tenants of 17 units in Wellesley Rd Napier.

A tenant, who wished to remain unnamed, said that Housing NZ had been a bit slow in communicating with them in the past. "But on this particular thing they have been pretty quick," he said.

"I think because of this earthquake thing they have to get their act together and they are finally coming to the table."

He said they would like to stay in Napier and that a Housing NZ employee had been working with them to try and achieve this.

"We are just waiting to hear because we want to be quite close to my wife's work so they are looking in our preferred area," he said.

"But it has only been about a week or so since it has happened, so we are waiting on them to see if they come up with anything suitable."

Housing NZ's communications manager Cassandra Rivers said the relocation was a part of the corporation's earthquake-prone building programme, one that began after the series of quakes which rocked Canterbury in 2010-11.

Ms Rivers said the corporation understands that while such a move causes disruption, it had to think about tenant health and safety.

She said that in the case of the Napier tenants, the work Housing NZ has to do to the buildings is quite invasive and would be difficult to complete around the tenants.

"We are the largest landlord in New Zealand, so we have a bit of a leadership role to play and we need to do the right thing. This is doing the right thing," she said.

In doing the right thing, Ms Rivers said the corporation has a specialist tenancy liaison team to work one-on-one with tenants to try and meet their needs, including meeting the costs of relocation.

"We don't take the decision lightly to move people out," she said. "We will find them a new house that meets their needs, and we give them plenty of time [to move out]."

According to a notice issued by Housing NZ this month, tenants have until Friday, January 15, to move out.

"You need to continue paying rent and maintaining the property until you move out," the notice says. "Please make sure you remove your belongings and rubbish, leave the home clean [and] tidy and in good order and return your keys to the neighbourhood unit.

"If you do not, we will charge you for any costs, such as cleaning, repairs and replacing the locks."