Our approach to disruptive behaviour
We’re committed to being a good landlord. Part of this means getting the right balance between our responsibilities to our tenants – some of whom experience a range of challenges – and ensuring the quiet enjoyment of others in the community.
Our new, strengthened approach is designed to strike this balance, with a focus on being fair but firm. We’re using the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) more frequently to drive behaviour change and provide a clear deterrent for disruptive behaviour. If a tenant does not change their behaviour, we will end tenancies when we need to, and not offer them another home.
We will still work to understand what is driving disruptive behaviour and we are continuing to refer tenants to specialist social and health services to address underlying issues. Voluntary relocations are another way we help resolve what’s happening.
We’ve introduced an escalated approach for situations where a tenant’s behaviour creates a significant safety issue, or is disruptive and persistent, and they ignore our warnings. In these situations, we will apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to terminate the tenancy.
These changes are focused on addressing serious disruptive behaviour. Most of the issues people get in touch with us about are minor things that are common issues between neighbours throughout the country, like noisy cars, lawns not being mowed regularly or how often visitors are calling at a home. We will continue to address these types of concerns through our existing processes.
It’s important to remember that most of our tenants already do the right thing, are responsible and treat their neighbours with respect – so they won’t notice any changes to their tenancy.
Communicating with tenants
We are clear with our tenants that serious disruptive behaviour puts their tenancy at risk, and we expect them to change their behaviour. If that does not happen, we will end their tenancy.
It is important we are fair in our approach, so when we get a complaint, we collect evidence to get a full picture of what has happened.
What we do from there depends on the circumstances and can include using tools available to us under the RTA. These tools enable landlords to make it clear that a tenant’s behaviour is unacceptable and that they need to change their behaviour – and we are using them to ensure our tenants know and meet their responsibilities. When using the RTA, there’s a set process all landlords must follow and while this can take time, we must follow the proper process.
Tenancy Management Framework
We have introduced a new approach to managing our tenancies – the Tenancy Management Framework. This strengthened approach strikes a better balance between our role as landlord, the responsibilities of our tenants, and the right to quiet enjoyment of those in the community. The Tenancy Management Framework informs our approach to a range of tenancy issues, such as rental arrears, disruptive behaviour and the management of pets.
Disruptive Behaviour Policy
To drive further progress, our new Disruptive Behaviour policy formalises our new approach and guides how we respond to disruptive behaviour.
As well as continuing to work to understand what’s driving disruptive behaviour and support a change in behaviour, we’ve introduced an escalated approach for situations where a tenant’s behaviour creates a significant safety issue, or is disruptive and persistent, and they ignore our warnings. In these situations, we’re ending tenancies when we need to, and tenants are not offered another Kainga Ora home.
More information
Uma na faafou le itulau: 12 July 2024