The couple rented the apartment and left. The landlord was shocked when he opened the apartment door.

CHINA – A young couple rented an apartment in Baoshan District, Shanghai, for about 2–3 months. But after they moved out, the landlord walked into a nightmare.

The horrifying scene inside the unit was captured by a real estate agent surnamed Liu. The tenants were a couple in their early 20s. During their short stay, they often delayed rent payments and dodged calls from the landlord.

A few days before vanishing, the pair texted the landlord claiming they had left 2,000 yuan (around $280) on top of the fridge. But when the landlord checked, there was no money—only filth and trash everywhere.

The shocking discovery was made on August 27.

“The kitchen by the entrance was stacked with takeout boxes and dirty pots. The bathroom was covered in mold and smelled unbearable. The floors were littered with garbage, swarming with flies—there wasn’t even a spot left to step on,” Liu recalled.
He added that the couple had also abandoned two kittens inside the apartment.

When the landlord opened the door, one of the kittens bolted out, terrified.

When confronted, the couple kept changing their story. At times, they claimed the money was “stolen.” Other times, they accused the landlord of taking the cash but still demanding more. With such brazen excuses, the landlord felt helpless and admitted he had simply been “unlucky.”

By August 29, Liu said most of the mess had been cleaned up. But the stench was so strong that several cleaning staff refused the job. Eventually, the landlord managed to hire three middle-aged workers willing to scrub the place.

After hours of hard labor, the apartment was mostly restored, though the foul smell lingered. The landlord now plans to repaint the walls and replace the furniture before renting it out again.

The story has since gone viral online, sparking heated debate over tenants’ responsibility and basic decency. Thousands of netizens slammed the couple’s behavior as shameless and unacceptable.

“Trashing the place is bad enough, but abandoning animals to starve? Absolutely disgusting,” one furious commenter wrote.

Others, however, urged people not to stereotype an entire generation.

“Not every post-2000 kid is irresponsible like this. This is just an extreme case and doesn’t represent the majority,” one user pointed out.