Nightmare of landlords left with damage, filth ... and cannabis farms
RENTING out a home isn’t always easy. Landlords across Greater Manchester have been sharing their horror stories about tenants from hell - and the damage and filth they often leave behind.
“The police called me up and told me they’d found a cannabis farm at one of my properties. They said that they found it using thermal imaging,” said a landlord who has rented out homes in Greater Manchester since 1995.
“When they raided the place, they found £50,000 lying on the table that had been left.
“The people didn’t care about it, they just did a runner.
“This has happened to me twice and it’s quite common, according to the police.”
“Because it was linked with criminal activity, our insurance company were unwilling to pay out. The tenants were in there for about six months and they wrecked the place.
“It cost me thousands to fix. I think eventually I got about £12,000 but I had to pay around £15,000 in costs - so I lost money.
“It happened again to me, this time in Wigan. The tenants there were only in there for about three or four months and caused around £3,500-worth of damage.
“The cost incurred depends how many holes they dig in the walls, the bigger the house the more damage is caused. But don’t be surprised, this is quite common.
“I’ve found you need to have a few properties working when one goes wrong, and one will always go wrong.
“I had a house in Rochdale, which was almost destroyed by a couple. The man was stealing all the metal pipes and wiring from the house.
“He ripped out all of the electrical cables and plumbing - the house flooded. To top it all, I couldn’t do anything about it, the police wouldn’t do anything. They said that it wasn’t actually theft, because he was living there. And the insurance company wouldn’t do anything either.”
A Stockport landlord said: “She had been there for about eight years and we used to do six monthly check ups. There was never a problem, she was lovely.”
“Then one day, the day before rent was due, a family member put her keys through my letterbox.
“Apparently, she had disappeared, she was gone. They said that I could keep the deposit but it didn’t even touch it.
“I went into the house and it was completely trashed and cost me about £10,000 to repair everything.
“It was so strange. She literally never missed a payment or was ever late. If she wanted to do anything to the house she would always ask me.
“I don’t know what happened in that six months but it was a wreck.”
One Manchester landlord said: “There was a woman I had to kick out of one of my properties recently.”