Residents of a Glen Eden street are pleading with the council not to re-open a boarding house shut down by Auckland Council.
Earlier this year, Auckland Council shut down three West Auckland boarding houses owned by Liangguo (Tony) Xu because they didn't have resource consent.
Mr Xu told Newshub he's now trying to make his boarding houses compliant.
Sarah James, a neighbour of one of the boarding houses, says she's complained to Auckland Council for years because of problems at the property.
"It's over-crowded, there's a lot of noise, there's often domestic incidents, there's police arrests, a lot of fighting," she told Newshub.
"It's just basically an over-crowded situation with poor living conditions so it's a stressful situation for people to be living in."
Sarah James doesn't believe Auckland Council should grant resource consent for the boarding house to operate.
Some former residents at one of the boarding houses in Glen Eden told Newshub they paid between $200 and $250 per week. They said that amount included power, water, internet and phone.
But they said conditions inside were far from ideal, with "rats and cockroaches" present.
They also said there was a sleep-out on the property which could house four people, but didn't have a kitchen or bathroom.
Labour leader Andrew Little says there needs to be more regulation around boarding houses.
"We've got to know that they are safe for people and that people aren't being ripped off," he said.
"I mean they're paying hundreds of dollars a week for living here in clearly unsafe, unsanitary conditions."
Mr Xu declined to a formal interview with Newshub, but did say he was helping those who had nowhere else to live.
Newshub.
