27 Landlords Document The Devastating Condition Of Houses Left By Nightmarish Tenants

Just a warning about trusting "friends" and not doing regular inspections. Tenant was a friend of wife, paid mostly on time, never had any problems or called for anything, was here 3 yrs before not renewing lease due to rent increasing. She always had excuse not to inspect. Wrong

I have a property that has been rented out to a couple (with children) for a one year lease. They have paid their rent (always late) up until 3 months ago. Their lease ends at the end of July but I was notified by them on July 3rd that due to them not paying the water or electric (which is in their name) the utilities were cut off. Mind you I live in Virginia so it gets almost a 100 degrees daily. I told them that I would like them to vacate the premises on July 3rd due to it being uninhabitable and non payment of rent.

I also notified them that I would be doing a walkthrough July 7th to assess my property. Well I did the walkthrough and it was horrible. Only had the place since 2020 always a rental property and it was a new build and the house is destroyed. Their was dog and rabbit feces on the ground, apparently they also had 2 cats (the lease says no pets!) and their was layers of waste in the toilets because they weren’t able to flush so they just left it there. I told them that they need to leave ASAP.

They both agreed to leave on Sunday July 9th. On July 9th one of the tenants (they have broken up) stated she has left the keys and she is gone. Then the other tenant says she can’t come and she doesn’t have a key and that since she doesn’t have an eviction notice she will leave on Wednesday July 12th. I provided them 3 keys so how is it my responsibility to get you access to the property again? Also I want to change the locks on July 13th, am I legally allowed to do this? My court date for the eviction isn’t until August 1st but if the place is uninhabitable what am I supposed to do? Let feces and rotten food sit for 2 weeks to get more flies and damage my property further? If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it!