A messy feud over a suburban home in London is over, now comes the cleanup

A London, Ont., family that bought a home already being rented by a family of tenants who refused to leave has finally closed the deal after a protracted and increasingly bitter feud between the two families. 

Kate Smith and Jeff Skuse originally tried to buy the four-bedroom home in White Oaks in June, but the sale was stymied by an uncooperative family of tenants, who Smith said used a number of tactics to discourage them, including throwing parties during showings and slandering them in online forums.

For months, Smith and Skuse agonized over potentially losing out on the $527,000 home that Smith said "fits their family needs," all the while being harried by their own landlord, who wanted their family out of their apartment by August 31.

Now that they've finally closed on the deal and received the keys, Smith said she's relieved the battle is over.

"The last six months have been kind of hellish to be entirely candid and it's really, really cool to know that in two weeks we will be living here." 

First, Smith and Skuse have a lot of work to do. The couple must now clean and repair much of the damage left by the family of tenants who used to live there, including urine-soaked carpets from what Smith believes may have been a dog-breeding operation and what she describes as "fist-size" holes in doors and a wall. 

"I've never had to clean this much," she said of the general state of the house. "We knew the house needed some love but I don't think we were capable of knowing how much." 

The former tenants declined an interview with CBC News.

CBC News has decided not to name the man and the woman since they bought a house in St. Thomas and no longer participate in the rental market.

Shahin Tabeshfard, the London realtor who represents the family who sold the home to Smith and Skuse, called the situation involving the uncooperative tenants "unique" and something he has never seen in his 15 years as a realtor in the city. 

"These were the worst tenants I've ever come across," he said, adding that when his clients finally entered the property, the house, "was left in disarray, the landlord had to spend several full days cleaning and repairing the damage caused by the tenants in order to prepare for the new owners." 

"It was not a pleasant experience for all those involved," he said. "It really speaks to the issues with the Landlord Tenant Board and the way this sector is regulated." 

Ontario's troubled Landlord Tenant Board has been in the crosshairs of critics for years over the glacial pace of its proceedings, the latest of which was a report by the Ontario Ombudsman, who said the tribunal is"fundamentally failing" in its ability to deliver swift justice.

What used to take a matter of days can now takes up to eight months, Paul Dubé said in the report. The tribunal's swollen backlog caused by a lack of adjudicators appointed by the provincial government has denied justice to tens of thousands renters and landlords in need of intervention, he added.