Private landlords Jax Ayton and her husband David, from Darlington, were horrified to find their property had been trashed by a past tenant and stripped bare by thieves.
Left uninhabitable after the tenant had knocked holes in the wall, burned down the garage and left animal mess everywhere, the Ayton’s were even more dismayed to see that opportunist thieves had also stripped out the metal pipes, boiler and electrical wiring. Repairs will now cost between £17,000 and £23,000.
In this situation many landlords would throw in the towel, but Jax and David have come up with a unique and novel solution.
The couple have put the three bed terrace back up for rental for free! The home, worth around £500 per month in rent, will be advertised as ‘for rent’ with one condition for the new tenants – they must renovate the property while living there.
The Ayton’s had gone through a lengthy eviction process and found themselves unable to afford to rectify the huge amount of damage. They hope this solution will help both tenant and landlord.
“’We found out the property was ruined in January, so we took steps to evict her. It’s a lengthy process and the law is not on the side of landlords, so she left the property in April,” said Jax. “We found the property in the state it was in after the tenant fell into arrears. We were absolutely devastated.”