Melbourne landlord stunned after tenant destroys rental home
- Investment property destroyed
- Owner claims renter damaged it
A landlord made a disturbing discovery after his rental home was vandalized by his tenant and his plans to sell the property and retire fell through.
Kevin Martin, 55, who works as a handyman, gave his tenant 90 days to vacate the premises he had rented to them in Melbourne.
Mr. Martin planned to sell the brick and fibro house to fund his retirement, but instead he has a repair bill worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He said he was shocked to find the house in ruins with broken furniture, moldy walls and buckling floorboards among the demolitions left behind.
The most concerning discovery came after Mr Martin had the house tested for drug contamination – with a positive result.
Kevin Martin, 55, was dismayed to find his investment property in a sorry state when a tenant moved out. He planned to sell it to fund his retirement, but now says it needs to be demolished
Some of the damage included the oven door being ripped off its hinges and the cookers missing, but he also found dirty dishes, dirty clothes and rubbish lying outside.
The brick and fiber house was left filled with water after it was hosed down, smelled bad and was filthy everywhere, with a serious mold problem.
Rotting furniture was left in the living room, dirty dishes were left piled up in the dishwasher, and dirty clothes were scattered all over the house, including on the floor and in a sink.
Much of the house was destroyed, there were several holes punched in the walls, deep scratches in the wooden floor, some of which had become soaked, and the faucet fittings damaged.
In the kitchen, the oven door, which was also left dirty, had been ripped off its hinges and the burners were missing.
‘I don’t know why you would? Why would you do it?’ said a dazed Mr. Martin A current case.
Toys, tires, and pool equipment had been left outside, and the shed was cluttered with junk.
Mr. Martin called the police and found out it was going to get worse.
He said the house was drug tested and claimed the results noted traces of meth in several rooms.
He is angry at the magnitude of the cleaning and repair work he will be faced with, which he believes could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in total.
Cleaning up alone would cost thousands of dollars because the house is so dirty and so much waste has to go to landfill.
Then there is the rental income that will be lost while he repairs the damage done.
“I really think this house should be torn down and thrown in the trash.”
Mr. Martin waits for his insurance company to assess the damage before he knows what his next move is.
What Mr. Martin’s house looked like inside before he rented it out to a tenant he claims trashed it
He Martin claimed that “most landlords get this” when tenants move out.
Over two million Australians are property investors, and in total they own 3.25 million investment properties.
More than 70 percent own only one investment property, in many cases the home in which they plan to live in their retirement.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria claimed that ‘very significant numbers’ of property investors want to leave the market because landlords have lost too many rights.