The garage door was pushed in, the floor was covered in dirt, food and dishes littered the kitchen and cockroaches had infested the house.

The tenant’s bond will not cover even half the damage costs, according to the property owners. “We just want to warn other landlords to be careful about who rents the property,” they said this week.

The tenant moved in last December with her boyfriend, two other adult males and five children including a newborn.

“She started with a six-month lease and up until June the property was kept reasonable and there were no big issues,” the landlords said.

“She paid all of her rent up front, so there was no issue. But problems started when we re-signed her on a periodic lease because people had inquired about buying the property.”

Complaints from neighbours started in August, they said.

“There were noise disturbances, out-of-control drinking and they were doing burn-outs on the street.

“Neighbours told us police raided the home and found drugs.”

After an inspection, the landlords issued the tenants with a breach notice. “Quite a few things were damaged, plants out the front had gone and the home was quite messy.

“We issued another breach notice and said we would be back in 14 days to re-inspect. Nothing was done about it so we gave her a termination notice of 60 days. The home was trashed.”

During the tenant’s stay, a real estate agent was taking potential buyers through the house.

“He informed us the house was in a state, stank and it was not wise to take anyone else through the house until she (the tenant) had left.”

The landlords said the woman was supposed to vacate the house on October 10. “She rang and said she had another property but she could not get the keys until next week. So we decided to give her another week. But a week later, she told us she needed another week.”

The landlords then went to the house and saw the damage.