A LANDLORD and his family were left speechless when neighbours they had never met rallied to clean up their house in Kidderminster after "nightmare" tenants left it in a state of disrepair.

According to the landlord's wife, who asked to remain anonymous, the tenants left the country after months of not paying rent, leaving the house off Sutton Park Road "in ruins", with soiled nappies and broken furniture strewn across the garden.

"The family had rented the property for two years but it wasn't until this year that the real problems started," she said. "They stopped paying rent on time way before the lockdown and when we gave them notice of eviction in February to move out in April, they just stopped paying altogether.

"I was heavily pregnant at the time so we needed to move in ourselves.

"We just wanted our house back, but they started refusing inspections - they wouldn't even let the gas safety inspector in, so we started to have concerns about the condition of the property.

"My husband eventually found out they were planning to leave the country - they still owed us thousands of pounds in rent which we're not expecting to get back now.

"We finally got the keys back, but the property was left in such a state, we were devastated.

"It was such a nice house but as soon as my husband looked over the fence he could see soiled nappies, underwear, broken furniture and rotten wood strewn across the garden. It was in complete ruins."

When the landlord turned up at the house last week to start clearing the rubbish left behind, he was surprised by a group of neighbours who had heard about their plight and turned up to lend a hand.

His wife told The Shuttle: "One lady across the road came over and started picking up bits of rubbish and another lady started taking the rubbish away.

"Another person came over and offered to take some things to the tip.

"Before we knew it, there were five or six people de-weeding the garden and taking things to the tip. People were taking cuttings from the plants in their own garden and planting them in ours.

"It was incredible, it brought a tear to my eye.

"The family right next door to us were blown away – they told us they had lived there decades but had never really moulded with the other residents. They couldn't believe how everyone had come together.

"They did all this for complete strangers. It really restores your faith in humanity."

The landlord's wife added: "We just want to say thank you to everyone in the neighbourhood that went out of their way to help our family.

"It was a completely selfless thing to do to give up their time and energy and their weekend to restore our house.

"My husband offered to pay them but they said no, they just wanted to help. We're just so grateful."