‘Tenants left my property in this state, now I have to pay £30,000 to fix it’
Galina Manders says she has been left with a “£30,000 bill” after the occupants of her sole rental property in Burnden left it in such bad condition, with police now investigating for criminal damage.
Ms Manders decided to put the terraced home, near Manchester Road, on the rental market in 2018 to act as an additional revenue stream to supplement her day job’s income.
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She lived in the home with her family up until 2015, and seeing the state of the home now left her “choked up and in tears”.
(Image: Supplied) “I’m not a massive property tycoon, I don’t have any savings,” Ms Manders told The Bolton News.
“My children grew up in this property, the people who did this have no respect, no respect for themselves, it’s abuse.
“How did they live like this? Where did they sleep?”
(Image: Supplied) According to Ms Manders, the property was rented by two individuals while the damage was being done to it.
“It’s full of rats and rubbish,” she added.
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The full-time accountant was first alerted to the mess in the home when someone from an external company was surveying the property, and notified Ms Manders of what he saw.
(Image: Supplied) She then asked if they could inspect the property herself, but according to her, the occupants came up with “16 different excuses” to stop her from seeing the property.
Eventually, Ms Manders was sent pictures of the home by the surveyor, triggering a section 21 order, beginning the process of evicting the individuals.
Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act caters for “no-fault” evictions. Ms Manders said she was not being allowed access to the building by the occupants, so she had to pursue this route as there was no way of obtaining proof of the damage, she claims.
After 15 months of legal processes, she finally obtained access to the property recently, and was confronted with its poor state.
“But now the repairs needed to make it habitable would cost me £30,000,” she said.
(Image: Supplied) “People at work will talk about how they are considering renting a property out as a bit of extra income, and I have to advise them not to, given the experience I’ve had.
“I’ve written to the MP (Yasmin Qureshi), as I’d like her to bring up in Parliament, the fact that the law is one-sided towards tenants, it should be easier to evict people who are damaging your property like this.
“It shouldn’t take 15 months like it has.”
Bolton South and Walkden MP, Ms Qureshi, said: “I sympathise with the situation Ms Manders finds herself in, as no-one should have to deal with the appalling conditions this property was left in.
“Landlords who are in dispute with tenants should pursue action through the legal system, and my office has passed on details of organisations who can offer specialist advice to landlords in doing this.
“There is a number of routes available for landlords to recover damages from tenants who have caused damage to a property and this should be a matter for the courts to adjudicate.
“Labour is focused on clearing the backlog in the courts, caused by 15 years of mismanagement by the Conservative government, to ensure that cases like this can be dealt with promptly.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said an “investigation is underway” regarding the damage.
Source – INDIA TV
