So, Chris and I rented our house out for a year. The tenant’s lease has just ended and we have informed them that we’re not renewing. They are not too happy with this decision and the retired gentleman confronts my husband and our agent on the front lawn with a baseball bat.
BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER.
I MEAN WORSE. IT GETS WORSE.
Once the tenants have vacated the property, we are left with the aftermath. They managed to break, dirty, or otherwise destroy almost every square inch of the house. They violated multiple conditions of their lease including, but not limited to: smoking, pets in the house, additional tenants. And when I say smoking I mean they chain-smoked inside the house. And when I say pets I mean multiple dogs that they let urinate on the carpet. And when I say additional tenants I mean the guy didn’t just have “his son” who was living with him, it was his son, his son’s significant other, and their 3 kids. And even the son wasn’t officially on the lease, we’d just been notified he might stay there “every once in a while when he comes to visit.”
And keep in mind, these people did all this in just one year. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:
Some of the junk that they left behind outside. Oh, wait… IS THAT ONE OF OUR DOORS?!More of the junk. Chairs with 2-3 legs, the screen to our sliding door, a baby stroller, and possibly an old microwave? In case you haven’t yet grasped how much junk they left in just one corner of the backyard – this pile is taller than me.This is a picture of the space in question, from when we lived there and were reno-ing the backyard. So you can get an idea of the area here. The junk went the entire width of the wall (the one with the satellite dish) and the entire length of the concrete pad.And this is just outside. There’s more junk in the garage. More “presents.” In every oversized can of Campbell’s you will find it is 3/4 full of cigarette butts! Pure cigarette butts – no sand filler in this can!(NOTE THE GIANT STONE TORTISE FOR A LATER STORY). They “frosted” our patio door…No, that empty Budweiser bottle is not ours nor is the stainless steel bowl on the back counter that is full to the brim with frying oil. Also, the sink is broken in at least 3 different ways and so is the garbage disposal.The stovetop is so crusted that you can’t turn the burners on without it smoking and setting off the fire alarm.Not pictured (but somewhere behind the stove that we’re hauling away) is the dishwasher. The inside of which was so entirely covered with mold that, after opening it once, we all decided we didn’t have the stomach to open it again. So there’s no photo.The inside of the stove is just as bad, if not worse.They managed to peel all the paint off the stove hood.The kitchen floorboards are warped. The sink was leaking (maybe when they broke the garbage disposal?) but also the dishwasher was broken and they never called in for repairs because… well… we would have had to enter the house.They managed to break almost every. single. light fixtureJust one more example of broken fixtures. This is not an easy light to break but they sure managed.Superglue can fix anything? They attempted to repair the broken glass here. Which leads me nicely into the next series… FANSThis is the “cleanest” of the fans in the houseAnother “fairly clean” fan. Notice the vent in the background.All the vents were gross, too.Here it is, the winner for dirtiest fan in the house!Because dust rags are expensive.Door stops are overrated. Obviously, they should be avoided at all costs.Every single wall was going to need scrubbing. And those baseboards….GrossAll the walls were dirty and grimy, of course, but that was the least of the offenses there…There were holes in the walls EVERYWHEREMore holesThis is a completely different wall than the above picture. Basically, all the walls looked like this.It’s like they were having a contest to see how many holes they could put in the walls. The other side of this doorway was just as bad… they must have wanted a privacy screen on the that side so they used pin tacks to tack up a sheet over the doorway (completely unrelated to the holes on this side of the wall). And every time it fell or got pulled down, they just tacked it back up again. There were hundreds of pin holes.There’s examples like this all over the house. And now we’re moving on to CARPETSCan you guess where their bed was?I’m trying to show how truly horrifying this carpet was. Because the pictures don’t even do it justice.Did I mention they chain-smoked inside the house? This carpet doesn’t just look dirty, it also reeks of smoke and pet urine. Both of which, according to their lease, weren’t allowed.Oh yes, please let’s check out the master bathroom!They must have stored some really powerful toothpaste in here.You know what else is too expensive, besides dust rags? Ashtrays. If all else fails, just rest your cigarette on the edge of the countertop and let it go until it leaves a burn mark! (Those are burned into the resin, by the way, there’s no scrubbing them out).At least these doors probably just “fell” off their hinges. Unlike the ones out in the backyard, which someone had to work hard at to get off.How does this even happen.More eww. Laundry room shelf.Let’s not forget the garage! Garage doors are supposed to sag, right? (Also that’s their red Fiesta still out front)This couch (theirs, that they abandoned) was at one point in its life a green color. No, really. Also stored in the garage a 3-legged table, to go with all the 3-legged chairs outside.And, finally, the piece de resistance! A 1992 Ford Fiesta parked out in front of the house. But it doesn’t run so they couldn’t take it with them. We gave them a week (maybe two) to get it, and then we let the city take care of it.
