A landlord has been left with a £15,000 clean-up bill after his ‘tenant from hell’ left waist-high piles of rotting rubbish covering the floors of the house.

Danny Hernon, 54, was horrified to discover the state his three-bedroomed house in Oldham, Greater Manchester, had been left in after his tenant of 18 years moved out.

He said he had to ‘dig his way back out’ because so much stuff had been left on the floor.

Danny estimates he’ll have to spend £15,000 on getting the property back to a good condition and said his tenant suggested her £500 deposit would cover the cost.

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He finally got access to the house on Thursday, December 9 despite his tenant moving out a month ago.

As well as the mountains of rubbish and rotting food piled high in every room, Danny found used toilet paper and what appeared to be faeces covering the bathroom floor.

The walls were covered in black mould and filth while thick cobwebs hung from the ceiling.

Danny, who shared a video of the interior online, said: ‘She gave her notice to move out but was holding back with the keys, she just kept putting it off even though her tenancy was up.

‘Eventually we picked the keys up and that’s what I walked into. I was absolutely horrified.

‘It was just absolute carnage in every room. In the video the front room is empty but the skip outside is everything that came out of there.

‘When I’m walking through the kitchen you can actually hear things cracking under my feet and that’s all the bottles and plastic rubbish.

‘I had to dig to get to the back door, that’s how much stuff was on the floor.

“It was all stuck together – cat litter, dog food, everything – it was horrendous and the smell was unbelievable.

‘In the bathroom she’s obviously done what she’s done and left all the stuff outside of the toilet so I’m presuming it’s blocked and doesn’t work.

‘I just don’t know how humans can live like that. It must have been going on for years for it to get like that.

‘If she’s been living like that up to a month ago there’s clearly something not right but whatever the reason is it still shouldn’t get in that state, it’s just disgusting.’

Danny and his business partner have reported their former tenant to the police and council in the hope to get her to pay up for at least some of the damages.

He thinks his tenant – who often had her partner and son staying over – had been living in squalor for some time for the house to get to the state he found it in.

They were in the process of selling the house and agreed a sale price but have now had to put this on hold while they sort the damage.

Danny said: ‘The toilet’s got to be thrown, the bath’s got to be thrown, the kitchen’s got to be ripped out, it’s just horrendous.

‘It’s going to cost us about £15,000 to get right. It’s got to come out of the business – you don’t get that in rent pay so if everyone did that I wouldn’t have a business.

‘She said whatever it costs to do up, keep my bond and use that but the bond was only £500 and it’s going to cost me £1,400 just in skips.

‘Whatever it costs we will be taking her to court for. I know she hasn’t got a lot of money but it needs pointing out that you can’t leave landlords in this situation.’

The landlord and a friend have so far spent five gruelling days shovelling the piles of rubbish out of the house and have filled five skips.

They hope to have cleared the filthy property before Christmas to refurbish and sell it in the new year.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the incident of criminal damage was reported on December 15 and is being investigated.

A spokesperson for Oldham Council said: ‘It’s important that landlords carry out checks on their tenants prior to letting a property and that they carry out regular checks to ensure tenants are complying with their tenancy agreement and that the house is in a good state of repair.’

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