A cancer stricken landlord has said his tenants used his flat as a dump, and now he is left to clean up the horrific condition it's been left in.
David Griffiths fears his property in Ayr, Scotland is now a health hazard after tenants fled, leaving behind a trail of filth, including animal faeces and used sanitary towels.
The harrowing sight of the flat was captured by the landlord in a shocking clip shared on Twitter which chalked up 160,000 views.
He’s told how he’ll need to get special clearance from environmental chiefs before he can start to tidy up the foul mess.
David said: “The tenants have literally treated the place like a dump. They’ve just dumped rubbish bags out in the floor and sprawled mess everywhere.
“You could smell the flat before you even got to the front door. There’s (what looks like) dog poo and cat poo just smeared along the floors or just left lying in the hallway. It’s like the place has just been treated as a toilet. It is disgusting.
“There is cat faeces in the kitchen and leading up to the kitchen. You don’t tend to get flies in January but there are flies there.
“On second inspection, I found a used sanitary towel just lying on the floor.”
Two people are believed to have stayed in the property for a year, with one woman on the tenancy agreement who was living with a man.
David has told how the tenants had fallen into arrears over the summer and had agreed to meet him in January in order to terminate their lease.
But David instead arrived to the property on January 2 to find the lights on and the tenants had vanished.
Now the landlord, who is undergoing treatment for a long-standing battle with cancer, insists he has been left out of pocket by thousands and will face an eye-watering bill and fight to fix the flat.
He added: “It’s a toxic environment. It’s not safe to just go in and clean it. It is going to cost thousands, I’ll need to rip carpets out and start again. The whole place will need deep cleaned. Room by room it’s health hazard.”
David, from Ardrossan, is part of a property management business which has a portfolio of nine flats in Ayrshire, with most in South Ayrshire.
He insists that life as a landlord is tough as he fears government chiefs are not fighting their corner, with legislation making it impossible to evict tenants who refuse to pay rent.
He added: “There is a culture that the Scottish Government has created that tenants are the victims and landlords are being given no support.
“That is the climate that the legislation of private rentals has created.
“Tenants are being told they don’t need to pay their rent because if they choose to avoid paying rent they can’t be evicted. It is leaving us landlords powerless.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Tenants should take reasonable care of the property they are letting and this is made clear under the terms of the current tenancy arrangements.
“This is entirely separate from our emergency legislation to support tenants during the cost of living crisis, which provides temporary powers to cap rents and introduces a moratorium on evictions, initially until March 31.
“The legislation balances the protections that are needed for tenants with safeguards for landlords. Tenants are still liable for rent while the evictions moratorium is in force, and evictions can still proceed when there are substantial rent arrears.
“We are working to deliver a New Deal for Tenants to raise quality and standards in renting in the longer term.”
