Homeowners are turning to RVs to avoid unruly Kāinga Ora tenants

A couple rented out their house and moved into an RV to get away from the disruptive Kāinga Ora tenants next door.  (File photo)

Alden Williams/Stuff

A couple rented out their house and moved into an RV to get away from the disruptive Kāinga Ora tenants next door. (File photo)

Private property owners are leaving their homes and moving into RVs to get away from it all unruly Home Life neighbors.

A Christchurch woman says she sold her to keep her mental healthwhile a Coromandel couple has rented out their house to save their marriage.

The retired Christchurch, who RNZ has agreed not to identify herself, said after enduring several years of noise and abuse, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when her neighbor’s car burst into flames in the driveway.

“The car exploded, the tires exploded, the whole flames exploded on the goddamn fence. It was 20 feet away from my bedroom window. I expected the windows to blow out.”

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Soon after, she decided to sell, but she couldn’t afford another house.

“I should not have been put in that position. I shouldn’t have been in that situation, but for my own health and my own mental health, it was the best option. It was either that or stay there and just become a nervous wreck and wait for the next blimmin incident.

The woman’s camper is now parked at a campsite.

A Coromandel woman felt the same way after also fighting with Kāinga Ora over disruptive neighbors.

“One partner wants to fix it, but they can’t and you’re just affected. It affects your whole life and you wonder if you’re going a little crazy and relationships are getting under a lot of strain and that’s what we found out and we just had to get out or we wouldn’t be together anymore to be.

The couple also opted for a campervan solution and have been living in it for a few years now while renting out their home.

Housing Secretary Megan Woods says it is unacceptable for neighbors to accept highly stressful situations from Kāinga Ora tenants.  (File photo)

Tom Lee/Stuff

Housing Secretary Megan Woods says it is unacceptable for neighbors to accept highly stressful situations from Kāinga Ora tenants. (File photo)

“Life in a motorhome was nowhere on our radar, but life was hell, sleeping was hell, you know, trying to sleep with the dog and the music, it drove us nuts. It was really bad and we will never go back to that house to live ever.

With regard to the Coromandel situation, Kāinga Ora confirmed that it had received a number of complaints in 2018-2019 regarding the behavior of its tenants over a 10-month period, mainly related to noise.

“We spoke to our tenants about these complaints, cooperating with noise control and police where appropriate, and encouraged complainants to do the same. We have not received any complaints about the property in question in the past three years.”

Housing Secretary Megan Woods said it was unacceptable neighbors to endure these very stressful situations and Kāinga Ora took complaints very seriously.

That’s why it had changed its policy earlier this year to allow the housing agency to respond more quickly and effectively to disruptive behavior in the small number of serious cases in which it occurred.

DELIVERED

This new home has been rejected because of the shared driveway. (First published September 16, 2020)

“However, in challenging situations, the process for Kāinga Ora to follow takes time and often requires support from multiple agencies. I urge neighbors who experience problems to continue to raise their concerns with Kāinga Ora as soon as possible so that they respond as quickly as possible.”

But that was little consolation for the retired Christchurch.

“I’m still upset, I’m angry and I shouldn’t have put up with this nonsense, no one should. I should be able to enjoy my retirement and not have to put up with this crap and no one is listening.”

Kāinga Ora has received about 6500 complaints, but is not yet canceling leases or evicting a single tenant since it began enforcing the law against unruly tenants more vigorously in February.

However, it has moved 113 households, though it admits that about half of those are tenants who have chosen to move away from other disruptive housing association tenants.

Kāinga Ora is the landlord of last resort for approximately 200,000 New Zealanders, half of whom are children.