Tenant ordered to pay up after dog destroys lawn, urinates on carpet

• Published date: 25 May 2023
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times: Web Edition Articles (New Zealand)

But that's not the only trouble the dog caused; the smell of urine and faeces inside the Christchurch home was so bad the landlord had to remove the "relatively new" carpet and replace it

The Tenancy Tribunal has now ordered the dog's owner Aleisha Louise Te Kapa to pay Bright Property Management Limited $5009 to help repair and clean the rental home.

The total amount payable was almost $7000 but came down to $5000 less the bond. The amount included $1700 in rent arrears, $3300 to replace the carpet and $476 to repair the lawn.

The head of an organisation which represented the interests of renters said it was an example of an extreme case, when last year only 0.2 per cent of renters appeared in the tribunal for cases involved in recovering damage done to a rental property, and landlords needed to show more flexibility around pets.

Renters United president Geordie Rogers told NZME landlords needed to show more flexibility around pets.

He said the organisation "firmly believed" that people renting a property had the right to a decent home, which included being able to set down roots, build networks with their community, and start a family - whatever that looked like for them.

"When a landlord rents out a home they are trading the ability to dictate the use of that property for rental income.

"At that point, while it remains the landlord's property, it becomes the renter's home," Rogers said.

Rogers said the organisation's "Plan to Fix Renting" included a proposal which made it easier for tenants to have pets, which would serve to provide a more stable home environment for renters.

"They need to be able to make themselves feel at home, which includes being able to have pets.

"Allowing renters to have it is just human decency," Rogers said.

He said the risks to a landlord of allowing a pet in a rental were covered by the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) and that renters had always been liable for damage to a property, either by them, someone else, or a pet.

The rental agency which managed the property, Bright Property Management declined to comment, but the New Zealand Property Investors Federation, which was the umbrella body for 17 local Property Investors' Associations throughout New Zealand, said the thorny topic of pets in rentals was something they had been trying to sort for years.

Vice president Peter Lewis told NZME landlords were often branded as "hating pets" but despite efforts to alleviate the matter the law prevented them from being able to...