The landlord shared photos of the flat’s former pristine condition. Photo: guancha.cn
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https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2160783/chinese-landlord-shocked-well-groomed-millennial-renters-leave People & Culture
Chinese landlord shocked as ‘well-groomed’ millennial renters leave flat looking like a pigsty
Tenants smashed furniture and television and left without paying all their bills
The landlord complained about the mess and smell in the flat. Photo: guancha.cn
A flat owner was shocked after his “well-groomed” millennial tenants left his newly furnished flat in north China in a shambolic condition, filled with broken furniture and rotten food, and then disappeared without paying all their bills, according to local media.
Photos and video shared by the owner showed the condition that flat in Dalian in Liaoning province had been left in after less than a year – including piles of rubbish, a cracked granite table and walls stained with soup and sauces – and contrasted them with images of the place in a pristine condition before he started renting it out.
The renters also left about 700 yuan (US$102) of utility bills unpaid and then cut their contact with the flat owner, Peninsula Morning Post reported on Saturday.
The flat owner, identified only by his surname Wang, told the newspaper that it may cost about 6,000 yuan to tidy the place and repair the furniture.
“They only paid 3,200 yuan as deposit, which is not enough to cover the loss,” said Wang.
Last year Wang leased his flat to two young women and thought they would take good care of the property, the report said.
“They were in their twenties and they dressed up very nicely,” said Wang.
Later one of the women moved out and the other’s boyfriend moved in.
After that Wang, who was working in south China, received several calls from neighbours complaining about the noise and strange smells coming from the flat.
He said that woman had told her that the granite table and television had been broken during a fight with her boyfriend. They messaged Wang and promised to replace them, but then failed to do so.
When the rental period was about to end in June, Wang found that the renters had started to ignore his messages, the report said.
After the contract finished and the pair of lovers left, Wang went back to Dalian to reclaim the flat, but was shocked by the condition he found it in.
“The air was so pungent that I felt a little spark could cause it to ignite,” Wang told the newspaper.
After seeing the room, Wang tried to call the woman to discuss compensation, but she cut off all contact with him.
Wang decided not to pursue the matter any further and used his own money to make good the damage.
“I tried to call cleaners to tidy the room, but after they arrived and saw the room, they all dropped my request no matter how much I offered to pay,” he said.
He had to clean up the worst of the mess himself and then pay the cleaners back into a fit condition to rent it.
“How could such well-dressed women make their living place so disgusting?” he asked in a social media post on Friday that included pictures of the damage.
He added that parents should educate their children about household duties and hygienic habits.