Tenant Liability: When You Can Be Charged for Damage
π When a renter can be charged for damage
If something in your rental gets damaged, one question matters more than any other: was it careless, was it deliberate, or was it just normal wear from living there. The answer decides whether you pay nothing, a capped amount, or the full cost. New Zealand law changed in 2019 to make this fairer and clearer for tenants, so that an honest mistake, like a pot left on a hot stove, no longer leaves you facing the entire repair bill. Under the Residential Tenancies Act you are liable for careless damage only up to a capped amount, you are fully liable for damage you cause on purpose, and you are never charged for fair wear and tear. On top of the law, there is a type of insurance, tenant liability cover, that can pay your capped share so a single accident does not blow a hole in your budget. This guide explains the rules, the difference between careless and intentional damage, how the cap is worked out, and how the insurance fits, with worked New Zealand examples.
The three categories of damage
Everything comes down to which of these three buckets the damage falls into.
| Type of damage | Who pays |
|---|---|
| Fair wear and tear | The landlord. You are not liable at all. |
| Careless damage | You, but only up to the lesser of four weeks' rent or the landlord's insurance excess. |
| Intentional damage, or damage from an imprisonable offence | You, with no cap. You can be charged the full cost. |
Where the rule comes from
The current rules were added by the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 and took effect on 27 August 2019. They followed a Court of Appeal case, Holler and Rouse v Osaki, which had left landlords and their insurers largely unable to recover from tenants for careless damage. Parliament responded by writing a clear, standard rule into the Act: tenants carry a capped share of careless damage, full liability for intentional damage, and nothing for normal wear.
Fair wear and tear is the gradual deterioration of things that get used normally over time: carpet worn thin in a hallway, paint that dulls, curtains faded by the sun, a tap washer that finally gives out. You cannot be charged for any of it, and a landlord cannot keep your bond to cover it. Wear and tear is a cost the landlord carries as the owner.
Careless versus intentional
Careless damage is harm caused by a failure to take reasonable care, an accident that a bit more attention would have avoided. Intentional damage is harm you meant to cause, and damage caused in the course of an imprisonable offence is treated the same way. The distinction is worth thousands of dollars, because only careless damage gets the cap.
- Careless: a pan left unattended starts a kitchen fire, an overflowing bath soaks a ceiling, a dropped weight cracks tiles.
- Intentional: punching holes in walls, deliberately smashing doors or fittings, damage done in anger.
The four weeks' rent or excess cap only applies to careless damage. If damage is found to be intentional, or caused by an imprisonable offence, none of the cap applies and you can be pursued for the entire cost of repair or replacement, on top of possible criminal consequences.
π How the careless-damage cap works
For careless damage, the law caps your liability at the lower of two figures: four weeks' rent, or the landlord's insurance excess. You are never charged more than whichever of those two is smaller, no matter how large the repair bill is.
Why the excess matters so much
Because the cap is the lower of the two numbers, the landlord's insurance excess often decides your bill. If the excess is small, your cap is small. If the property is not insured, there is no excess to compare against, so the cap is simply four weeks' rent. This is why the law also makes landlords tell tenants about their insurance.
For tenants paying an income-related rent, for example in a KΔinga Ora or community housing tenancy, the four weeks is measured against four weeks of the market rent for the property, not the lower income-related rent you actually pay. The comparison with the insurance excess still applies in the same way.
The landlord must tell you about insurance
Since 27 August 2019, a landlord must state in any new tenancy agreement whether the property is insured and, if it is, the amount of the excess on any relevant policy. They must also tell you that you can ask for a copy of the policy, and let you know within a reasonable time if the insurance details change. This is not optional.
If a landlord does not give you the required insurance information, or fails to tell you in writing within a reasonable time when it changes, they can be ordered to pay up to $500. If you are ever asked to pay for careless damage, ask for the insurance details in writing, because the excess figure directly sets your cap.
The cap applies to each incident
The cap is applied to each separate act or omission that causes damage, not to your whole tenancy at once. Two unrelated careless incidents can each carry their own cap. That said, the great majority of tenants never trigger it at all, because normal living is wear and tear, not careless damage.
Your bond is not a free pass for the landlord
A landlord cannot simply keep your bond for damage that is really wear and tear, or take more than your capped share for careless damage. Bond is refunded through Tenancy Services, and if there is a dispute about damage the Tenancy Tribunal decides, applying these same rules. Keep your own photos from move-in and move-out so you can show the true condition.
