Image: Contributed / Junk and debris left inside a Chilliwack rental home near Young Road and Chilliwack Central Road. A Chilliwack property owner estimates it will take thousands and thousands of dollars to repair the home. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack rental home

Property owner stunned after tenant leaves Chilliwack rental home in complete disarray

Dec 11, 2024 | 10:08 AM

CHILLIWACK — Longtime Chilliwack resident Tony Gore of the Gore Brothers construction family estimates it might take thousands of dollars to repair a rental home near Valley Toyota in Chilliwack after a tenant abandoned the residence in December and left the home in complete disarray.

Gore provided Fraser Valley Today this week with pictures from the interior of the home depicting piles of garbage throughout the home, kitchen, bathroom and elsewhere. The doors were kicked in and a rodent invasion has taken over the home, he said, in addition to the stench of rotting food.

Image: Contributed / Leftover garbage inside a Chilliwack rental home.

“We’ll have to get a bin and get the garbage out,” Gore casually said over the phone Tuesday morning. “I’m almost thinking the kitchen cupboards might need to be replaced. That kind of garbage usually affects the flooring. I’m going out on a limb here, but it might need a new kitchen, maybe a new bathroom, but until we get the garbage out it’s hard to make that call. The stench is overwhelming from rotting food and rodents. We can hear the sound of mice squeaking.”

Things were going well at the Chilliwack rental home up until December 2024. The tenant, a mom of three kids, had always paid her rent on time, while the Gore Brothers staff had conducted yearly inspections of the home, including a thorough inspection roughly seven months prior.

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“She’s been a really good tenant of 6 years,” Gore said. “That’s a long time. She always paid her rent. We’ve done inspections. Every year, we do our general inspections to check for plumbing leaks, or to make sure the smoke alarms are working. We do general checks on properties all the time because it’s part of our procedures. Our last inspection in May 2024 was normal. There were no major red flags. Everything was fine. There was no major damage to the exterior of the house. She kept the front yard clean. When we drove by, it’s not too bad because the front yard is clean.”

Something changed in December 2024 when the tenant failed to pay rent, prompting Gore Brothers to issue a 24-hour notice. The tenant stopped responding to the company and didn’t show up to meet the landlord. That’s when things went south.

“She didn’t pay December’s rent. We tried to reach out to her. She disappeared. We put a 24-hour notice on the door. We looked over the fence and saw the garbage in the backyard and wondered what was happening inside. Obviously, we were not expecting that.”

Image: Contributed / The bathroom inside a Chilliwack rental home where a tenant left it in complete disarray.

While Gore says his company is able to absorb the cost, he’s hoping he can prevent incidents like this moving forward.

“The landlord kind of gets the shaft,” he said. “There’s thousands and thousands of dollars in damage and neglect. The landlord gets the raw end of the deal. At the end of the day, I don’t blame her. If she contacted me, I’m not coming after her. It would be good to hear her side to prevent it from happening again.”

Incidentally, there are no signs of drug use or drug paraphernalia inside the home.

“We don’t know if squatters got in, but for one person to make that much damage, it seems impossible,” Gore said. “We’re thinking she might have opened the door or befriended some homeless people.”

Image: Contributed / Endless junk and debris left inside a Chilliwack rental home.

In the meantime, Gore said his company is working to remediate the home.

“We’re doing our best to clean it up,” he said. “We have rentals, we understand it’s part of the business. We are more concerned about the tenant’s well-being and her kids’ well-being. We’re not coming after you. We’re just wondering what’s going on with the tenant. She’s probably embarrassed and worried that we’re coming after her for money. We’re not coming after her. It’d be nice to hear or see if she’s okay.”

Gore acknowledges that rental companies like his are able to absorb the cost, but realizes that incidents like this can sink a person with just one rental home given the thousands in damage, not to mention the time involved in fixing the home.

“It’s the unfortunate part of being a landlord that this happens,” Gore said. “We’ve got rentals and it’s part of the business. I’ve heard people with their horror stories [about being a landlord] and I can understand that if I had one rental, this could sink someone. If it was an average person with one rental as an extra house, this could financially destroy them.”