what is fair wear and tear

What Is Fair Wear and Tear? A NZ Landlord's Guide

easySale

easySale

— 10 min read
What Is Fair Wear and Tear? A NZ Landlord's Guide

Fair wear and tear is the gradual deterioration of a home that comes from people simply living in it. In New Zealand, Tenancy Services describes it as the slow wearing of things used regularly when people or pets live in a property. A tenant is not responsible for it. A tenant is responsible for damage that is careless or intentional. Knowing where that line sits protects your bond claim, your rental income and, if the damage is serious, your options for selling.

If you are a landlord looking at a rental that has gone well beyond ordinary ageing, we buy houses in any condition, tenanted or not, with no agent fees and no repairs needed. More on that further down.

EasysaleSell a Tired Rental As IsIf tenant damage or wear makes repairs feel like too much, Easysale buys New Zealand homes in any condition, with no agent fees.Visit

TL;DR

  • Fair wear and tear is slow, normal deterioration from everyday use, such as worn flooring, faded curtains or a tap washer that has given out.
  • Tenants in New Zealand are not responsible for it. They are responsible for damage they cause carelessly (with a cap) or on purpose (without one).
  • Burns, stains, holes and damage from misuse are not fair wear and tear. Age, length of tenancy and how the item was used all matter.
  • Photos and a signed condition record at the start and end of a tenancy are the best protection for both sides.
  • If a rental has damage that costs more than it is worth fixing, you can sell it as it is to a cash buyer rather than repair it first.

Table of Contents

What fair wear and tear means

The phrase sounds legal, but the idea is plain. Things in a home age. Carpet flattens where people walk. Paint fades in the sun. Hinges loosen, and washers inside taps perish. None of this is anyone’s fault, and none of it means the tenant did something wrong.

Tenancy Services puts it as the gradual deterioration of items that are used regularly when people or pets live in a property. It adds that a tenant is not responsible for normal fair wear and tear when they use items normally, but is responsible for intentional or careless damage. You can read the full wording on the Tenancy Services damage and repairs page.

There are three ideas packed into that definition:

  1. Gradual. Wear builds over months and years. A single event, like a spill that stains or a door kicked in, is not gradual.
  2. Normal use. The item is being used the way it was made to be used.
  3. Living in the property. Occupants and pets are expected to leave some trace.

As a landlord, that means you carry the cost of ageing. Repainting between long tenancies, replacing a tired carpet and renewing worn fixtures are part of owning a rental, not something you take from the bond.

Examples of fair wear and tear in a New Zealand rental

Tenancy Services gives examples of what is usually considered fair wear and tear, including flooring that has become worn and taps or washers that wear out or start to leak. Other everyday cases follow the same logic: the item has simply been used.

Typical examples include:

  • Carpet that is thin or flattened along hallways and in front of the couch
  • Paint that has dulled, faded or picked up light scuffs near light switches and doorways
  • Curtains faded by sun
  • A worn kitchen benchtop or tired cupboard hinges
  • A stove element that fails after years of normal cooking
  • Taps that drip because the washer has perished

The stove is a useful case because Tenancy Services uses it to show where the line moves. An element that wears out from normal cooking is fair wear and tear. If a tenant uses the stove to heat the kitchen and it stops working properly, that is not normal use, so it is not fair wear and tear.

What is not fair wear and tear

Damage is different from wear. Tenancy Services lists burn marks or drink stains on carpet and drawing on wallpaper as things not normally considered fair wear and tear. Other examples that fall into the same group are holes in walls, a broken window from a thrown object, pet damage such as scratched doors or chewed skirting, and mould caused by never airing or heating the home.

The common thread is cause. Wear comes from the passing of time and ordinary use. Damage comes from an act, or a failure to act, that goes beyond ordinary use.

