I'm currently going through a similar thing.
In my case, the tenant used knives to cut directly onto the benchtop putting cut marks in it. The bench was 5 years old and in PERFECT condition when they got it. Within their 2 year tenancy it's now all cut up.
Quote to re-laminate the benchtops (inc re-tiling, fixing the plaster when the top comes off, etc) is almost $3k.
It might be going to the RTA - my claim is it was negligence as common sense says that chopping boards should be used.