Sixty years ago, Hokianga St in Māngere East was dotted with just a few homes and bordered by farmland and the sound of mooing from wandering cows.

But now noise of a different kind is creating a disturbance in the South Auckland neighbourhood – with Auckland Council confirming the street is home to the city’s rowdiest property.

Hokianga St boasts about 70 large flat sections. Most of them feature 1950s or 60s-era houses, many home to Pasifika families, working renters or retirees who have put down roots.

Others have been subdivided, and some of the old homes knocked down by developers and replaced with modern townhouses.

Cars are jammed alongside the pavement or parked on people’s lawns.

Many properties have dogs guarding front gates. A few days before Christmas, one was adorned with Samoan flags and another with a large inflatable Santa.

It’s a typical community.

But what makes this street unique is the raucous behaviour of one of its inhabitants, with a single property triggering nearly 60 noise complaints last year – more than any other across the super city.

One property in Hokianga St, Māngere East boasts a giant inflatable Santa. Photo / Alex Burton

However, Auckland Council is refusing to identify the property, despite having done so in previous years, citing privacy concerns for those responsible for the din.

It would only confirm the street name and the number of complaints received: 56 at last count.

So the Herald visited Hokianga St to see what locals thought.

Resident Siaosi Tohi said most people on Hokianga St kept to themselves, “pretty much minding their own business”.

He wasn’t too bothered by noise, other than the sound of vehicles heading to and from work.

A woman a few doors down said every property on the street seemed to have a dog, so there was a lot of barking, but she had never made a noise complaint.

Her housemate said she’d lived in Hokianga St since 1970 and the neighbourhood had changed considerably.

One source of noise was boy racers and dirt bike riders who used the street as a race track. Another was the sound of arguing from residents’ homes.

Hokianga St in Māngere East used to be bordered by farmland. Now it is home to many dogs. Photo / Alex Burton

But she admitted she was no angel, regularly playing loud music until 3am.

“I’m the noisy one.”

Down the road, a pensioner clutching a dagger-like gardening tool gave a suspicious look before confirming he had lived in the street for 60 years.

A girl across the street had been “murdered” a few years back, he said.

He came to Hokianga St because he “wanted a house” and remembers the area being bordered by farmland.

The man had been approached by land agents over the years but had no plan to move anywhere else.

Asked if he had lodged any noise complaints, he replied: “I’m too bloody old for that. Christ, I’m 84.”

A property in Hokianga St, Māngere East recorded 56 noise complaints last year, making it the most complained-about property in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton

Another retired neighbour said she and her husband bought their Hokianga St home in 1965 when she was still a teenager.

“There were cows down the end of the road and it was a dead-end street. It was just farmland all around us. It was like we were in the wop-wops.”

There was a lot more traffic these days. More houses and more people too.

Rowdy “no-hoper” renters used to live nearby but they moved on. These days she wasn’t bothered by the noise, describing it as “bearable”.

And she didn’t envisage selling up and moving.

Asked how she might leave, she replied: “In a box, I suppose.”

Aucklanders made thousands of noise complaints in 2024

Auckland Council said it received at least 25,000 noise complaints last year.

More than half of the complaints were assessed by officials as “no noise” (11,500) or “not excessive” (5881).

Excessive noise directions (END) were served nearly 4000 times, requiring the property’s occupants to rein in the noise for 72 hours or risk having noise-offending equipment seized or being slapped with a $500 fine.

Noise control officers served 158 non-compliance with END notices and seized stereos or other equipment 125 times, dishing out 18 infringement fines and 18 abatement notices.

More than 300 noise complaints were referred to police.

Regarding the Hokianga St property, nearly 60 complaints were received, with two END notices served.

There were no current noise prosecutions under way – with a case involving Waiheke vineyard Cable Bay Wine Ltd recently resulting in a conviction and $50,000 fine.

Lane Nichols is Deputy Head of News and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.