Tenant leaves 500kg of rubbish, knife melted in oven; landlord awarded $6700

The landlord had to take two trailer loads of rubbish to the tip after the tenant left. Stock image / 123RF

A tenant who fled a property after a family harm incident left behind half a tonne of rubbish and a knife melted in the oven.

The woman moved into the Manawatu property last May, intending to rent it for a year, but she left after seven months. She relied on a section of the Tenancy Act which allows a victim of family violence to give just two days’ notice.

The landlord arrived at the property in early December to find piles of rubbish, damage to the walls and general untidiness. He took a claim to the tribunal seeking $10,340.41 in rent arrears, compensation and the bond refund.

The tenant accepted she didn’t leave the property reasonably clean and tidy, but disputed the amount being sought by the landlord.

According to the Tenancy Tribunal’s decision, the tenant offered to come back and tidy up after she’d left. The owner, unhappy with the state of the property, refused.

Instead, he sought $2600 from her for painting, rubbish removal, cleaning and general clean-up, including $188 in tip fees with receipts showing he’d carted 500kg of waste while making two trips to the rubbish dump.

Photographs provided at the hearing and taken outside the house show a large corner unit from a lounge suite had been left, along with bins containing cups, soft plastics, biscuit wrappers and food. There was also a toy ukulele, several bags of rubbish, a discarded heater, a wooden bedhead and slats leaning against the fence, a highchair and a metal drum filled with rubbish.

Inside the house and garage food had been left in the pantry, a rug, parts of a vacuum cleaner, drying racks and debris in the cupboards.

The tenant argued the landlord should absorb some maintenance costs and offered to pay for 10 hours of painting and rubbish removal.

In its decision, the tribunal awarded eight hours for rubbish removal, saying it was the tenant’s responsibility to remove the rubbish, including recycling and kerbside rubbish. At a minimum, it said the tenant should have put collectable rubbish at the kerbside herself.

The decision said while the tenant relied on a section of the law which allowed her to move out without giving the usual 28 days’ notice, this didn’t remove her obligations to leave the premises clean and tidy.

It also awarded the landlord money for painting after decals were left on the wall and the tenant’s children had scribbled on the walls. There were also marks in the lounge, dining room and two bedrooms.

The tribunal ordered the tenant to pay $1125.00 for the landlord’s time repainting five rooms.

The landlord also sought $1000 in insurance excess to replace the oven after a knife had melted in the bottom of it.

The tenant accepted that the oven wasn’t clean, but didn’t accept responsibility for the knife, saying she had no idea how it got there.

The landlord said the oven was new when the tenant moved in. The tribunal agreed, saying it was more than wear and tear and ordered the tenant to pay the excess.

In its decision, the tribunal awarded the landlord $6700 in rent arrears, rubbish removal, repairs and the cost of replacing furniture. Given the circumstances under which the tenant moved out, it also suppressed her name.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.