Situation Usually fair wear and tear Usually not
Carpet Flattened, thinning in walkways Burn marks, drink stains, pet urine
Walls Light scuffs, faded paint Holes, drawing, large gouges
Taps Washer perished, slow drip Tap snapped off or broken by force
Stove Element fails after years of normal cooking Element fails after being used as a heater
Curtains Sun fading Cut, torn or burnt fabric

A table can only show the typical case. Real disputes often sit in the middle, which is why the next sections matter.

What affects whether something counts as wear

Three things push a borderline item one way or the other.

Age of the item. A ten-year-old carpet will look worn whatever the tenant does. The older the item was when the tenancy began, the less value there is left to lose. This is why you cannot reasonably expect a tenant to pay for a brand-new replacement of something that was already near the end of its life.

Length of the tenancy. Six months of living leaves little trace. Six years leaves a lot. The same scuffed hallway can be normal in one case and a concern in another.

How many people and pets lived there. A family of five will wear a home faster than a single occupant. That is still wear, provided the use was normal.

Then comes the question of cause. Was the item used normally and simply gave out, or did a specific careless or deliberate act cause the problem? Ask that first, then check the other three.

Who pays: wear, careless damage and intentional damage

New Zealand’s rules split responsibility into three tiers.

Who pays for wear and different types of damage

Fair wear and tear. The landlord pays. The tenant owes nothing.

Careless damage. If tenants or their guests carelessly damage a rental, Tenancy Services says they are liable up to four weeks’ rent or the landlord’s insurance excess, whichever is lower. Leaving something cooking on the stove and causing a fire is the classic example. The rest of the cost is the landlord’s, which is one reason landlord insurance matters.

Intentional damage. Community Law explains that a tenant who deliberately damages the property has to pay for it, and the careless-damage cap does not protect them.

The cap catches many landlords by surprise. If the damage is serious and the tenant was careless rather than deliberate, the amount you can recover can be far less than the repair bill. That gap is where a landlord can end up with a rental that costs more to fix than it seems worth.

How to document condition so disputes are easier to settle

Most wear and tear arguments are really arguments about what the property looked like at the start. Evidence settles them.

  1. Record the condition at move-in. Take dated photos of every room, including floors, walls, ceilings, the oven, the bathroom and the exterior. Note existing marks in writing and have the tenant sign it.
  2. Note the age of big items. Keep invoices or receipts for carpet, appliances and curtains, so you can show how old they were when the tenancy began.
  3. Inspect during the tenancy. Regular inspections catch small issues before they grow. Moisture and mould show up quickly if the home is not being ventilated.
  4. Repeat the process at move-out. Take the same photos from the same angles and compare room by room.
  5. Keep quotes and invoices. If you claim for damage, you need to show what it cost to fix.

A digital record with timestamped photos, such as interim property inspections, keeps this tidy across several rooms or properties. If you are building your own routine, our landlord responsibilities checklist for NZ rentals covers what to keep on file.

At the end of the tenancy: inspection and bond

When a tenancy ends, the landlord and tenant should walk through the property together. If everything is in order, the bond is refunded. If there is a disagreement, the usual route is to apply to the Tenancy Tribunal.

Landlords now lodge bond refund requests online. Tenancy Services states that landlords must use Bond Hub or integrated property management software, and that paper or emailed forms are no longer accepted.

If you intend to claim, do it on the evidence: photos, the signed condition record, invoices for the item’s age and quotes for the repair. Claim only for damage, not for wear. A claim that treats ordinary ageing as damage tends to fall over at the Tribunal, and it can sour a tenancy that was otherwise fine.

When damage goes beyond wear and tear

Sometimes the picture is more serious than scuffs and faded curtains. A tenant has left holes through walls, a flooded bathroom has ruined the lining, or a meth-affected or fire-damaged house sits empty while you wait on quotes. The careless-damage cap and a slow insurance process can leave the landlord carrying months of holding costs.

At that point the real question is no longer about wear and tear. It is whether to repair, rent again or sell. If you want to compare those options in detail, these pages from our resources section go through them:

Damage also changes what a sale looks like. A listed home with visible damage can attract low offers and drag on, and the repairs you do before listing come out of your pocket first. Our piece on what damaged houses mean for a sale goes through that in plain terms.

