Tenants from hell leave house after vandalizing it

I work in mortgage servicing. This is much more common than you would believe.

I saw this listed on zillowgonewild today - your linked article has more of the back story and leaves me wondering why the property manager isn't being held responsible.

Sadly we saw quite a few houses in this condition while househunting from 2006-08, although it was the foreclosed homeowner doing the damage not tenants. In addition to spray paint and punching holes in every single piece of drywall, so many had plumbing systems destroyed by bags on concrete being flushed down toilets.

The property listing for this house also warns anyone looking to not open an unplugged freezer in the basement or go out on the deck that is no longer attached to the house. 

My parents have rental properties. They've had trashed homes, but not intentional in terms of damage or vandalism. Think more like hoarders who just up and move, leaving all their crap behind. What a catastrophe!

It is awful what some tenants do to properties. Years ago, our tenants moved out and took the copper pipes with them. It was nice of them to shut the water off. After those tenants moved on, our kids “rented” the house for several years. It’s empty now and I don’t have the stamina to rent again. Putting up for sale.

Is this not criminal? Destruction of property over a certain amount is a felony, right?

I just had a loan signing appointment near there last week!

What monsters leave helpless animals to die of thirst and hunger. Those poor, suffering, terrified cats. So much cruelty in the world.

I agree. Just as it's the asshole slumlords who can give all landlords a bad name and make some people think the landlords are monsters and the tenants are all angels.

There are shitty landlords and great ones. There are shitty tenants and great ones.

Judge people their ACTIONS, not by their label.

My one and only stint at being a landlord ended close to this situation. There were no dead pets (thank goodness) or unauthorized roof, but pretty much everything else on that list was done to my property. They paid for 1.5 months and then just stopped. I got them out with a legal eviction process after 5 more months. I spent the next year and a half trying to repair the damage. And then lost a ton in the eventual sale. Then the judgement against them, which I won, was made null and void by them declaring bankruptcy. I was 180 miles away so I couldn't check on them regularly nor work on the house every night after I got them out. I had to drive to the house on weekends and work on it as often as I could. There was an unplugged freezer incident that we discovered after a week of them being out. And...the wife was running a daycare facility from the location. I always wonder about the people who were taking their kids there - didn't they see?

My sister and her husband just went through something similar with a home they own in Oklahoma.

What was once a beautiful 1920's home with original hardwood, moulding and cabinetry was unrecognizable. The tenant was a hoarder and the home was filled with human and animal waste (in bottles and bags and then just on the floor at some point).

The wood was destroyed. Flooring pulled out in parts, cabinets spray painted black. Maggots, a skeletal dead litter of kittens...

These people should go to jail.

My parents owned a rental property when I was 14-15 yrs old. The tenants were trouble from day one. By the end of one year, the oldest son, who was 18, basically lit the house on fire. It was mostly smoke damage as the fire was contained early. He brought in a metal container into the living room and had a bbq of the contents of the house. My brother and I spent the whole summer hauling outside literally the entire interior of demolished/smoke damaged walls, doors, cupboards etc. My father is a cheap a$$hole. Instead of using the insurance money to hire people, he used us kids as slave labor. He essentially rebuilt the interior for a cheaply as he could and sold the house for a profit. I will never be a landlord. When I was young adult living on my own, I was super hesitant renting and always on guard (luckily I had good experiences). I agree with someone else that said there are a$$holes on both sides of the coin. And I wouldn't encourage my adult kids to be either(landlord or tenant)

There are 16 offers on the house so far

I thought the same.  Maybe the owners told the realtor, dump it, sell it as is, we are not putting a dime in to fix it.