David Farrar: Of course you should be evicted for not paying rent

Stuff reports:

The tenants of two Kāinga Ora homes in Porirua have been ousted after failing to pay the rent, as the public housing landlord implements a harder line on breaches of tenancy agreements.

Kāinga Ora made successful applications to the Tenancy Tribunal in relation to the two properties, where outstanding rent payments added up to over $72,000.

Winnie Alofa Kilisi, who lived at 2 Worcester Place, Cannons Creek, was taken to the tribunal by Kāinga Ora over $41,063 in rent arrears.

That must mean they haven’t paid rent for at least the last 12 months. Of course they should be evicted.

Kainga Ora rents are tied to income. The less you earn, the less you pay. They are no more than 25% of income. Low income earners who are not in Kainga Ora properties often pay more than 40% of their income in rent.

Tribunal adjudicator Jacci Setefano said Kāinga Ora had provided evidence of “multiple attempts to reach a resolution with the tenant, including efforts to communicate and negotiate a repayment plan”.

“Despite these steps, the tenant failed to adhere to any agreements or make meaningful progress toward addressing the arrears,” Setefano said.

The ongoing and substantial rent arrears, combined with Kilisi’s failure to meet commitments, meant Kāinga Ora’s application for termination of the tenancy was justified, Setefano said.

The tenancy was terminated from January 8, and Kilisi was ordered to pay Kāinga Ora $41,063.

Sadly I bet they never get it.

Kāinga Ora applied to have Kilisi’s name suppressed because it may affect her ability to find another place to rent, but Setefano found there were no grounds to suppress her name.

Good. Landlords have rights. They should be able to know if a prospective tenant has a history of refusing to pay rent.

Kāinga Ora told the tribunal that over the past five years it had tried to engage with the Lautafi’s “a total of 71 times via texts, calls, meetings, visits, to attempt to sort out payment of the rent arrears with the tenants, without success”.

71 attempts is far too many. What would be an appropriate maximum before you apply to evict? Perhaps six over three months?

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.