A bunch of families have been held hostage by an invasion of wall-climbing rats who have even chewed through Christmas presents.
Hundreds of the rodents have posed a problem for more than two years now and residents in the Overland Mews apartment block, in Peterborough, have had enough.
Some of the council flat tenants are now withholding their rent in protest over the housing association’s lack of action.
Abbie Snart, 25, said she’s had sleepless nights and the rats managed to get in her car and set the car alarms off.
‘Every time I went to my car they’d be running around inside. It’s an infestation,’ she said.
‘We have small rats, medium rats and absolutely massive rats that are scary. They’re making their burrows in the mud.
‘If you look at the front of the properties, all around the bin area, there’s mud patches and holes where they mate and have babies.
‘We’ve had five cars damaged so far on the road, and I’ve personally had a seat belt completely chewed off my child’s car seat. I had to buy a new one.
‘And they are always on the windowsills or climbing the walls, so people especially on the ground floor can no longer really open their windows.’
Abbie is scared to take her bins out as well because the rats jump out at unsuspecting residents.
She said since moving to her flat with her children who are two and four-years-old, she has taken countless photos of the rats surrounding the block.
She added: ‘I know it’s winter, so it’s not a massive issue. But because we can’t open the windows, there’s mould appearing. So that’s leading to a further issue.
‘The rats chewed through the break line of one of the neighbour’s cars and they had to pay around £260, and they also have two young children.
‘And I had my nan and grandad over, and they were scared to park in the carpark to come and see me because they said they’d seen ten rats running around.’
Emmy Dean was forced to throw away Christmas presents because the rats broke into her car and gnawed at the gifts.
She said: ‘Even the ones they didn’t chew through have had to be thrown away as they have rat urine on them.
‘Losing the presents is financially crippling for us. We had hidden them there while our child was at home, and it was only one night.’
Abbie wrote to the housing association, Hyde Housing, but received a reply that said: ‘The pictures you sent do not show how the rats are getting into your vehicle and the damages do not appear to have been done by rodents.
‘We will not be reimbursing you for the items you claimed to be damaged by pests and I do not uphold your complaint.’
Abbie then wrote another letter on December 1 that said: ‘We are withholding our rent, which we’re within our legal right to do.
‘We want to be reimbursed for the items we’ve had to pay for to be fixed, and I was looking for compensation for my treatment by Hyde.
‘And we’d like an apology from Hyde.’
Adrian Addo, property team manager at Hyde Housing, said in response: ‘I’d like to apologise to our customers at Overland Mews for the issues they’re experiencing with rats – I know how distressing this can be.
‘Please be assured that we’re aware of the problem and have been working with Peterborough City Council’s refuse department, our pest control contractor and our grounds maintenance team to address the issues.
‘We have a full action plan in place. This includes removing hedges, as they’re used as hiding places for rats and conducting regular treatments including treating and filling in potential rat holes.
‘We’ve also written to residents to advise them to dispose of refuse responsibly.’
A spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: ‘We have previously been made aware of issues regarding overflowing bins in Overland Mews which was resolved after liaising with the housing association.
‘An officer from our environmental health team will visit the area to reassess the situation and will work with the housing association to take any appropriate action.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
