From time to time, Kāinga Ora will lease privately owned properties in areas where demand for affordable rental housing is high.

Through our Home Lease programme, we lease a range of residential property types all around New Zealand, from stand-alone family homes to smaller units in apartment blocks.

Leased properties are matched to people most in need and who are registered on the Public Housing waiting list managed by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). Kāinga Ora takes on the role of landlord, and we manage all dealings with people living in the home.

Whether you are an individual property owner or a larger property developer, our Home Lease programme might be perfect for you.  We can offer stable, long term and continuous rental income, and monthly rent payments are guaranteed, even when the property is vacant between tenancies. We also manage general property maintenance on behalf of the owner.

Meeting our criteria

Not all properties are accepted into our Home Lease programme.  The property must meet our eligibility criteria, and that includes strict measures to ensure our customers live well in homes that are warm, dry, healthy and safe.

We will consider a property if:

  • It is in an area where demand for public housing exceeds our own available housing stock
  • It was built after the year 2000 (preferred)
  • It meets the Government's Healthy Homes Standards
  • It is currently untenanted, or will soon be untenanted
  • Other Kāinga Ora criteria is met

Checklist form

Complete our quick and easy checklist to see if your property meets our initial eligibility criteria. If it does, we'll get in touch about the application stage.

Note: A YES on any of the questions below means your property would not be eligible for our Home Lease programme, and there is no need to progress to the application stage. The one exception is whether your house is built before the year 2000 – in some cases we may accept this. 

We will contact you only if you meet our initial eligibility criteria.

All questions are mandatory.

Is your house built before the year 2000?
Is your property located in the Auckland suburbs of Panmure or Glenn Innes, or in rural Auckland? (Kāinga Ora does not require homes in these areas)
Does your property currently house long-term tenants?
Does your property have a Body Corporate rule that individually owned properties must not be leased for social or public housing?
Does your property access a shared driveway with five or more other properties?
Is the exterior cladding on your property mainly plaster cladding?
Does your property have a swimming pool, spa pool or pond within the private grounds of the property?
Is your property on a cross-lease title?
Does your property have any land covenants that a lessee would be required to adhere to?

Page updated: 7 November 2023