π‘οΈ Tenant liability cover versus contents insurance
Even a capped bill can hurt. Four weeks' rent, or an excess of a couple of thousand dollars, is real money to find at short notice. This is where tenant liability cover comes in, and it is important not to confuse it with contents insurance, because they protect two different things.
| Cover | What it protects |
|---|---|
| Contents insurance | Your own belongings: furniture, clothes, electronics, whiteware you own. |
| Tenant liability cover | Your legal liability for careless or accidental damage to the property you rent, and its fixtures. |
How tenant liability cover works
Tenant liability cover, sometimes called tenants' liability or landlord's fixtures and fittings cover, is very often included as part of a contents insurance policy, though the amount of cover and the fine print vary between insurers. If you carelessly cause damage to the rental, for example a kitchen fire, the cover pays your capped liability to the landlord, so the money does not come out of your own pocket beyond your own policy excess.
Look at how much tenant liability cover your policy provides and what it excludes. It generally covers careless or accidental damage, not damage you cause on purpose, which no insurer will pay for. Because it is usually bundled inside contents insurance, renters who skip contents cover altogether also miss out on this protection.
Why a renter still needs both
Contents insurance and tenant liability cover solve different problems. If a fire destroys your own sofa and television, that is a contents claim. If the same fire also scorches the landlord's kitchen, that is a liability question, capped by the Act and paid by your tenant liability cover. A policy that includes both means one accident does not leave you paying twice.
A landlord's insurance may pay to repair the property, but the landlord or their insurer can still seek your capped share from you for careless damage. Do not assume the landlord being insured means you are off the hook. Your own tenant liability cover is what actually protects your wallet.
π’ Worked examples
These four New Zealand scenarios show how the categories and the cap play out. The figures are illustrative, but the rules are current.
Situation: Sam leaves a pan of oil on a hot element and steps out of the room. It catches fire and damages the kitchen. The repair is assessed at $12,000. Sam's rent is $600 a week, and the landlord's insurance excess is $1,000.
The landlord's insurer covers the rest of the $12,000 repair. Sam's share is capped at the excess of $1,000 because that is lower than four weeks' rent. Without the 2019 rules, Sam could have faced the entire bill.
Situation: After an argument, Dan deliberately punches holes in two walls and kicks a door off its hinges. The repair comes to $6,500. His rent is $500 a week and the landlord's excess is $1,500.
Because the damage was intentional, the four weeks' rent or excess cap does not help Dan at all, and no insurance will pay for damage he caused on purpose. Intentional damage can also be an imprisonable offence, which brings consequences well beyond the repair bill.
Situation: Mere has rented the same house for six years. When she leaves, the carpet is worn thin in the hallway and the curtains have faded from years of sun. The landlord wants to charge her $2,800 for new carpet and curtains and talks about keeping her bond.
Normal deterioration from ordinary use is the landlord's cost as the owner. Mere cannot be charged for it, and the landlord cannot lawfully keep her bond to cover it. If a large red-wine stain had been ground into the carpet at a party, that could be careless damage instead, which would be capped, but ordinary wear is never charged.
Situation: Priya accidentally causes a small kitchen fire, careless rather than deliberate. The repair is $9,000. Her rent is $550 a week and the landlord's excess is $2,500. Priya holds a contents policy that includes tenant liability cover, with her own excess of $250.
The Act capped Priya's liability at $2,200. Her tenant liability cover then paid that amount to the landlord, so her real cost was just her own $250 excess. For a few dollars a week on top of contents insurance, an accident that could have cost her $2,200 cost her $250.
Sources
Figures and rules in this guide were verified in July 2026 against: Tenancy Services (tenancy.govt.nz) on tenant liability for careless damage being capped at the lesser of four weeks' rent or the landlord's insurance excess, market rent applying for income-related rents, tenants being fully liable for intentional damage and damage from an imprisonable offence, tenants not being liable for fair wear and tear, and the landlord's duty to state insurance information and the excess in the tenancy agreement with a penalty of up to $500 for not doing so; the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019, which took effect on 27 August 2019, via legislation.govt.nz; and the Court of Appeal decision in Holler and Rouse v Osaki as the background to the change. Dollar figures in the worked examples are illustrative.
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