Maggots, poo, 80 bins of rubbish: Landlady’s $30k damage shock

An Aussie woman is considering never renting her home again after she discovered the stomach-churning ‘destruction’ inside her property after her tenant fled.

If the estimated $30,000 clean up bill after a tenant fled doesn’t churn your stomach, before and after shots inside with maggots, rubbish, poo and sanitary pads might.

Despite some of the tightest vacancy rates on record, a Toowoomba landlady is seriously considering never renting her home to any families again after her shock discovery of stomach-churning ‘destruction’ inside her investment property after her tenant fled.

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The mess left in one of the bedrooms. Picture: Supplied

“This is too extreme. The maggots. The defecation. Used women’s sanitary pads everywhere,” she said.

“If you’re just dirty or messy, it is not to this stage. This is too much.”

“This kind of destructive behaviour makes landlords not want to continue to advertise property in market for rent as the emotional and physical cost to fix is too much.”

This photo was taken after cleaning crews had been through the property. Picture: Supplied

The landlady, who refused to be named given she has taken the matter to court, said the property was in such a terrible state that her insurers would not inspect it until the worst of the faeces, maggots and rubbish was removed.

“I just removed the rubbish on Monday,” she said, with her expenses already racking up to $7000 after having to hire a skip and cleaners.

She is awaiting word over what to do with the tenants’ possessions.

Maggots inside the oven. Picture: Supplied

The woman fears cost could blow out given multiple items like her oven, kitchen cupboards and airconditioning units have had either maggots or the stench animal faeces and urination run through them for several weeks before she was allowed to enter the property.

The landlady said the rubbish was equivalent to 80 standard wheelie bins. Picture: Supplied

The woman said the property was rented out at $485 a week with the bond around $1,900 “as we understand the current market is difficult for people now”.

“You will find it is impossible to find anything of a similar size and price in the market nowadays in Toowoomba,” she said.

“There are so many homeless people in Toowoomba and the vacancy rate is 0.6 per cent.”

The laundry of the house before and after cleaners removed most of the items left behind.

The woman has owned the property for over seven years, having bought it in 2015.

“Tradies are in short supply, I don’t know if I can bring this property back to the market,” she said. “We need to get the pest people in as well.”

“I need to get the assessors to check, but maybe not less than $30,000,” she said of the cost of returning the property back to its original state.

“I am not sure at the moment,” she said, when asked if the property would go back on the rental market. “We may, but maybe do rooming accommodation because this is too much for us like this.”

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Originally published as Maggots, poo, 80 bins of rubbish: Landlady’s $30k damage shock