A landlord has revealed that a nightmare tenant left the property with two years worth of litter inside including 200 bottles of urine.
Jan Pringle evicted the tenant from the one-bedroom basement flat.
The 36-year-old said he felt as though eviction was the “last resort” as the resident refused to let him carry out checks on the property for the two years they lived there.
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When Jan finally gained entry to the flat, he claimed that he could barely get the door open due to the three feet worth of rubbish behind it.
Jan was horrified when he discovered mounds of trash including 200 vodka bottles filled with urine and bags of faeces.
“As soon as the door opened, it felt like a rainforest because it was so humid,” Jan, from Devon, told Need to Know.
“We couldn’t push the door open because there was so much rubbish but when we did, I can’t describe the smell.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before.
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“There were a couple of hundred bottles of wee and bags of poo and I could smell it.
“I had to crawl over the rubbish wearing a mask and gloves because it’s completely full.
“You can’t get to the bedroom or bathroom. The toilet was blocked.
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“The rubbish was composting. There were takeaway boxes, eggshells, and empty tins.
“It was two years’ worth of rubbish.
“There’s one bit of space on the sofa where they must have sat all day and slept.
“There’s a nice garden outside but the windows and blinds have never been opened.
“If someone challenged me to make that much mess in two years it would be difficult.”
Jan claims he’s been forced to hire a forensic cleaning company to clean the flat before he can rent it out again.
He said: “I’m not angry with the tenant. He’s slipped through the net.
“The system is broken.
“He needs help.
“I don’t know how someone can live like that.
“It’s harsh that there’s no one there to look after him.”
Jan bought the flat in 2017 and had three other tenants which he says he never had a problem with.
He rents it out unfurnished for £575 per month.
The tenant had originally been on a six-month contract which switched to a rolling one.
Jan said: “He wouldn’t let us gain access.
“We’d usually check in every six months to make sure everything is ok.
“We aren’t allowed to enter without permission unless there’s an emergency.
“I was scared to push too much.
“The upstairs neighbour said that he’d never taken the bins out and never left the flat so I was worried about him.
“Around Six or seven months ago, I contacted some welfare charities to see if they would make sure he was ok but they said there was nothing they could do because he hadn’t come forward himself.
“We had to get a section 21 but it was the last resort.”
Jan, who owns eight properties, says the incident has left him considering whether he wants to continue renting properties.
He shared a clip of the flat on TikTok which has racked up more than 16.1k views.
Jan added: “People say we are the bad guys.
“I want to get the point across that the private rental sector is providing a service because there aren’t enough houses.
“I can’t afford to sell. If I had one or two properties I probably would.”
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