Kāinga Ora

PHOTO: (File image) Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly

Kāinga Ora, formerly Housing New Zealand, came under the spotlight last year after it was revealed it had not evicted any tenants in the last three years.

This was despiteneighbours coming forward with stories of abuse and threats – and Tenancy Tribunal decisions that detailed compensation payouts in the thousands.

RNZ’s Official Information Act (OIA) request – asking for the total amount of compensation paid out for breaches of section 45 (1) (e) of the Residential Tenancies Act in the past five years – has been declined.

“Kāinga Ora does not centrally record this information. As with many tenant-related matters, records are kept as a narrative rather than a financial transaction or ledger, meaning that each record needs to be read to ascertain the outcome,” the response reads.

Litigation lawyer Adina Thorn, who has flagged a possible class action on behalf of affected Kāinga Ora neighbours, said the lack of centralised information about compensation payouts was surprising.

“Here we have a government body that presumably we know is paying out some money in these Tenancy Tribunal decisions yet says, even though it’s been through litigation, it doesn’t add that up in any centralised way.

READ MORE VIA RNZ

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