We had professional management companies doing inspections for 13 years while ours got trashed. They took £1000 a year in management fees. We were told things were fine and they were good tenants, until the last couple of years when the management company sold up to another company, and then we started to get photos of the inspections. The truth started to sink in. First we were appalled that there was a hole in the roof and felt awful. It wasn't until we got the house back that the rest of it started to come to light. But the state of the kitchen in the photos demonastrated that all was not well.

You can't rely on professional management companies. They let us down badly for 13 years.

But on everything else, I am so sorry this happened to you! 18 months to cause so much damage. That's awful. I am amazed you wanted to do AirBnB after that. We are just trying to sell.