Tenant is liable for intentional damage
If the tenant or their guests intentionally damage the property, the tenant is responsible. The landlord can ask the tenant to repair the damage, or to pay the cost of replacement or repair (s 49B(1)(a) RTA).
When is damage intentional?
While in many cases it will be very obvious that damage has been caused intentionally (eg, if the tenant kicks a hole in the wall), determining what is intentional damage can sometimes be difficult. There can be a fine line between situations where damage is accidental, careless, or intentional.
The High Court has said “Damage is intentional where a person intends to cause damage and takes the necessary steps to achieve that purpose. Damage is also intentional where a person does something, or allows a situation to continue, knowing that damage is a certainty” (Guo v Korck [2019] NZHC 1541 at [41]).
Case study
Tenants were found liable for damage done by their dogs urinating on the carpet of their rental property. The High Court said that because the dogs had already urinated on the carpet in the past, and the tenants would have known they would do this again because they roamed around freely inside the house.
Although the tenancy agreement expressly permitted dogs on the property, the Court said that did not mean the landlord assumed all risks of damage. The tenants had also told the landlord that the dogs were house-trained. The damage was deemed to be intentional.
Refer to Guo v Korck [2019] NZHC 1541.
Case study
Tenants were ordered to cover the cost of damage to the carpet and wall on the basis that this was intentional. During the tenancy the lounge carpet was heavily stained and had to be replaced and there was impact damage to a wall.
The Tenancy Tribunal found that “even if the act that initiated the staining to the carpet was accidental, the permanent staining was likely the result of the tenant’s failure to clean the carpet promptly after the incident which makes the cause of the staining intentional”.
Tenancy Tribunal Order 4272197 at para [12].
Tenant is liable for damage caused by criminal actions
If the tenant or their guests do something that is an imprisonable offence (eg, making meth) and this causes damage or destruction, the tenant is responsible for the repairs. It doesn’t matter if the damage wasn’t intentional (s 49B(1)(b) RTA).
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