Urine-soaked carpet and drains stuffed with children's toys were among the hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of damage inflicted upon public housing properties by tenants in the past year.
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Documents obtained under freedom of information laws outlined 115 reports of damage to public housing properties in the 12 months to October 1, where the damage inflicted by tenants required repairs in excess of $1000.
Fourteen of the incidents required the attendance of emergency services and resulted in a total repair bill of $23,631.83, largely due to the need for forced entry by police or fire fighters.
Of the additional 101 incidents, the total cost was $201,435.70.
One property in Florey had to have its carpet replaced after former tenants had left it with a "very strong smell of faeces and urine", while another in Lyons required the removal of upwards of 10 cubic metres of rubbish.
A property in Stirling had to have drains unblocked after a number of children's toys were found lodged in the system, while a "forensic clean" was required in one Ainslie property.
Numerous reports related to doors broken due to forced entry by police or other emergency services, including one "non standard" door which needed to be specially ordered, while other maintenance orders detailed holes in walls, boarded up windows and a roof damaged when the tenant drove into the verandah.
Repair and maintenance costs for Housing ACT properties totalled $36,803,000 throughout 2012-13, but a Community Service Directorate spokesman said the figure primarily related to planned maintenance.
He said the shift from repairs to planned maintenance had focused on work such as the installation of water and energy-efficient devices, changing floor finishes and new paintwork, whereas tenant-inflicted damage was covered privately.
"Where practical, tenants are encouraged to undertake or arrange and pay for repairs themselves," he said.
"Where the tenant is unable to undertake the repairs the directorate arranges for the repairs to be undertaken and then bills the tenant for the work."
The suburbs with the most reported incidents of damage inflicted by public housing tenants were Lyneham with nine reports, followed by Reid and Lyons with seven each.
Public housing properties in Griffith, Belconnen, Florey and Wanniassa reported four incidents per suburb, while Kambah and Braddon properties each had five incidents recorded.
