Landlord finds rental property destroyed by tenants: ‘Driving me nuts’
- Replies 23
As a landlord, renting can be an unpredictable business. Sometimes, when they least expect it, they may be met with some really unfortunate surprises.
Such is the story of one landlord from Melbourne, who recalled having the shock of his life with his experience with his tenants.
Hoping to sell up and retire as a landlord, 55-year-old handyman Kevin Martin had been planning to sell his investment property in Melbourne, giving his tenants 90 days to vacate and find a new rental.
However, when they finally moved out, Kevin said he felt like he was having a horrible nightmare.
The former landlord described the state of his house as 'covered in water', with the dishwasher still jam-packed with dirty plates and a filthy smell that was 'driving me nuts'.
The oven door hung off, the cooktop was nowhere to be seen, walls were splattered in blood, and piles of dirty clothes lingered in the laundry.
Perhaps most shockingly, the floorboards were buckling beneath mould and rot, and Kevin claims that the entire house 'needs to be pulled down and thrown in the bin'.
In the footage captured by A Current Affair, the shed was also seemingly filled with junk.
Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident; this mess reflects a larger trend in Australia's rental market.
'We are seeing a large amount of rental providers either looking to get out or exiting the market, and I'm talking about very sizable numbers,' says Quentin Kilian, CEO of Real Estate Institute Victoria (REIV).
Part of this departure from the market is due to the ways in which landlords' rights have been 'eroded' the past couple of years, says Kilian.
He added that the government needs to stop seeing rent providers as 'some sort of enemy or cash cow'.
This development follows a March report, which highlighted the sharp decline in rental vacancy rates across the country over the past two years, reaching record lows. In Melbourne, the challenge of finding a rental property has increased fivefold compared to the early 2000s.
This drop in vacancy rates has also led to a surge in rent prices for many properties, rendering them increasingly unaffordable for the nation's lowest-income earners.
Evan Thornley, the Executive Director of financial and property service company LongView, expressed concern that the current rental market is negatively impacting both tenants and landlords.
'There is a misplaced idea that a battle between landlords and tenants exists—in actual fact, the Australian rental framework has been broken for decades and is not working for either party,' he said.
Glenn King, the CEO of PEXA, which is also in the finance and property sectors, described the Australian rental market as one of the worst in the world.
'Australia is already one of the hardest places in the developed world to be a renter,' he said.
'The biggest problem is insecurity—long-term leases are rare, and renters live with constant uncertainty about whether they will have to move. Maintenance is often a headache, and there are few incentives for the landlord to improve properties, for example, through energy retrofitting.'
Members, do you or anyone you know have any stories about house rentals gone wrong? Share your stories and opinions with us in the comments below.
Such is the story of one landlord from Melbourne, who recalled having the shock of his life with his experience with his tenants.
Hoping to sell up and retire as a landlord, 55-year-old handyman Kevin Martin had been planning to sell his investment property in Melbourne, giving his tenants 90 days to vacate and find a new rental.
However, when they finally moved out, Kevin said he felt like he was having a horrible nightmare.
A landlord made a concerning discovery after his rental house was trashed by his tenant, and his plans to sell the property and retire were ruined. Credit: A Current Affair.
The former landlord described the state of his house as 'covered in water', with the dishwasher still jam-packed with dirty plates and a filthy smell that was 'driving me nuts'.
The oven door hung off, the cooktop was nowhere to be seen, walls were splattered in blood, and piles of dirty clothes lingered in the laundry.
Perhaps most shockingly, the floorboards were buckling beneath mould and rot, and Kevin claims that the entire house 'needs to be pulled down and thrown in the bin'.
In the footage captured by A Current Affair, the shed was also seemingly filled with junk.
Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident; this mess reflects a larger trend in Australia's rental market.
'We are seeing a large amount of rental providers either looking to get out or exiting the market, and I'm talking about very sizable numbers,' says Quentin Kilian, CEO of Real Estate Institute Victoria (REIV).
Part of this departure from the market is due to the ways in which landlords' rights have been 'eroded' the past couple of years, says Kilian.
He added that the government needs to stop seeing rent providers as 'some sort of enemy or cash cow'.
This development follows a March report, which highlighted the sharp decline in rental vacancy rates across the country over the past two years, reaching record lows. In Melbourne, the challenge of finding a rental property has increased fivefold compared to the early 2000s.
This drop in vacancy rates has also led to a surge in rent prices for many properties, rendering them increasingly unaffordable for the nation's lowest-income earners.
Evan Thornley, the Executive Director of financial and property service company LongView, expressed concern that the current rental market is negatively impacting both tenants and landlords.
'There is a misplaced idea that a battle between landlords and tenants exists—in actual fact, the Australian rental framework has been broken for decades and is not working for either party,' he said.
Glenn King, the CEO of PEXA, which is also in the finance and property sectors, described the Australian rental market as one of the worst in the world.
'Australia is already one of the hardest places in the developed world to be a renter,' he said.
'The biggest problem is insecurity—long-term leases are rare, and renters live with constant uncertainty about whether they will have to move. Maintenance is often a headache, and there are few incentives for the landlord to improve properties, for example, through energy retrofitting.'
Members, do you or anyone you know have any stories about house rentals gone wrong? Share your stories and opinions with us in the comments below.
.png){kind=icon}
