The dangers of cheap properties and protected tenants
Ben Hackney-Williams, 9th October 2018, Landlords
Landlord faces worst case scenario in episode of television show
Channel 5
Leslie-Ann Franklin faced a nightmare behind closed doors when she finally gained access to her rented accommodation following the death of a tenant.
What met her on the other side of the 18th century two-bedroom cottage door was floor-to-ceiling piles of rubbish and what she described as "the smell of death."
The life of a landlord comes with its fair share of stress and worry, even when things are going well. However, owning a property to rent shouldn't result in levels of hoarding shown on this episode of Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords.
A retired social worker, Leslie-Ann was no stranger to mental health issues, including hoarding, but she'd never seen anything like this. She had purchased the cottage next door to her own riverside property in March, Cambridgeshire.
Listed at £30,000, the property was cheap due to it including a protected tenant paying a controlled rent. Leslie-Ann had lived next door to this tenant for seven years before becoming a landlord, but never expected the extent to which things in her second property had got out of control.
The tenant had been in the house since 1983, and Leslie-Ann knew about the hoarding, as she explains: "She was a hoarder. Because of her hoarding and mental health issues, she wouldn't engage in any sort of conversation."
However, you can't live next door to someone for almost a decade without getting to know them a little.
"She was very articulate," Leslie-Ann continues. "She was very forthright. She was, at times, very aggressive.There was a personality there that meant she could actually scare people off. She denied that she needed help."
The tenant passed away, aged 61, and that's when Leslie-Ann discovered exactly what she was dealing with.
When she finally got access to the cottage after extensive legal proceedings, Leslie-Ann found exposed and collapsed ceilings, decomposed animals and rat faeces, every surface covered in litter, and rooms so full of rubbish that they're almost inaccessible.How someone could live in that state remains a mystery.
Leslie-Ann describes the state:
"It's just everywhere. You can't even get up the steps. Even through the mask, it stinks.
There's so much rot - in all the joists, in the floorboards, the windows, the roof - it's literally slipping into the river. It's beyond repair. There's been a few tears.
The only regret is that I couldn't help her; I couldn't save her. That's the only regret."
Watch the episode of Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords for yourself here!
