A Gibbons-area landlord has found herself with a huge mess on her hands, after her two tenants allegedly turned the home she was renting them into a dump, and disappeared. After realizing there’s nothing she can legally do about it, she’s decided she wants to warn others so that they don’t get stuck in the same situation.
Pat Nielsen says the couple had been living in her acreage home for the past two years. And from the first summer, she noticed the property was not being taken care of. Nielsen would ask her tenants to cut the tall weeds and grass, and eventually they would. But when she saw the same thing happening this spring, she decided she had had enough.
Neilsen gave the two an eviction notice, initially saying she wanted them out in a month. She says the couple convinced her to give them 90 days, though, and she agreed – giving them until the end of July to get out.
Earlier this week, she posted a 24 hour inspection notice after their cheques bouncing – something that had happened a lot throughout the two years, according to Nielsen.
She says the tenants then took off, leaving her with an “out of this world mess.”
Trash, boxes, old equipment have been left outside. Inside, clothing and empty food containers are strewn everywhere, while animal fur and dirt cake the carpet. There’s also a litter box that sits full of feces.
“This is just totally disgusting,” Nielsen says. “I wouldn’t even refer to them as a human being because no one should do something like that.
“They just literally have garbage from one end of the house to the other.”
When she contacted police, while officers were sympathetic, Nielsen says they told her there was nothing they could do for her because she didn’t complete a Moving In Report, an inspection that’s required under the Residential Tenancies Act.
Mike Berezowsky with Service Alberta says that, under the Act, both tenants and landlords must complete both a Moving In and a Moving Out inspection report.
“If there isn’t an inspection report done when a tenant moves it, if there’s a dispute later on it makes it more difficult if there are some problems,” he explains. “Say, for example, the landlord wants to seek some compensation to damages to the property, well, there’s no evidence of what kind of state the property was in when the tenant moved in.”
Nielsen says not getting that inspecting report done was the biggest mistake she’s made, and hopes others will learn from it.
“Please don’t make the mistake I made because this is what can happen: that you can find a tenant that can just wreck your whole place.”
Global News tried to contact the tenants, but both of their phone numbers are out of service.
With files from Laurel Clark, Global News
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