The DPS has today published details of the most bizarre items tenants have left behind when they leave a property.

Some of the stuff makes the mind boggle.

Sex toys, saucy underwear and bondage equipment were all cited in our poll of over 1000 landlords.

It wasn’t just sex toys being forgotten. One landlord told us that he walked into the property to find all the plants from the garden had been dug up and left in the living room; another told us their tenants had left a boat in the front room, complete with trailer and one tenant even left the engine from a lorry in their sitting room!

Tenants also left heaps of rubbish and mess while others left animals including parrots, snakes and a lizard.
Our top ten list of bizarre items makes interesting reading:

1. Sex Toys
2. An elephant’s foot
3. Ashes of a dead person
4. A pot bellied pig
5. A box containing nail clippings
6. A crash test dummy
7. A pair of synthetic breasts
8. A glass bowl covered with cling film containing 17 live spiders
9. A plastic hand with a fork attached
10. 7 cans of gravy granules

Who would have thought someone would need so many cans of gravy? I think the results show there is plenty of stuff going on behind people’s closed doors that we don’t know about and if this is what they leave behind, what are they taking with them?

But there is a serious point too.

Tenants should remember to leave their property in good condition at the end of a tenancy. If there is damage to a property or items on the original inventory are not left behind it could reduce a tenant’s chances of getting their deposit back.

Since 2007, landlords have been obligated under law to register their deposit with one of the three tenancy deposit protection schemes. As the only government accredited custodial scheme, we are completely free and landlords can register and make deposit payments any time of the day. It makes sense for landlords to register their deposits with us.

If you are a landlord and your tenant has left behind some strange items we would love to hear from you, so leave us a comment. If there is anything that could beat an elephant’s foot or a pot bellied pig I would be very surprised and like to know!