Landlord forced to dig out hoarder’s human ‘waste mountain’ after getting keys back
This “tenant from hell” decked her rental home’s halls with trash and feces — fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-lawsuit!
An incensed landlord is preparing to take his former renter of 18 years to court for approximately $20,000 after she reportedly left his three-bedroom house in filthy disarray, stockpiling mounds of moldy human and animal food, used toilet paper, sacks of garbage and bodily waste in every corner of the Manchester, England, residence.
“It was just absolute carnage in every room,” property owner Danny Hernon, 54, told South West News Service. “I just don’t know how humans can live like that. It must have been going on for years for it to get like that.”
Hernon, who’s been a landlord to a series of “very good tenants” for more than two decades, shared a now-viral video of himself wading through the wall-to-wall litter his ex-occupant apparently left in each room.
“When I’m walking through the kitchen, you can actually hear things cracking under my feet, and that’s all the bottles and plastic rubbish,” he said of the trending footage, which shows a shin-high layer of dirt and trash covering the kitchen floor. Massively thick cobwebs and grime can also be seen hanging from every crevice of the room.
“I had to dig to get to the back door — that’s how much stuff was on the floor,” Hernon added. “It was all stuck together — cat litter, dog food, everything — it was horrendous and the smell was unbelievable.”
Nauseating scenes of the bathroom show the bathtub and toilet, which are blanketed by garbage and caked in what appears to be feces and scum. Used toilet paper and other personal care items clutter the floor.
“In the bathroom, she’s obviously done what she’s done and left all the stuff outside of the toilet, so I’m presuming it’s blocked and doesn’t work,” Hernon told SWNS.
He claimed the treacherous tenant — who has not been named, but reportedly receives financial support from the UK government and is believed to have shared the residence with her partner and son — was reluctant to return the house keys to him and his business partner after she moved out over a month ago.
“She gave her notice to move out but was holding back with the keys. She just kept putting it off even though her tenancy was up,” explained Hernon, who finally retrieved the keys and entered the home on Dec. 9. “Eventually we picked the keys up and that’s what I walked into.
“I was absolutely horrified,” he said.
When the veteran landlord confronted the former boarder about the vile vandalism, he claimed she told him that her $666 deposit should cover the damages.
“She said whatever it costs to do up, keep my bond and use that, but the bond was only [$666] and it’s going to cost me [$1,865] just in [trash bins],” Hernon said, noting that he and his business partner will have to completely rehab the home thanks to the “horrendous” mess she reportedly made.
“It’s going to cost us about [$20,000] to get right. It’s got to come out of the business — you don’t get that in rent pay, so if everyone did that, I wouldn’t have a business,” he continued.
Hernon, who’s spent the last five days shoveling disgusting debris out of his house and hopes to complete the cleaning by Christmas, plans to sue the former tenant for the renovation costs.
“Whatever it costs we will be taking her to court for. I know she hasn’t got a lot of money, but it needs pointing out that you can’t leave landlords in this situation,” he insisted. Hernon plans to sell the property in the new year.
“You just can’t let someone walk away from houses like this with no repercussions. I don’t want her to leave the next landlord in this situation as well. It’s not fair,” he added.
Hernon has also filed a criminal damages complaint against the tenant with the Greater Manchester Police.
But a spokesperson for the government in his region released a statement that appeared to hold him at least partially accountable for the destruction.
“It’s important that landlords carry out checks on their tenants prior to letting a property,” said a speaker for the Oldham Council. “And that they carry out regular checks to ensure tenants are complying with their tenancy agreement and that the house is in a good state of repair.”
But Hernon maintained that he’s been a stellar landlord who’s never had any issues with renters in the past.
“What winds me up is it’s always geared against the landlord as if all landlords are bad, and we’re not,” he said. “I’ve been doing this 20-odd years and I’ve never had one complaint from any of my tenants.”
The Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation into the dirty dwelling drama.
