A Kāinga Ora tenant was asked to turn down music, so she turned it up instead
Friday, 10 April 2026
A Kāinga Ora tenant asked to lower the volume of music in the early hours not only turned it up but started stomping around her second floor flat, the Tenancy Tribunal has been told.
Emaraina Wahine Mei Pattison-Mackey lived in recently completed flats in Rolleston St, in the Wellington suburb of Mt Cook.
On August 27 loud music was coming from her flat just before 2am and about 4.40am. Wellington City Mission staff on the site contacted her to turn down the music but she turned it up and started stomping loudly, a recent Tenancy Tribunal decision said.
The following month, on September 19, Pattison-Mackey lay down behind her support worker’s car, stopping them from leaving about 11am.
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Soon after she “positioned herself” between the driveway and the road, stopping vehicles entering and leaving the complex.
She repeatedly refused to move and police were called.
“While the tenant did eventually move, this caused significant disruption and raised serious safety concerns for the tenant, staff and other residents,” the decision said.
Soon after she was seen spitting from her second floor balcony towards senior staff at the site.
The incidents followed visitors to Pattison-Mackey forcing a security door just after 7am on August 7, which had reportedly happened multiple other times, the tribunal was told.
She acknowledged the door was being forced due to not having swipe access. City Mission staff repeatedly offered to escort her to her flat when needed but were disregarded, the tribunal was told.
It was also reported that she told her visitors to “just barge their way through”.
Kāinga Ora asked the tribunal to end the tenancy on the grounds of anti-social behaviour from her or people on the premises with her permission.
The tribunal granted the order for Pattison-Mackey to be out by the end of March 13.
It came after the three incidents within a 90-day period for which Pattison-Mackey received written warnings.
She had been at the two tribunal hearings and denied making excessive noise but the tribunal said she didn’t give evidence about events on the other two days.
The tribunal was also given copies of other “anti-social behaviour” notices that warned of the consequences of not changing her ways.
It could not consider the impact on Pattison-Mackey of ending the tenancy, it said. She asked for her name to be suppressed in the tribunal’s decision, but that was refused.
Kāinga Ora has changed its policy on dealing with disruptive tenants, leading to more tenancies ending.
In latest figures on its website it said five tenancies were terminated in February by order of the tribunal. Those tenants would not be given another Kāinga Ora home.
In the 2024-25 financial year tribunal orders ended 69 Kāinga Ora tenancies due to disruptive behaviour. The previous financial year it had ended 12 tenancies for that reason.