Anything from dirty toilet paper , underpants in the fridge and even dead pets are just a few of the strange and disgusting "gifts" that ex-tenants have left in the properties for the landlords to clear out.

This is besides the more normal cases of unkempt gardens and broken furniture that are common causes for landlords and tenants disputes which accounts for half of arguments between the two parties.

The research reported that some of the polled landlords had found filthy toilet paper in a corner of the bathroom and dead pets stuffed behind wardrobes. Other highly disgusting discoveries were human excrement on radiators, and increasingly becoming more common, drug equipment. There were reports of boilers being removed from properties.

Twenty two per cent of landlords reported that that they had entered into disputes with tenants and half of which were over property damage.

Forty two per cent of disagreements arose from the lack of cleaning carried out by tenants when vacating properties and nearly a third was caused by the condition that the gardens were left in.

Helen Brooker, Head of an Insurance company, said: "Landlords put a lot of trust in tenants. Even if they do background checks, there’s still an element of the unknown when they let someone they barely know live in their property.

 

"Renting out properties, especially for the first time, can be an eye-opening experience," she warns.

PIMS Richard Merrick says " We  do find that that some of our members will initially keep checks on their property and that in nine out of ten cases disputes occur if this practise is not kept up during the whole of the tenancy.

"It can be easy to be "lulled" into a false sense of security and we advise everyone to be vigilant as your property is a considerable investment."