{"id":379666,"date":"2026-04-14T22:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/379666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:36:13","slug":"rotorua-housing-tenancy-tribunal-slashes-pensioners-proposed-rent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/379666\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua housing: Tenancy Tribunal slashes pensioner\u2019s proposed rent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last August, the council revealed plans to pass management of the portfolio to the community housing provider<\/a>, citing a $1 million ratepayer burden and the inability of residents to access government housing assistance as key reasons.<\/p>\n

The council had insisted tenants would not be financially worse off, with the possibility raised of top-ups to utility bills.<\/p>\n

But those plans were not shared with the Ministry of Social Development, which has since said it would not back such a plan<\/a>, as any top-ups would be classed as income, making the support ineffective.<\/p>\n

Residents have rallied against the plans, with examples of rents rising by, and in some cases more than, 150%.<\/p>\n

\"ManyMany of the housing blocks are in disrepair. Photo \/ Mathew Nash<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s rent was due to rise by 143%, but the tribunal ruled the proposed rent exceeded market rates by \u201ca substantial amount\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adjudicator M Steens reviewed evidence, including comparable rents and property condition issues, before setting the new weekly rent.<\/p>\n

He also criticised the council and the housing provider over their handling of the case.<\/p>\n

The council did not attend the March 26 hearing. According to court documents, two attempts were made to contact the council on the day before staff advised Emerge was responsible for managing the properties. <\/p>\n

Emerge took over management of the portfolio on March 23, while the council remains the landlord.<\/p>\n

Attempts to contact Emerge were initially unsuccessful, with its phone system stating it was outside business hours, despite it being about 10am. <\/p>\n

When contact was made, the person was described as \u201crude\u201d and \u201cobstructive\u201d while refusing to provide contact details, the documents showed.<\/p>\n

The tribunal also found the council\u2019s non-attendance was due to its \u201cown mismanagement\u201d, not procedural error.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is how tenants are treated in the premises, they should be mindful to inform tenancy services of their concerns,\u201d the tribunal said.<\/p>\n

The ruling is in effect for one year, and any rent paid above $200 per week since March 1, 2026, must be refunded or credited to the tenant\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

\"MaryMary Smith has not been able to stop smiling since the tribunal win. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Smith said she applied to the tribunal in January after growing frustrated with the council. <\/p>\n

She scheduled time to attend the hearing despite ongoing hospital treatment and could not believe nobody from the organisation was present.<\/p>\n

In her view: \u201cIt\u2019s just so Mickey Mouse … The left hand doesn\u2019t know what the right hand\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said she had not stopped smiling since the ruling and other residents were now considering similar action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re standing up for our rights, and if I can have a win, so can the others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I did it, so other pensioners around New Zealand can see they can too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stavros Michael, the council\u2019s general manager of infrastructure and assets, said on behalf of both the council and Emerge Aotearoa that they disagreed with the decision and had lodged an appeal seeking a rehearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we are now in a formal process, it would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n

\"RawhitiRawhiti Flats on Miller St are just some of the council’s 152 pensioner housing units in Rotorua. Photo \/ Stephen Parker<\/p>\n

He said a \u201cbreakdown\u201d in internal processes left the council unaware the hearing was taking place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge this was not acceptable and process improvements have been implemented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On allegations that Emerge staff were rude to the adjudicator, Michael said the issue arose because the wrong number was dialled.<\/p>\n

He said the number provided to Tenancy Services differed from the housing team\u2019s contact details given to tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad the housing team been contacted, an appropriate response could have been provided,\u201d he said, adding that the council was \u201csatisfied\u201d with Emerge\u2019s support and information services throughout the transition.<\/p>\n

\"StavrosStavros Michael, the council\u2019s general manager of infrastructure and assets. Photo \/ Laura Smith<\/p>\n

It is the latest setback in the council\u2019s beleaguered attempt to offload management of its 152-unit pensioner housing portfolio, initially scheduled for October, with rents originally due to increase from February.<\/p>\n

Rents are now due to rise on June 1, following Emerge\u2019s late-March takeover of management.<\/p>\n

But not all pensioners will be moved to market rates, regardless of future tribunal action.<\/p>\n

Residents received a letter on April 2 stating that those reliant on superannuation, without any other sources of income, will now have their rent set at a \u201csubsidised amount\u201d.<\/p>\n

The council will advise tenants of their individual rent levels once eligibility can be confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working individually with our tenants,\u201d Michael said. \u201cThey are our first priority and will be notified of outcomes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council provided no further details on who would fund the subsidy, how many tenants would qualify or whether it would be in place before June 1.<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash<\/a> is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last August, the council revealed plans to pass management of the portfolio to the community housing provider, citing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1443,4500,7558,8456,42,3339,31869,5365,130,43,19719,5256,19525,7859,11535,29056,17146,17145,28160,16401,1327,38715,3931,2249,22400,10050,131,40,38,41,39,6847,71895],"class_list":{"0":"post-379666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-changes","10":"tag-councils","11":"tag-fresh","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-housing","14":"tag-impacted","15":"tag-lakes","16":"tag-more","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-ordered","19":"tag-overhaul","20":"tag-pensioner","21":"tag-pensioners","22":"tag-portfolio","23":"tag-proposed","24":"tag-questions","25":"tag-raising","26":"tag-reduction","27":"tag-rent","28":"tag-rotorua","29":"tag-rotoruas","30":"tag-slashes","31":"tag-soon","32":"tag-tenancy","33":"tag-tenant","34":"tag-than","35":"tag-top-news","36":"tag-top-stories","37":"tag-topnews","38":"tag-topstories","39":"tag-tribunal","40":"tag-wider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}