A ‘rogue renter’ has racked up $60k worth of damages after trashing a Melbourne apartment

A Melbourne landlord’s pristine home has been destroyed by a student he labelled a “rogue renter” who inflicted catastrophic damage.

At a glance some would say it’s the set of a horror movie, but unfortunately for one Melbourne landlord these photos were only the beginning of his nightmares.

Wayne Tseng, the president of Chinese Precinct Chamber of Commerce, has had his fair share of rental woes both as a property owner and real estate agent.

But the trashing of a Box Hill apartment is one residential tenancy dispute he will never forget.

Images obtained by news.com.au reveal the catastrophic damage one of Mr Tseng’s properties sustained last year after renting it out to a 25-year-old university student.

The once pristine, furnished, one-bedroom apartment now looks like the stuff of night terrors after it was trashed, modified and in some parts set alight by a “rogue renter”.

The kitchen area prior to the tenant moving in. Picture: news.com.au

The apartment's kitchen after the tenant moved in. Picture: news.com.au

The trouble started when the tenant failed to pay his rent and ignored calls from Mr Tseng who had received reports there had been noise and public disturbance complaints.

It was also reported the tenant was hosting several visitors which wasn’t permitted under student housing rules.

“I put in a warning for disturbance and I even put in a VCAT notice to vacate for disturbance, but according to VCAT it wasn’t really the top of the queue,” Mr Tseng told news.com.au.

During this time the tenant made a number of “malicious damages” to the property that Mr Tseng only discovered once he was called to the property by authorities.

This included damage to the common property door and the main room door after the tenant lost his keys and used a crowbar to “rip them open”.

The tenant also put a hole in the bathroom wall after a heavy unauthorised fitting caused the plaster to crack while some of the floor surface was ruined by an unknown substance.

“They actually rearranged the wiring of the place and repurposed the shape of the room,” Mr Tseng added.

Furniture was also allegedly stolen including a small Westinghouse bar fridge, a small led TV and chairs, a desk, a bed and a wardrobe from Ikea.

But the final straw was when the tenant set the front yard on fire causing extensive damage to the building walls and common area.

The apartment's front yard prior to the fire. Picture: news.com.au

The aftermath of Mr Tseng's property being torched by his tenant. Picture: news.com.au

“One evening, I was called by the fire department because the tenant set the front yard alight. That burned the whole front yard … but also ignited the cladding on the building,” Mr Tseng said.

“The cladding was not flammable, which was very, very lucky.”

That day, Mr Tseng issued the tenants with a notice to vacate immediately on the basis they had caused “serious damage to the premises”.

Once the property was evaluated, the landlord issued a second notice to vacate four days later listing all the tenant’s damages to reflect the “malicious damage” the university student had also allegedly caused to the inside of the property.

When the tenant failed to vacate, a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) application was filed by Mr Tseng.

VCAT found Mr Tseng had “reasonable and proportionate” grounds to make a possession order with the tenant instructed to vacate the property that day.

The tenant was issued a warning that if he didn’t comply, he would be “forcibly vacated” from the property by a police officer or authorised person carrying out “a warrant of possession”.

While Mr Tseng was successfully able to evict his disruptive tenant, he was left with a $60,000 damage bill and about $6000 in rent arrears.

“The insurance covered some of it but my out of pocket is still quite chunky … I couldn’t chase up the rent arrears and I couldn’t even chase up a damage bill,” he said.

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The apartment's bathroom after the tenant moved in. Picture: news.com.au

Parts of the apartment's exterior sustained fire damage. Picture: news.com.au

Mr Tseng said a police report into the tenant’s behaviour was made at the time that damage occurred, however he claimed he never found out the outcome.

News.com.au contacted Victoria Police for comment on the matter however they didn’t respond at the time of publication.

Wayne Tseng is using his past experiences to advocate for better rental tenancy dispute regulations. Picture: Supplied

“At the end of the day, there is nothing that can be done,” Mr Tseng said.

“(The tenant) escaped rent, trashed and burnt the place and it still remains as a civil matter.”

This latest blow came months before Mr Tseng lost over $16,000 in rent and almost had his home repossessed by the bank after another one of his tenant’s failed to pay the lease on one of his properties for over 209 days.

After rescheduling a VCAT hearing, he was finally able to evict his tenants but never received a single cent of the $16,490 he is owed.

Now with “VCAT in tatters”, the real estate agent has appealed to both the Andrews government and state opposition to do more to improve Victoria’s residential tenancy regulations.

In an open letter penned to the leader’s of each party, Mr Tseng compared tenants not paying rent to drivers who don’t pay for petrol, arguing failure to pay the weekly rate should be considered “theft”.

As a result, he proposed a number of measures that could help better regulate Victoria’s rental laws.

This includes raising bonds “to serve as a deterrent”, legislating necessary measures to assure rent arrears and damages are paid, a national registry for “bad renters” and giving VCAT “more power to enforce the orders it issues”.

“There are so many gaps in the law … the government needs to revisit and strengthen it so people can have more confidence in the property market,” Mr Tseng said. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”