Kāinga Ora has been ordered to pay a tenant $6000 after she was "terrorised" by her neighbours in an Auckland social housing complex.
It comes after the Government instructed Kāinga Ora to act more harshly towards unruly tenants.
Kāinga Ora failed to address regular complaints from the tenant, who was living in one of its 20-unit housing complexes in Auckland, according to the recently released Tenancy Tribunal decision.
The names of those involved are under suppression orders made by tribunal adjudicator Rex Woodhouse, and can not be reported.
The female tenant had to pause her studies because she couldn't cope with the disruptive behaviour from her neighbours.
She said she received death threats and abuse from other tenants in the premises, along with one tenant pooing outside her door. She added that the complex contained blood, mucus and urine.
Other issues included tenants constantly banging on her door, intimidating other tenants, and inviting visitors to the premises who knocked on doors asking for money - along with the slashing of car tyres, fighting in the hallways, and the use of methamphetamine.
At the hearing, the tenant described the psychological issues she has faced from her living experience, which was supported by a medical certificate from her GP.
"I consider the tenants have been terrified by their neighbours, to the extent she was fearful of leaving her house," Woodhouse said.
One of the unruly tenants is also alleged to have seriously injured his partner by throwing her off his second-storey balcony, causing "significant mental trauma and distress" to neighbours who comforted the woman until emergency services arrived.
The tenant was charged with injuring the woman, and charged with minor assault after allegedly spitting on another tenant.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to end a tenancy after issuing three notices, if antisocial behaviour continues within a certain time frame.
Landlords can also seek to end a tenancy immediately if their tenant assaults or threatens to assault others living at the property.
Kāinga Ora sent six notices to the tenants requesting a meeting to discuss the bad behaviour, however all of them were ignored.
The public housing landlord then applied to the tribunal two weeks after the woman's complaints to have the tenants evicted in March, which was successful.
The tribunal decision noted that Kāinga Ora offered to move the complainant to another home multiple times, instead of applying to the tribunal to have the unruly tenants evicted earlier.
"I am very confident in concluding that any reasonable landlord would have applied to the Tenancy Tribunal well before the landlord did in this case," Woodhouse wrote.
