Landlord finds house of horrors when family leaves property filled with rats and so much rubbish that he filled an eight-ton skip
- A Barnsley landlord was left with eight tonnes of waste at their rental investment
- John, 52, let the house to a woman and her children who failed to pay rent
- He said when clearing the property he discovered it had become rat infested
- The landlord said repairing the damage will cost him £3,000 of his £12k income
A landlord has expressed his horror after a previous tenant moved out leaving him with repairs and damage estimated at £3,000.
The landlord from Barnsley, Yorkshire, who wishes to be known only as John, said he had rented the property to a mother who had children who had failed to keep the house clean.
He said he could smell the house before arriving at the property and found rats rummaging around bin bags which had been dumped in the garden.
A Barnsley landlord said his rental property was left rat infested after he let the home to a woman and her children who filled the house with domestic rubbish
John said no attempt had been made by the prior tenant to clean up the property
He said he used an eight-tonne skip to remove much of the waste which had been dumped outside and in every room
The landlord said the woman and her children abandoned much of their belongings which also had to be dumped in the skip
Worse still, the 52-year-old, who earns £12,000-a-year from his investment, discovered every room had been filled with rubbish and the interior had been contaminated with pet excrement.
He said: ‘The lock on the front door had been changed by the tenant but we were able to get in via the back door.
‘I was greeted by a minefield of dog excrement in various degrees of decay. There were carpets, cushions and household rubbish and the cat tray had been emptied down outside on the steps so there was cat excrement and litter all over the place.
‘The stench was appalling and there were rats all over the place. I went in the house and it stunk. The carpets were thick and hard with dirt, the kitchen floor was oily with grease, there were bags of rubbish all over the place and everything was filthy.
‘I was stunned.’
John, who filled an-eight ton skip full of rubbish says the tenant and her family abandoned a lot of their possessions prior to the eviction.
He says they were three months behind on their rent having not paid a penny since Christmas and had allegedly promised to clean and clear the property prior to leaving.
‘We had to break quarantine to go and tidy the backyard because it was a public health risk with evidence of rats all over the place and that’s not fair on neighbours.
‘We filled an eight ton skip with rubbish and that was without two sofas, an armchair and a mattress which we had to leave because there was no room for them.’
It is thought that the woman and her children have since moved to a new property in the South Yorkshire area and John is worried for the next landlords who take the family on as tenants.
John said it will cost him around £3,000 to rip out the carpets and floors to renovate the property before it can be let to new tenants
The 52-year-old landlord, who has been letting the property since 2008, said he makes around £12,000 a year and is forced to take a part time job in retail to cover his costs
The landlord said he hoped that when he finds new tenants, they will take appropriate care of the house
He thinks it will cost him around £3,000 to rip out carpets and flooring and renovate the property so that it is once again available to rent but amazingly, in spite of the pictures taken, he already has people interested in moving in once the coronavirus lockdown comes to an end.
John, who has been a landlord since 2008, said: ‘Everyone thinks landlords are rich but after I pay my mortgages, bills and maintenance I probably earn about £12,000 a year.
‘I live in a rented house myself and I have a part-time job in retail at Christmas to make ends meet. I’m not rolling in money and it has taken a quarter out of my yearly income to get this sorted out.
‘I want to make this a nice family home for somebody and unbelievably I’ve already got interest from people who may want to move in once this coronavirus has gone.’