Western Morning News (Saturday)
Tenant plagued by smells from abandoned home
AWOMAN in north Cornwall plagued by horrific smells from a neighbouring abandoned house has said she’s had enough.
Martine Davey, who lives at Eglos Parc, Wadebridge, said her house had stunk of rotten food and worse ever since her nextdoor neighbour seemingly left for good.
Ms Davey, a council tenant, said another resident last saw her neighbour in December, putting a suitcase into a taxi. Since then, the house has apparently been unoccupied.
However, the house was said to have been left in an unfit state. Bin bags, unwashed plates, food waste and other mess remain in the property. As a result, Ms Davey’s home smells like “food which has been left out”. She said when she woke up in the morning she was hit with the smell immediately.
“Just after Christmas, I realised there was a smell coming through and I couldn’t get rid of it. I realised I hadn’t heard of anything from the woman next door. My other neighbour said she had seen her leave in a taxi back in December,” she said.
“I rang the council, saying I’m a bit concerned about next door and asked if they knew if anyone was there. The police went in to do a welfare check, but confirmed no one was there. The officer assured me it was empty, but said he wasn’t surprised about the smell. He said the house was a ‘disgrace’ inside, with pots in the sink and dirty left-out food everywhere.”
Ms Davey said she reported this to Cornwall Council in January, as both her and her neighbour’s homes were under council tenancies. She said housing officers promised to sort the problem out. However, months went by, the smell became worse and the house remained empty. Ms Davey said her tap water smelt of rotting food and was becoming “unbearable”. Local cats entered the property via an open window and she said she could see the mess inside through a kitchen window, and in the back garden there were “mountains” of black bags that had not been taken out.
Despite several calls to the council, Ms Davey said that by the end of March she was still no closer to getting the problem resolved – or finding out what had happened to her neighbour. “I told the council it was getting ridiculous,” she said.
“People were knocking on my door complaining about the smell. Then on May bank holiday, I got home and my cat brought in a rat. I’ve had enough now.
“My sink is connected to theirs and so the smell drifts through. When I put my clothes in the wash it comes out smelling like smelly socks. I can’t open my windows and there are rats all the time.” She added that she was “constantly” putting bleach down the drain, to no avail, and that she was “disgusted” by the state she was living in.
The mystery of Ms Davey’s neighbour’s whereabouts has left her, and the council, perplexed. She said: “I never saw my neighbour go out, really. I know she left a few times when she was unwell. It just seems like it’s been abandoned.”
A Cornwall Housing spokesperson said of the issue: “Following the issue reported by Mrs Davey, we have been investigating the whereabouts of the tenant… and will continue to make efforts to contact the tenant, check on their well-being and understand their situation better. The terms of the secure tenancy agreement do not permit Cornwall Housing to force entry and assume control of this home.
“However, we can confirm that we are treating this property as abandoned and served Notice to Quit. Officers from our housing management team will continue to check on the property and resolve the waste issues as quickly as we can for the benefit of Mrs Davey and other neighbours.”