‘Financially ruined’: Landlord faces $2m clean-up

They looked like ordinary tenants. They sounded legitimate. But for a growing number of Victorian landowners, those rental agreements allegedly ended with asbestos, industrial waste and a nightmare clean-up bill. What began as a simple lease agreement has, for some owners on Melbourne’s fringe, become a financial and environmental disaster, with properties allegedly transformed into illegal dump sites almost overnight. Jacob Cheu knows that nightmare all too well. The Brisbane-based owner said his family’s property in Sunbury, 38km from Melbourne, was rented out just four months ago to a man who appeared to tick every box. MORE NEWS ‘Loser’: Owner’s illegal act in neighbour fight Cop accused of taking over dead man’s home Where single Aussies can move for under $4000 Speaking to A Current Affair, Cheu said the prospective tenant claimed he wanted the land for horses and even brought his child along, giving the impression everything was legitimate. “They say they wanted to rent the property for their horses, they brought their child along, so everything looked very above board,” he said. “There’s nothing, you know, suspicious at that point.” Property owner Jacob Cheu found mountains...