Ripping up the carpets in her Housing New Zealand home and painting the floors pink turned out to be a costly DIY project for an Auckland woman who was ordered to pay more than $5200 by the Tenancy Tribunal.
Rosana Farani, also known as Tuaimalo, moved into a house on Barrister Ave, Mt Roskill, in May 2014.
When the 32-year-old left the property in October it was in a state.
Housing New Zealand took Farani to the Tenancy Tribunal, seeking $5259.93 in damages, unpaid rent and cleaning, repainting and rubbish removal fees.
The tribunal decision stated that when Farani moved into the property - worth just over $1 million - on March 25, 2014 it had new carpet in the lounge, hallway and one bedroom.
The carpet in the other bedroom was "older but clean".
"The tenant removed all carpet and painted the wood floor pink," the decision said.
"There were five holes in the walls of the hallway and bedroom one.
"The wall damage is beyond fair wear and tear.
"The front porch was also painted bright pink and had to be repainted."
Farani failed to leave the premises "reasonably clean and tidy" and did not remove all rubbish when she left.
She was also behind in rent to the tune of $3293.
Housing New Zealand then had to pay for repairs.
Its costs included:
• $921.53 to replace the missing carpets
• $120 clean the property
• $253 to repair holes in walls
• $600 to remove rubbish from the exterior of the property
• $220 to repaint the front porch which Farani had painted pink
"The landlord has applied for rent arrears, compensation and refund of the bond, following the end of the tenancy," the decision said.
"The landlord should be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant not breached."
Farani told the Herald she removed the carpet because it was smelly after being cleaned.
"I gave it a clean and it smelt really bad and I just couldn't get rid of the smell, so I took it out," she said.
"I couldn't polish the floor because there was still some stuff sticking on it, so I just painted it. It was my mistake."
Farani, a mother of four young children, said she asked Housing NZ for a transfer to a bigger house because the Barrister Ave house had only two bedrooms.
When the transfer came through, she had to move out at short notice.
"We didn't have time to tidy up the place properly. We signed a contract [for the new house] on Wednesday and they expected me to hand in the keys [for Barrister Ave] on Friday," she said.
She said she was at work and didn't answer her phone when the Tenancy Tribunal hearing started.
"I thought it was at Manukau but it was actually in the city," she said. "I came late and it was already finished."
She said she had applied for a rehearing.