A MUM has told how her flat is so infested with RATS that she found one climbing and defecating over her new-born as he slept in his cot – and her landlord couldn’t care less.
Courtney Ricketts, 24, avoids spending time in her vermin ridden South London home as much as she can – and finds herself crying most days due to the stress of it all.
2
Her three kids – aged five, four and seven-months old – are scared to even sleep in their own beds as they hear scurrying along the floor boards at night.
Courtney has lived in the flat in Denmark Gardens, Carshalton, for two years and first noticed the pests a year ago.
At the time she was pregnant with her youngest son and feared the horrific conditions she was bringing him into.
The desperate mum struggles to sleep at night and is in and out of her baby’s room every time he makes the slightest noise.
She is terrified even the faintest peep from him could be one of the horde of vermin home attacking him.
Courtney told MyLondon: “I can’t stop crying every night and I can’t sleep – it’s awful.”
In the most horrific experience to date – the mum checked on her baby boy in his cot.
But to her horror she found a massive rat right by his head with rat droppings all over the bed he had been sleeping in.
Most read in Property
Her two eldest children currently share the top bunk of their bunk bed as neither of the two wants to be close to the floor where the rats are.
While her five-year-old is too scared to go anywhere around the flat on his own.
She has contacted Sutton Housing Partnership – who manages her home – for assistance but she was told in no uncertain terms they “have no responsibility for the treatment of pests”.
“I’m 100% getting to breaking point, it’s been disgusting, normally I have a lot of patience but lately I’m just snapping at everything”, she said.
The problem has become so bad that she now fears having people over in case they see one of the resident pests that “make me look dirty“.
The problem has also hit Courtney where it hurts as she’s been forced to shell out a whopping £250 on rat traps.
It doesn’t have to be a mansion, it just needs to not have rats
Courtney Ricketts
And because the rodents are invading her food cupboards – she has to fork out extra dosh to replace the shopping they gobble up and infect.
The rats have even chowed down on her clothing and a new £60 jumper she got for her birthday got savaged and then covered in rat poo.
At its worst Courtney found four rats in her bathroom and a further three in the kitchen at the same time.
She believes the rats invaded during six weeks of work on drains at the property – when the pipe covers were left open.
The unbearable situation has even led her to consider moving from her current flat to give her family better living conditions.
She may now have to seek out private accommodation despite being unable to afford it – she’s even threatened to take the landlord to court.
Courtney stressed: “It doesn’t have to be a mansion, it just needs to not have rats.”
The rats have affected Courtney’s mental health and been devastating for her eldest who has ADHD – he wakes her at night saying he’s scared.
The mum also lives in fear the rats will chew something and “cause a fire in my home while me and my children sleep”.
A Sutton Housing Partnership spokesperson told MyLondon: “We are very sorry that the resident has an ongoing issue with rats in her home and are working with her to resolve this.
“Our repairs team has visited the property regularly since she first reported the issue and has closed all points of access. We are also now supplying free bait boxes”.
2
