After finally getting tenants evicted from his rental property last week, a Saint John landlord says he has no option but to tear the house down after seeing the damage they caused.

Truman Hayward said he only saw the damage after he was taken inside after the sheriff, police and social assistance removed the family with five children, ages six months to eight years old.

"When I was invited inside they told me, 'you'd better brace yourself.'"

Truman Hayward thinks province should allow landlords to evict sooner after his rental property is left damaged and filthy. 1:34

The landlord was met with piles of garbage strewn throughout the house and feces spread across the walls.

The smell of rotting food and human waste was overwhelming, he said.

"Unbelievable that they could even...you wouldn't put an animal in there, and here there's five children," said Hayward.

Animals left behind

But there were animals living in the house with the family — a dog and two cats that the tenants left behind.

Someone returned for the dog, breaking into the two-story house to get it, but left the cats behind with no food or water. Hayward had to call the SPCA to come and get them.

Children's handprints are mixed with feces on a wall in the house. (Matthew Bingley/CBC) "I got a house that's worth nothing and you know I still got a mortgage on it," said Hayward.

"It's just heartbreaking... what do you do, I mean, I've got to pay for a house that I'm gonna tear down."

Hayward said he had no idea things were that bad inside.

"While they were here, they had a newborn baby. And the baby is now six months old and there's been people in checking on the baby and there's been people checking on, I assume checking on these people," said Hayward.

"And I assumed that everything was OK because people were in and I was just gasping for air when I come in by the sheriff on Thursday and saw the mess of this house."

Problem getting rent

Hayward said the tenants lived there for eight months and during that time he started having a problem getting the rent.

Dumpsters being filled with garbage from the rental house. (Matthew Bingley/CBC) "They kept putting me off and putting me off and telling me stories," said Hayward. "I guess this is what you get for not being tough. I didn't want to put them out in the winter because they had five kids."

Finally, in April Hayward decided to evict the family from the house he bought 14 years ago for $80,000. But he is upset with how long it took and how difficult it was to get the family out.

"I've been working on this for a month to get these people out of here. It's not easy to get people evicted from a house," said Hayward. (There's) one stipulation after another, one thing stalls it off. It drags on and on...nothing easy. Now my house is destroyed."

Little recourse

Hayward said he has had no luck reaching the Office of the Rentalsman to date to see if he can recoup anything, and he's not sure his insurance company will cover the costs of the damages.

In an e-mail to CBC News on behalf of the Office of the Rentalsman, a spokesperson wrote that both landlords and tenants can apply for help when they can't resolve differences - but did not address questions about this case specifically.

Hayward said every time someone moves out, he has spent $3,000 to $4,000 to repair the building.

"But $20,000 won't fix this. Not worth it with the taxes and everything," the landlord said.

"I had no idea what it was like in the house. I should have moved on it, I'm guilty of that, that's for sure."