Tenant ordered to pay $12,500 after Flagstaff rental damaged

Tuesday, 3 February 2026

A former tenant has been ordered to pay more than $12,500 after the Tenancy Tribunal found her rental property was left with significant rent arrears and damage “beyond fair wear and tear”.

In a decision released late October, the Tenancy Tribunal ordered Kristen Susan Mciver to pay a total of $12,541 to her landlord following an end of a tenancy at a property on Cumberland Drive in Flagstaff, Hamilton.

The landlord’s name and identifying details were suppressed by the tribunal.

The tenancy ended on April 26, 2025, and the tribunal found rent arrears of $8674 were owed at the end of the tenancy.

The tribunal also ordered Mciver to meet a range of costs for cleaning, missing items and damage to the property.

This included $500 for cleaning, after the adjudicator found parts of the property were not left reasonably clean and tidy but did not accept the full amount originally claimed by the landlord.

Claims for the disposal of tyres were dismissed, with the tribunal finding no receipts were provided and the service was available free of charge at selected recycling centres.

The tribunal found the tenant did not return keys at the end of the tenancy, a gas fire remote was missing, and a number of chattels and fixtures were also damaged or missing.

The adjudicator accepted that damage had occurred during the tenancy and was more than fair wear and tear.

Items requiring replacement or repair included two damaged doors, a missing glass shower door, a damaged vanity, missing door stoppers, a broken lightshade, damaged curtains, carpet damage, a missing oven gas knob, and a damaged outdoor screen.

The tribunal said it took into account depreciation and betterment when calculating compensation, noting the landlord should be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant met their obligations - but not placed in a better position.

While the landlord provided an invoice of more than $9000 for wall repairs, the tribunal did not accept the full amount sought.

Insurance had covered part of the repairs, and the tribunal awarded only the $250 insurance excess after finding not all claimed work was proven to be the tenant’s responsibility.

The tenant did not attend the hearing, and a request for a telephone conference was declined, so the hearing proceeded in the tenant’s absence.

After accounting for the $3680 bond refund paid to the landlord, the remaining balance payable by the tenant was $12,541.