Aussie couple's rental left in 'putrid' state by friend: 'Horror show'
A Melbourne couple’s rental home has been turned into a “putrid” mess littered with rubbish and faeces after they offered the place to a friend in need, trusting she would take care of it.
Andrew Robson and his partner Jay had been renting the home in Point Cook when they decided to move to Queensland in 2019. Their landlord, a family friend, asked them to find someone who could move in during their absence.
That’s when they thought of Emily – a single mum of three whose own lease had ended and was “stressed” about finding a place to move in to. They met her in 2018 and got to know her and kids and considered her a “friend”.
“We offered her to move into this place. She moved in, it was a very smooth transaction, no hassles, it was good for the first month,” Andy said in a TikTok video.
But soon the mum was running into financial difficulty, which Andy and Jay initially put down to Covid.
“However it just became more frequent, more often, where she needed money for supporting the kids, money for school, money for whatever reason you could think of,” Jay said, including money for rent.
Over the three-year period that Emily lived in the home, inspections were frequently missed or denied with a variety of excuses. Eventually, the homeowner decided the situation was no longer working and in July gave the family three months to vacate the home.
“During that three months the owner tried again and again to get in and have a look, and every time was met with excuse after excuse,” Andy said. “Being a friend we trusted her word, clearly that trust was misplaced."
After being handed the notice to vacate, Andy and Jay were met with “a lot of hostility”, they said. The date to vacate came and went on October 10, but the mum refused to leave and rent payments ceased completely.
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Shocking footage reveals 'horror show'
Two weeks ago, the couple received a call from the landlord informing them that Emily had finally moved out, prompting them to drive through the night to Melbourne to see the home for themselves.
Shocking video shows every room in the home filled with rubbish and food scraps, with filth and graffiti on the walls and damaged furniture. Beds were overturned with the mattresses on the floor, while the stovetop was caked in burnt food and there was even faeces found in the pantry.
In a GoFundMe page started to raise money for the clean up, Andy described the moment they discovered the horrific state of the home.
“What we found instead of the beautiful home we remembered is nothing more than an absolute horror show. Every wall drawn on, broken furniture throughout, rubbish and bodily fluids everywhere. Now Emily has taken to the hills and left us with this destroyed memory and heartbreak,” he wrote.
As Emily had moved in on an informal agreement and has now disappeared, the homeowner has been left with a huge clean up bill estimated by the real estate agent to cost between $15,000 to $30,000.
The couple is now looking for volunteers to assist in the clean up this weekend, meeting at Sidney Nolan Park in Point Cook on Saturday and Sunday at 9am. Those assisting are encouraged to bring wheelbarrows, whipper snippers, gernies, gloves and sponges.
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