A DISGUSTED landlady has revealed his horror when she entered a property she was renting out and found cockroaches and human waste on the carpet in New Zealand.
The landlady's family had invested over $50,000 (£25,000) doing the property up as an investment for the future before the grim discovery.
Because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the owner had not been able to visit the property, and had no choice but to trust her tenants.
When she was finally able to inspect the property earlier this year, however, she could not believe her eyes.
The front porch was submerged under piles of boxes and bin bags, the floor was soiled and almost everything in the house had been destroyed, from the shower tpe dishwasher.
The landlady, who remains anonymous, was forced to wear protective equipment due to the condition of the house now rendered inhabitable.
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"We all went in with masks, the whole place was crawling with cockroaches," she told local media.
"It was emotionally traumatic and physically disgusting."
"It stunk so badly my husband spent three days just trying to clean the carpet.
"It has this underlying stench which is from faeces and urine leaking through into the underlay."
She eventually took her former tenant to the Tenancy Tribunal, where the tenant was ordered to pay $30,000 for the damage caused to the property since living in it in 2019.
The list of damage is extensive. The heat pump stopped functioning due to an "excessive build-up of grime on the fan motor causing it to stop".
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The dishwasher was unrepairable because "excessive amounts of food had been put in the dishwasher and blocked the pipes".
All sink mixers in the kitchen and laundry room were broken.
Meanwhile, the Tribunal pointed out to the damaged and "fouled" beyond repair shower tray and waste system in the wet room, as they shared was the landlady's conviction that the shower had been used as a loo.
The ex-tenant, who is also not named, said none of the damage had been done intentionally.
Following a car accident in January, the mother had been in isolation with her two autistic children.
"I had offered to pay for a cleaner and I was there with four other people helping to get it cleaned," she said.
"Unfortunately I was in a very rough place where I was incredibly sick and needed help and had been working with other services to try and get it done."
The landlady had initially agreed to rent to property to the mother despite her having previously been ordered to pay $6,000 in rent arrears at a previous rental by the Tenancy Tribunal.
The tenant explained that she had made some effort to pay for some of the damage done to the house before the tribunal hearing, but she accused the landlady of exaggerating the level of damage.
She alleges she was charged for things she had not broken or that had already been replaced.
The mother added: "So I am not a bad person. I did not deliberately try and destroy their property. I take responsibility for some of the things that needed to be fixed and had tried to get the house sorted."
The Tenancy Tribunal, however, said it could not rule out the damage had been intentional, given the extent of the devastation.
During the hearing, the Tribunal said it was "an understatement to say that the tenant did not leave the premises reasonably clean and tidy".
It described the property as "filthy" and "inhabitable by any reasonable reason".
"There were drawings, scribbles and an unidentified brown substance smeared on many of the walls and curtains," the Tribunal noted.
"The house was infested with cockroaches and their bodies littered the floor, drawers and cupboards."
The property was extensively refurbished just prior to the commencement of the tenancy, the Tribunal explained.
The house had been completely repainted, and a new kitchen, bathroom, laundry and appliances had been fitted.
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"The property was in excellent condition. The landlord deserves to have the property restored to that condition."
In spite of the large compensatory damages awarded by the Tribunal, the landlady said it was "bittersweet" as she could only receive $50 a week – not enough to start refurbishing the house any time soon.
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