THE damage wrought to Jan Ryan’s family home in Epsom left her devastated.
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Over the course of two years, tenants allegedly caused thousands of dollars of damage to the interior, requiring months of work to clean up.
Because they were not on the lease, it was a tough task having them evicted. The house had been leased to their older relatives, who left soon after.
“My agent told them my nephew would be moving in – it was the only way to get them out. We still had to wait another three months though,” Ms Ryan said.
The house on Howard Street had been left to Ms Ryan after the passing of her father. She said the memories they shared in the house remained fresh, even when she walked through inspecting the damage left behind.
“There was rubbish everywhere, drug paraphernalia, about 100 empty beer bottles, bongs,” Ms Ryan said.
“The whole house was just a mess. We changed the locks immediately once they were out.”
The house is now back to its former glory.
Ms Ryan brought her story to the Bendigo Advertiser after reading an article about two homeless people who claimed they were in their predicament because of an unjustified blacklisting by local real estate agents.The two people had rented her house.
Another couple, who chose to remain anonymous, claim that $27,000 in damage was caused to their Bendigo home. The two people had moved in immediately after leaving Ms Ryan’s house in August. The owner of the house went public in the hope that others would not find themselves in the same situation.
“There are genuine people in the Bendigo community that need assistance, these two are not those people,” he said.
He had to take his matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal before they were eventually evicted three months later. They have been homeless ever since.
The house owner said the current balance between landlords and tenants was “about right”, as there were always two sides to every story.
The homeless pair claimed the damage was caused by other people who had lived in the house at the same time. Both Ms Ryan and the second house owner disputed the claim.