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53A: Special provisions for notice terminating certain student tenancies
or “Rules for ending student housing agreements when a student is no longer eligible to live there”

You could also call this:

“Rules for ending social housing rentals when tenants no longer qualify or need to move”

You can be asked to leave your social housing if certain things happen. The landlord must give you at least 90 days’ notice before you have to move out. This can happen in a few situations:

If you’re living in Kāinga Ora housing that you moved into before 14 April 2014, or if you were given social housing because you were found to need it, the landlord can ask you to leave if you’re no longer eligible for social housing.

If you’re in community housing and the provider is no longer registered, they can ask you to leave.

The social housing provider can also ask you to move to a different home if they think it’s necessary or better for you. The new home must suit your needs based on your most recent assessment.

When the law talks about your housing needs ‘as most recently assessed’, it means the last time the agency checked what kind of housing you need. If the agency hasn’t done this, it means the last time HNZ (which was the old name for Kāinga Ora) checked your needs.

These rules are part of the law about ending tenancies and getting houses back from tenants. They apply to social housing, which includes homes provided by Kāinga Ora and community housing providers.

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Next up: 54: Tribunal may declare retaliatory notice of no effect

or “The Tenancy Tribunal can stop a landlord from ending a tenancy if they did it to get back at the tenant for exercising their rights.”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

53BSpecial provisions for notice terminating social housing tenancies

  1. The landlord under a periodic tenancy may terminate the tenancy by giving at least 90 days’ notice if—

  2. the tenancy—
    1. was granted before 14 April 2014 and is a tenancy of Kāinga Ora housing; or
      1. was granted as a tenancy of social housing to a tenant assessed under the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992 as eligible to be allocated social housing; but
      2. following the grant of the tenancy,—
        1. the social housing provider is notified under section 103 of that Act that the tenant is no longer eligible for social housing; or
          1. in the case of community housing, the community housing provider ceases to be a registered community housing provider; or
            1. the social housing provider requires the tenant to transfer to different social housing provided by that provider, and the provider considers that—
              1. the transfer is necessary or desirable for any reason; and
                1. the other housing is appropriate for the tenant’s housing needs as most recently assessed (regardless of when that assessment took place).
              2. In this section,—

                agency, community housing, community housing provider, Kāinga Ora housing, registered community housing provider, social housing, and social housing provider have the meanings given to them by section 2(1) of the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992

                  as most recently assessed means—

                  1. as most recently assessed by the agency and notified to the provider under section 103 of the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992; or
                    1. if there has been no such assessment and notification under that section in relation to the tenant, as most recently assessed by HNZ

                      HNZ has the meaning that it had under section 2(1) of the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992 as in force on 13 April 2014.

                      Notes
                      • Section 53B: inserted, on , by section 35 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 59).