I used to be handed £30,000 cleansing invoice after nightmare tenants TRASHED my residence and left it infested with rats
A horrified landlord has been left with a £30,000 clean up bill after ‘nightmare’ tenants trashed her property leaving it with ‘piles of rubbish’ and infested with ‘rats’.
Galina Manders, 49, decided to put her three bedroom terraced home she had refurbished on the rental market to make some extra cash on the side of her day job.
The property in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was rented to a couple for two years who consistently stopped Ms Manders from entering the home every time she tried to organise a visit.
It wasn’t until a surveyor sent her pictures of the house did she know the full extent of the damage to the property which included blocked toilets, broken walls, mould, a ‘rat infestation’ and rubbish which is ‘up to her knees’.
Police are now investigating a case of suspected criminal damage at the property which Mrs Manders had rented out for £695 a month.
In January 2024 Manders triggered a section 21 no fault eviction order beginning the process of evicting the individuals after they ‘refused’ to clean the property.
The landlord has been to clean the house herself, which she says will cost a ‘fortune’.
Ms Manders said: ‘The people who did this have no respect for me or for themselves, this is abuse.’
Galina Manders, 49, nearly cried when she saw the destruction left behind by her ‘nightmare’ tenants
The couple who rented the Bolton property repeatedly refused entry to Ms Manders and only realised the scale of their destructive mess until a surveyor sent her pictures
The landlord only got access to the house 14 months after she filed section 21, despite the tenants having found a new property five months earlier
‘I have no savings, I’m not a massive property tycoon – I can’t afford a clean-up job like this.’
The accountant bought the house in 2012 and lived inside until 2018 with her husband Michael, 55, and her two children Melanie, 17, and Oscar, 12, up until 2018.
Ms Manders spent thousands on a full house renovations including fitting a new kitchen and bathroom alongside redecorating the bedrooms.
After moving out and to moving into a bigger four bedroom house, Ms Manders put the property on the rental market in 2018.
She said: ‘I thought it would be a good idea so we could make some extra money on the side of our day jobs.’
Ms Manders had two previous tenants between 2018 and 2022 that caused her ‘minimal issues’.
She then took on her third tenants in March 2022 saying ‘it was the worst decision’ she had made in her life.
She took on the couple through an agency who she said had done ‘all the background checks’ on them but she couldn’t know who they were until they moved in due to ‘GDPR’, according Ms Manders.
Having pet cats was the first sign that the tenants had violated Ms Manders’ rules, with their food and refuse now filling the filthy bathroom
The accountant rented the three bed property in 2018 after refurbishing it to make some extra cash on the side of her day job (as seen when she first rented it out)
The first time she met them was six months in their residence in August 2022, when she went over for a house inspection and said she found multiple ‘red flags’.
The landlord said: ‘The house was a bit messy but nothing too bad, but then I saw two cats which breached our no pets tenancy agreement.
‘I tried to sort out a compromise but never got round to it.’
She didn’t check up on them for another year until she asked a surveyor to visit so she could get an updated estimate on the house price for a better deal on her mortgage.
Ms Manders said: ‘The surveyor sent me a text asking when was the last time I visited the house.
‘I then received pictures of the house in an absolute mess saying he couldn’t even get upstairs to view the bedrooms.’
She then asked if they could inspect the property herself, but according to her, the occupants came up with ’16 different excuses’ to stop her from seeing the property.
Ms Manders said seeing the state of the home since the rental has left her ‘choked up and in tears’.
Renting out her property to the couple was the ‘worse decision’ in Ms Manders life
Tenants came up with ’16 different excuses’ to block Ms Menders from seeing her property (as seen when she first rented it out)
The surveyor said he was not even able to reach upstairs to take pictures of the mess because of the rubbish blocking his way
Ms Manders is calling for the law to be changed in order to be able to evict contract-breaking tenants more quickly
She gave the tenants ‘one week’ to clean up the mess stating they had ‘violated’ the terms and agreements.
The landlord said this is when the tenants got aggressive and abusive towards her.
She said: ‘I had to block him on WhatsApp as every message he sent I started shaking.’
Last January, Ms Manders filed a section 21 no fault eviction of the 1988 Housing Act as the couple ‘refused’ to clean up the mess.
Ms Manders said she was not being allowed access to the building by the occupants so she had to pursue this route as there was no way of obtaining proof of the damage, she claims.
The landlord only got access to the house 14 months later in March 2025 even though the couple had found a new home in November 2024.
She said they didn’t move out due to the local council ‘not paying’ for a removal van to transfer their belongings out of the house.
Recalling the first time she entered the house, she said: ‘The smell was unbearable – We had to wear masks to stay in there longer than 5 minutes.’
After giving tenants a week to clean up their mess, Ms Manders said she was forced to file a section 21 to evict them
The landlord said the tenants ‘have no respect for me or for themselves, this is abuse’
‘I have no savings, I’m not a massive property tycoon – I can’t afford a clean-up job like this’
‘Everywhere is trashed, there is mould all over the walls broken walls.
‘We can’t even get upstairs there is that much rubbish – there is also said there is cat poo stuck to the floor.’
Ms Manders said a ‘full renovation’ of the house is needed in order to get it back on the market.
Since the occupants left the house in such bad condition the police are currently investigating for criminal damage.
Ms Manders is calling for the law to be changed in order to be able to evict contract-breaking tenants more quickly.
Since the incident she has spoken to her local MP asking her ‘to bring up in Parliament’ that the law is one-sided towards tenants and it should be easier to evict people who are damaging your property like this.
Bolton South and Walkden MP, Ms Qureshi, said: ‘I sympathise with the situation Ms Manders finds herself in, as no-one should have to deal with the appalling conditions this property was left in.
‘Landlords who are in dispute with tenants should pursue action through the legal system, and my office has passed on details of organisations who can offer specialist advice to landlords in doing this.
Ms Manders said a ‘full renovation’ of the house is needed in order to get it back on the market
Greater Manchester Police said they are investigating the criminal damage left behind
When Ms Manders insisted the mess be cleaned up, the tenants began to be ‘aggressive’ (as seen when she first rented it out)
‘The smell was unbearable – we had to wear masks to stay in there longer than 5 minutes’
Ms Manders believes that there is cat poo now stuck to the floor upstairs where she has not been able to access (as seen when she first rented it out)
‘Everywhere is trashed, there is mould all over the walls broken walls’ (compared with the property when first rented out)
‘There is a number of routes available for landlords to recover damages from tenants who have caused damage to a property and this should be a matter for the courts to adjudicate.
‘Labour is focused on clearing the backlog in the courts, caused by 15 years of mismanagement by the Conservative government, to ensure that cases like this can be dealt with promptly.’
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said an ‘investigation is underway’ regarding the damage.
