Waikato’s five biggest Kāinga Ora debtors have their debts slashed to 12 weeks’ rent

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Kāinga Ora said they would slash the amount of money owed by their largest debtors in Waikato as part of a ‘pragmatic approach’ to reducing debt.

Waikato’s largest Kāinga Ora debtor owes more than $33,000, has been in rent arrears for five years of a seven-year tenancy and is set to have their debt reduced to just 12 weeks’ of rent.

The Waikato Times can reveal they aren’t the only Waikato-based Kāinga Ora debtor set to get their rent arrears bill slashed, with the bills for the top-five largest rent debtors all being cut to 12 weeks’ rent.

“We are taking a pragmatic approach to helping the small number of tenants who owe a significant amount of rent debt reduce this debt to get on top of what they owe faster,” said Kāinga Ora deputy chief executive central, Daniel Soughtton.

“In these [Waikato] cases, Kāinga Ora is reducing their debt down to 12 weeks’ worth of rent.”

Soughtton said this was an amount “that is more realistic for tenants to repay in full, with the right payment plan in place”.

Another of the debtors has been a Kāinga Ora tenant for 27 years - and also in rent arrears for five years.

Kāinga Ora’s Waikato regional director, Mark Rawson, had earlier told the Waikato Times there are 214 tenants in the region who owe more than 12 weeks of rent (file photo).

Further details of the five Kāinga Ora tenants in the Waikato who owe the most in rent - a combined $127,153 - can be revealed after the Waikato Times filed an Official Information Act request with the government housing agency.

Of the five tenants with the largest arrears, none owe less than $20,000 - with the smallest amount owed $20,368, the largest $33,173.

All five accounts have been in arrears for either four, or five years.

One tenant, who owes $25,181, has also had 13 “actions relating to rent debt” in the past 12 months.

“Actions”, according to the Kāinga Ora OIA response, “can include meetings at a Kāinga Ora office, phone calls, mediation, etc”.

One tenant who owes $25,094 had nine “actions” over the last year, while the top debtor had eight.

Over the past 12 months to February 28 this year, three tenants received one “formal rent debt letter”, one received two, and one - who owes $23,337 - received no letter.

The letters are defined by Kāinga Ora as “formal notice sent to tenants when regular agreed payments are missed”.

One of the households in rent arrears is home to four residents, one houses three people, two have two residents and one tenant lives alone.

The longest running tenancy is 27 years, followed by 17 years, two who have resided in their homes for five years and one - the biggest debtor - has lived in the property for seven years.

None of the residents have been subject to complaints in the past 12 months.

Soughtton said the agency was reducing debt across the board “by taking a firmer approach with tenants who are behind on their rent”.

“We will continue to support households who fall on hard times but are making genuine efforts to get on track with their rent,” he said.

“We do not want to end tenancies, but we will if tenants are not meeting their obligations to reduce their rent debt, are skipping rent payments or refusing to work with us”.

He also said the agency had engaged with the five Waikato tenants with the largest arrears “in a variety of ways to discuss their rent debt, including meetings at the Kāinga Ora office, discussions during home visits, phone calls, and mediation”.