Tenant Tells Landlord To Keep £400 Deposit So He Can 'Take Care Of The Mess'

When moving out of a rented property most tenants would hope to get the majority of their deposit back, but one landlord was told he could keep the lot to help pay for the cleaning costs.

Landlord Lee Locking was shocked at the state of one of his properties once the tenant had moved out – and it seems the tenant was fully aware of the situation, telling Locking he could keep the £400 deposit to 'take care of the mess'.

It was the first time Locking had been inside the flat for five years and he discovered it was full of rubbish, mouldy food, old clothes and cat faeces.

Unfortunately, it's going to cost much more than £400 to take care of the mess left behind by the tenant.

The flat, in Swansea, Wales, will need a new bathroom and kitchen installing along with new carpets put down everywhere, once somewhere between three and four tonnes of waste has been disposed of.

Looking around the property he said he had 'no idea where the person slept' during the time they spent in the 'filthy' flat.

He said: "Every single room is a state. I can’t even go in without wanting to shower immediately after.

"When I first went to the property, I’d taken the dog with me. I opened the door and the smell just hit me.

"I took one look at the mess up the stairs and closed the door and put the dog back in the car, because there was no way I was letting the dog come in."

He said he had reached 'breaking point' with the sheer volume of rubbish that would need to be cleared out of the flat and the vast amount of renovation work required to get it back up to a liveable standard.

Locking claims the property was supposed to be managed on his behalf by a letting agent, and says he feels let down by them as the flat was supposed to be pet-free and all potential tenants had to be vetted.

He said letting agent company 'allowed it to get to this state' and he is 'really annoyed and angry' that over the course of five years the property was left in such a mess.

A spokesperson for the agency said: "[The agency] takes any customer complaint extremely seriously. We are in receipt of an official complaint from the landlord and which we are currently investigating.

"We will liaise directly with the landlord to resolve the issues."