Our view on wear, damage and selling a tired rental

Most of the landlords we speak with are not asking about the law. They are asking what to do with a rental that has stopped being worth the effort.

Fair wear and tear is a useful test, because it tells you who carries the cost. Once the answer is you, and the repair bill is large, the question is whether to spend the money, wait for the insurer, or move on.

Our service is built for that moment. We buy properties in any condition, including damaged, unconsented, tenanted or inherited homes. You do not use an agent, you do not pay commission, and you do not need to repair anything first. You pick the settlement timeline that suits you, and the sale is private.

Selling is not the right move for every rental. But if you are weighing up months of repairs, vacancy and stress against a clean exit, a fair cash offer with no obligation is worth seeing.

Aaron

Selling a damaged or worn rental to a cash buyer

If your rental has damage well beyond wear and tear, we can make you a cash offer on the property as it stands. You tell us about the property, we come back with a no-obligation offer, and you settle on the timeline that suits you. There are no agent fees, no commission and no repairs required.

Easysale

The process is the same whether the home is tenanted, vacant, damaged or only tired. If speed matters, see our sell fast option. If the main problem is condition, our damaged and sell as-is page explains how it works. You can also start from our private sale page.

The same service applies when the reason for selling is not damage at all. Landlords who inherit a property, split with a partner, relocate or downsize can use the same process through our estate sale, divorce or separation, relocation and retirement and downsizing pages.

A worked example

Here is an illustration, not a real case. A landlord has rented a three-bedroom house for six years to the same family. At the end of the tenancy the carpet is thin in the hall, the paint in the lounge has faded and two tap washers have perished. All of that is fair wear and tear. The landlord pays, and the full bond goes back to the tenant.

The same house has a burn mark in the bedroom carpet and a hole in a hallway wall. Those are damage. The landlord can claim for them, but only for the actual cost to fix, and only for items still carrying value. A six-year-old carpet is not worth a brand-new price.

Now imagine the tenant left a stove running and a kitchen fire gutted the room. If that was careless, the tenant’s liability is capped at the lower of four weeks’ rent or the landlord’s insurance excess. The rest depends on the landlord’s insurance and how quickly repairs go. If the landlord does not want to wait through that, selling as is can be a way to close the chapter.

The three scenarios show why the label matters. The same house can produce no claim, a small claim or a large loss, depending on what caused each problem.

Mistakes landlords make about wear and tear

  • Charging for ageing. Deducting for carpet that was already worn is the most common error and the one most likely to fail in a dispute.
  • Having no entry record. Without a baseline, you cannot show what changed.
  • Skipping inspections. Small problems such as damp or leaks become large ones, and it is harder to show what caused them.
  • Assuming the tenant pays in full. For careless damage, the cap applies.
  • Waiting too long on a badly damaged rental. Holding costs add up while you wait for quotes and decisions.

FAQ

Is fair wear and tear the same as damage?

No. Fair wear and tear is the gradual deterioration from normal use, such as worn flooring or a perished tap washer. Damage comes from a careless or intentional act, such as a burn mark or a hole in a wall. Tenants are not responsible for wear, but they are responsible for damage.

Can a landlord take money from the bond for wear and tear?

No. In New Zealand, tenants are not liable for normal fair wear and tear, so you cannot claim it from the bond. You can claim for damage beyond wear, backed by photos, condition records and repair quotes. If the two sides cannot agree, either can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal.

How much does a tenant pay for careless damage?

A tenant is liable up to four weeks’ rent or the landlord’s insurance excess, whichever is lower. This applies to damage caused carelessly by the tenant or their guests. Deliberate damage is not capped in the same way.

What if my rental is too damaged to repair economically?

You can sell it as it is. We buy damaged, unconsented and tenanted houses for cash, with no agent, commission or repairs, and you choose the settlement timeline.

Sources

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