A horrified landlord has shared pictures of the squalid conditions he was met with at his property when the tenants moved out.
A couple with young children left rotten water in the bath, knocked electrical sockets out of the walls, and damaged the carpets ‘beyond repair’ at the home in Grimsby.
More than 50 bags of rubbish were removed from the house, which the family left owing more more than £1,700 in rent.
The landlord said the tenants “ruined” the kitchen, which was completely covered in dirt with bags of rubbish and waste scattered all over it. Many of the cupboard doors were broken off of the hinges
The bathroom was also in a state of disrepair, with rotten water left in the bath
The landlord, who wishes to be referred to only as Garry, said the tenants ‘ruined’ the kitchen, with many of the cupboard doors broken off their hinges, while the bathroom had also been left in a state of disrepair.
He claimed they had also left the property owing more than £1,700 in rent.
His property manager Anne said it has ‘completely put them’ off renting to tenants on housing benefits, because of ‘numerous problems’ they’ve had with people on Universal Credit going into arrears.
She said: ‘After we found the house in such an awful condition, we were steadfast against ever renting to people on housing benefits or renting through the local authority.
‘But then Nottingham Council said they were in urgent need of some help to house a desperate family.
‘At first we were apprehensive, but the council offered to provide us with three months rent in advance so we could make the necessary repairs.
‘We ended up giving the house a complete makeover, with a new kitchen, carpets, paint, electrics and doors.
‘If this never happened then we would still be struggling to have the house repaired, as the lack of rent and sheer amount of damage would have left us out severely out of pocket.’
More than 50 bags of waste were removed from the house while more mess was discovered in the garden
The back of the property was strewn with discarded rubbish and overgrown foliage
The doors had been ripped off their hinges and the property had to be completely refurbished. Pictured, the house transformed just one week later
Anne continued: ‘Since the introduction of Universal Credit we have had constant problems with tenants falling into rental arrears, the whole system just doesn’t seem fit for purpose.
‘Many times when a tenant goes onto the benefit system, there is no communication with us as landlords, and for the first few months we often get no rent paid.
‘To try and fix this we have sent documents to tenants and the Department of Work and Pensions, providing them with the correct forms so that rent is paid directly to us, but we have just hit brick wall after brick wall while doing this.
‘There are times that I have been hung up on by the DWP just for simply trying to chase up where one of our tenants’ rent is coming from.
‘It is putting landlords off renting to people on benefits altogether, as we cannot afford to go without rents being paid.’
A DWP spokesperson said: ‘Rent arrears are complicated and they cannot be attributed to a single cause. Our research shows that many people join Universal Credit with pre-existing arrears, but the proportion of people with arrears falls by a third after four months on UC.’