Ellendale landlord outraged after rental home is destroyed by vengeful tenants

An Ellendale-area landlord is outraged and speaking out, claiming vengeful tenants destroyed her rental property following an eviction notice for failing to pay their rent.

After months of trying to work things out, even going as far as to knock money off the amount of rent they were behind on, Haley Evans, of Chesapeake Beach, said she had no choice but to evict the tenants her rental property in Ellendale.

Following the eviction, Evans arrived at the home Monday morning to do a walk through in preparation of finding new renters for the property. When she walked through the door, she said her jaw dropped.

“I opened up the door and the stench of urine, trash, the most horrid smells you could ever think of, hit me in the face like a ton of bricks,” Evans explained. “As I was looking around there was garbage everywhere, roaches, coloring on the walls, unimaginable things, feces caked on the floor from a dog which was clearly abused, remnants of children, diapers, baby bottles, clothes, shoes. It was really a tragic, tragic scene.”

The tenants occupied the home for around two years and did not live like this, according to Evans who said she would visit the home twice a year.

Evans claimed the tenants, a married couple with three children, fell behind on their rent over the course of several months. After countless attempts to work with them to remedy the situation, the amount of rent owed exceeded $1,000 and Evans decided to file for an eviction notice.

After discovering the condition of the property, Evans bursted into tears. She could not believe that the place she once called home, the first property she ever owned, was in the state it was in.

Outraged and dismayed, Evans recorded a video of the damage and took to social media to vent. The post quickly viral and many in the community provided help to clean and repair the damages, including Eric Moyer, owner of Paint N Stuff in Milton, who offered to paint the home’s entire interior for free and said the damage is the worst he’s ever encountered.

“This is probably the worst one that I’ve seen so far,” Moyer said. “The amount of damage and the stuff that will have to be replaced and the work that needs to be done to get it liveable again.

Overall damage to the property is estimated to cost Evans and her family anywhere between $5,000 to $7,000.

Moving forward, Evans and her husband are considering legal action.