Mum-to-be’s home is over-run with rodents
Rats scratching around loft space above her top flat
A pregnant woman due her first baby in just three weeks has slammed her landlord for failing to eradicate rats from her Rutherglen home.
Stephanie Sweeney who lives in a top-floor flat on Westburn Road says rats have been running about her loft space for more than six weeks.
The 24- year- old, who lives alone, says she is frightened to bring her baby back to the flat owned by Rutherglen and Cambuslang Housing Association.
First thinking the scratching noise was caused by pigeons or squirrels, Stephanie says South Lanarkshire Council’s pest control confirmed it was rats when officers first visited her home in early February.
She said: “Pest Control has been putting poison down and coming back a week later but it seems like the problem is getting worse. There’s more and more of them and I can hear them.
“He said give me three or four days and he would get rid of them for me. “That was weeks ago.” A prison custody officer, Stephanie says the rat infestation is making her ill with worry and exhaustion.
She said: “I have three and half weeks left to go. I can’t sleep, it’s driving me crazy.
“The housing association keep fobbing me off saying it’s not that bad. I have asked them to get me another house until it’s sorted.
“I don’t feel confident bringing a baby into this. I think I’ll end up going into hospital early I’m that stressed out.
“I had to take maternity leave early because I have not been sleeping, I’m exhausted.”
A spokesman for Rutherglen and Cambuslang Housing Association said the environmental services department of South Lanarkshire Council was sent to the building when it was first notified of a problem on February 4.
He said: “we instructed them to carry out the appropriate action to deal with the problem which involves weekly visits to traps laid by the council.
“A possible access point was also identified and the association has sealed this up.
“We spoke to the tenant l a s t F r iday and she is understandably concerned at the ongoing situation given that she is pregnant and we asked environmental services if they would increase the frequency of their visits which they have agreed to do in the circumstances.
“Total eradication can take several weeks but we will work with the tenant and environmental services to solve the problem and offer the tenant what support we can.
“Unfortunately rat infestations can occur in areas without any specific obvious cause and we are satisfied that we have addressed this promptly and taken the appropriate action.”