Watch out for the unexpected when you move into a rented home, according to The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS).

Sex toys were the number one item left behind by departing tenants, followed by rubbish, rotting food, furniture/domestic appliances, cats, condoms, cannabis plants, dirty nappies, dead animals and pornographic videos.

Kevin Forth, client services director at The DPS, said: “More than 1,000 landlords across the UKwere keen to talk to us about the items that their tenants had left behind, which certainly reinforces the message of selecting the right renters from the very start of the lease. Cleaning up after tenants who have made a hasty exit is an unfortunate part of the landlord’s job.”

In addition, The DPS research exposed some other bizarre objects including pairs of false teeth, illegal immigrants, Nazi memorabilia, bed bugs, a pair of fake breasts, bomb making equipment with a large quantity of fertilizer, a wallet with £100 - ‘to help pay the bills we’ve left’ - and a milk bottle filled with blood, just to name a few.