A family that left a Dunedin rental an "indescribable" mess have previously lived in similar conditions in Christchurch where inches of dog faeces blanketed a room, landlords say.

They now want to warn other property owners of Eve and Douglas Constable-Brown, who they allege left their houses in foul condition, fell behind on rent and refused to leave when the house they rented was sold.

Two landlords say they sought action through the Tenancy Tribunal, and the couple now face scrutiny from SPCA Otago after concerns were raised about pets they owned.

SUPPLIED The family tried to clean dog faeces from the floor before leaving. There was a bucket of faeces at door and an old armchair was dripping with urine when removed.

The family's rental home near Dunedin made headlines after they moved out leaving the new owner with a clean-up bill worth tens of thousands of dollars.

"[The mess] was indescribable. What I couldn't comprehend was the smell, how strong it was, it was foul," the new owner said.

"On the benches ... you could see where the cats were walking around, there were maggots on the stove, there was cat s... in every cupboard, there's nowhere there wasn't cat s...."

SUPPLIED Professional cleaners in hazchem suits remove items from the house.

The new owner, who would only go by the name Skip, said he bought the house and 10-hectare property from the Constable-Browns' former landlord Lester Davey. Davey sold it for $350,000 - about $100,000 less than he paid for it.

Skip said he wanted to view the property at open home sessions, but claimed the Constable-Browns were abusive towards the real estate agent and did not let anyone on the property. He eventually bought it without looking inside.

Skip wanted to move in before Christmas, but said the Constable-Brown family trespassed him from his own property and refused to leave.

SUPPLIED Abandoned equipment the Constable-Brown family left behind at the house they rented near Dunedin.

Davey took the family to the Tenancy Tribunal to obtain an order for them to move out. They owed about $6900 in rent arrears.

"Their attitude was that they had nowhere to go, so they stayed," the landlord said.

He said the family did not meet the midnight January 23 deadline to move away, but eventually shifted, leaving behind the house for Skip.

Skip believed the family housed more than 30 cats and four dogs. some of which appeared to be living in squalid conditions inside the house.

He said it appeared a dog was locked in a large 6m by 4m, windowless chiller on the property.

Animal faeces, urine, rubbish and belongings were strewn across the house, and it seemed the house was rarely aired out, he said.

Skip estimated it would cost $15,000 to $20,000 to have the property professionally cleaned before the house was stripped back to its timber framing and repaired.

"We thought we would be in for a bit of a clean up, rubbish and your normal clean up when you move into a new place, but we weren't expecting that."

It is unclear where the Constable-Browns have since moved, but Skip and the landlord understood they were moving to Christchurch.

The Constable-Browns' son, Tyrell Brown, believed his father was in Dunedin, but did not know where his mother was.

'INCHES OF FAECES' IN WOOLSTON HOME

Stuff spoke to another former landlord, David Collins, who rented his Rutherford St house in Woolston to the family for more than a decade. They moved out in 2012 after the quake-damaged house needed repairing.

"They are hoarders, they had an amazing amount of stuff. When the EQC inspectors came to look at the damage you couldn't see the walls because there was so much stuff. There was boxes and furniture and all sorts of stuff. [EQC] couldn't check the place because there was so much junk.

"One whole room, there was obviously a dog left in there, there were inches of faeces."

Collins said it cost hundreds of dollars to clean the place.

He and Davey said other landlords should think carefully before renting properties to the family.

"You simply wouldn't do it, they are bad news all round," Davey said.

Tyrell Brown said he did not know why his parents allowed the houses to get into the condition they did. He claimed dogs were kept inside because Skip's dogs came on to the property and attacked them when he worked on a nearby property.

He said they tried to clean the Dunedin house but Davey did not give them time. Brown said Davey was "pretty terrible" and the family went without hot water for seven months.

Davey countered that by saying he had it repaired once they got in touch. He said they used the hot water issue as an excuse to stop paying rent.

"My guess was they didn't ring because they didn't want people in the house."

Davey accepted some responsibility for the house getting into that condition. He lived and worked in Waimate, and believed he should have kept a closer eye on the tenants.

"At the start they were OK, then they started getting a bit stranger. They got off-side with all the neighbours and started barricading themselves in."

SPCA Otago chief executive Sophie McSkimming said the organisation was investigating what may have occurred with animals living at the house. She would not comment further or say whether the family was known to them.

Eve and Douglas Constable-Brown did not respond to questions for comment.