The woman lived in a two-bedroom property owned by Kāinga Ora with a shared driveway for two other properties.
In 2017 new tenants with alleged gang affiliations moved into one of the neighbouring properties and the following year another set of tenants, allegedly with rival gang affiliations, moved in.
After the woman and her daughters were relocated to new premises in 2022, she submitted an application to the Tenancy Tribunal and complained to the Prime Minister about her tenancy situation through emails.
She said police were called on several occasions to address disputes between the alleged rival gangs and she had to install a security system after items around her property began to disappear.
She also had a gate and security door installed to prevent her neighbours from accessing her property, all at her own cost.
The woman claimed the neighbours’ unsociable behaviour involved domestic violence, an ongoing police presence, and skidding vehicles, all of which she says the landlord did nothing about despite her complaints.
The father of the tenant’s children said he found it difficult to visit his daughters given the numerous gang members and affiliates loitering in the driveway, their use of inappropriate language, fighting, and car skids.
Kāinga Ora produced written notes showing the tenant complained on four occasions, although she claimed to have complained more than this, but it did not issue a 14-day notice for the neighbouring tenants.
A 14-day notice can be served if a tenant or landlord breaches the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, meaning they have 14 days to fix the breach.
An example of a breach is interfering with a tenant’s quiet enjoyment of their home.
Kāinga Ora said it spoke to the neighbouring tenants on each occasion the woman complained but this was not backed up with evidence.
“Given the nature of the complaints that Kāinga Ora has recorded which refer to family harm, drugs, gang activity and intimidation, it would be reasonable to expect a landlord to take the matter seriously,” adjudicator Tracey Lee-Lewis said.
“I consider it distressing that the tenant installed a security door and gate at her own cost for her and her daughters’ protection from the neighbours and their associates.”
Lee-Lewis found that while it is a difficult situation for Kāinga Ora to manage tenants with gang affiliations, there was still a breach of the woman’s quiet enjoyment and therefore she should be awarded $1000.
The woman also complained about a leak in the roof of her daughters’ bedroom resulting in the room being uninhabitable for 14 weeks due to severe water damage.
Work and Income New Zealand (Winz) paid for the replacement of various items damaged by the leak, some of which was then paid off by Kāinga Ora, amounting to $1390.
However, the woman claims that Kāinga Ora was notified of the leak multiple times and it was an issue even before the tenancy started.
She claimed a total of $12,625 in compensation for damaged items as well as to cover rent and power usage.
Kāinga Ora said it pursued every issue raised by the woman and compensated her for the Winz loan and offered a rent abatement of $20 a week during the 14-week period the bedroom was unable to be used.
Lee-Lewis found that while Kāinga Ora made reasonable efforts to resolve the leak in a timely manner, the tenant was still entitled to compensation of $2400 for the inconvenience.
