Landlord threw up when inspecting rental ruined by three cats trapped inside

RNZ News

14-05-2025

By Tracy Neal, Open Justice reporter of
The Auckland tenant had left behind her three cats.
Photo:
ekarin/123RF
Cat faeces piled up and smeared throughout a rental home caused the landlord to vomit when she arrived to inspect the property.
The Auckland tenant, who had left behind her three cats, has now been hit with a large cleaning and repair bill.
Maria Tina Sheryl Aroha Wilson-Gage has been ordered to pay the landlord $11,383 to cover the cost of cleaning and repairing the Waiuku property, where three cats were left locked inside.
Tenancy Tribunal adjudicator Toni Prowse said in a decision in March that the evidence provided by the landlord spoke for itself.
She said photographs and video showed the property full of rubbish and food waste, with cat faeces smeared over every surface in the bathroom and one of the bedrooms.
"There are piles of cat faeces everywhere. The landlord says that the smell was so overpowering that she vomited when she went into the property.
"Every room in the property was affected. The tenant had made no attempt to clean up and left many of her belongings behind," Prowse said.
The landlord had to replace the shower cubicle, which was so heavily contaminated by cat faeces it could not be cleaned to a reasonable condition.
Wilson-Gage moved into the near new three-bedroom rental home in June 2023.
The landlord, whose name was suppressed, was able to do one inspection of the property, but after that had difficulties in getting access as the tenant would not allow inspections, Prowse said.
Wilson-Gage gave notice and left in May last year. The landlord completed the exit inspection two days afterwards, having received a notification from the council about three cats locked in the house.
The landlord found the cats, abandoned by the tenant. She then had to remove all of the rubbish, mow the lawns, which were at knee height in some places, and carry out extensive cleaning of the property.
An invoice from a cleaning company provided to the tribunal showed the cost to clean the property was $3795.
The cost to repair a shower cubicle was $3105, painting was another $3000 while the cost to repair a laminate floor was $1351.
Wilson-Gage did not attend the hearing earlier this year, despite the tribunal having reached her by phone before a preliminary hearing in December last year.
The hearing went ahead without her as Prowse was satisfied the tenant was aware of the hearing and had chosen not to attend.
Attempts by NZME to reach Wilson-Gage have so far proved unsuccessful.
Prowse said a landlord must prove that damage to a property occurred during the tenancy and was more than fair wear and tear.
Where the damage was caused carelessly, and was covered by the landlord's insurance, the tenant's liability was limited to the lesser of the insurance excess or four weeks rent.
Damage was considered intentional when a person intended to cause it and when a person did something, or allowed a situation to continue, knowing that damage was a certainty.
"I am satisfied that the tenant intentionally damaged the walls by smearing faeces on the walls and locking her cats in the home (in particular the bathroom and one of the bedrooms) which resulted in cat urine and faeces throughout those rooms," Prowse said.
She was also satisfied that as a result of the damage, the landlord had to replace the shower cubicle, plus the laminate flooring and underlay in the bedroom which was also contaminated.
"I am also satisfied that the walls throughout the house had to be painted, because even after cleaning they were soiled, and the house still smelt," Prowse said.
However, she halved the painting cost to take into account depreciation and betterment.
"The landlord should be returned to the position they would have been in had the tenant not breached their obligations, and should not be better or worse off.
"In calculating depreciation, I have taken into account the age and condition of the items at the start of the tenancy and their likely useful lifespan," Prowse said.
*
This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
.