A family who have been living with rats inside of their home for as long as five months have said they can't take it anymore.
Antonia Dixon, a mum-of-three, first made the discovery of the rats around her home on Coatham Close, Hemlington , in July.
Since then, the problem has increasingly "just got worse".
Earlier this week, a rat was found dead in her neighbours back garden and she caught one running across her window sill.
The mum says it's "disgusting" but "has no other option".
She said: "At first it was just the odd one in the garden and them running in to the shed and the electric boxes.
"Now they're running on the window sills. You can even hear them running in the ceilings and the walls.
"This morning my neighbour found a dead one in her garden."
Antonia says that another resident, who lived nearby, has been forced to move out as they "can't deal with it any longer".
Antonia raises her three children, aged one, three and eight, in the house and is now worried about diseases spread by the rodents.
"I don't want them touching all the kids' stuff. They carry diseases and I don't want them running all over their toys," she added.
Though she has reported the problem to the council and housing provider Habinteg, Antonia says that rat poison put in the loft "didn't make a difference".
The 25-year-old has also purchased rat poison herself to try and combat the problem but fears that the "rats are breeding quickly".
She added: "I've spent a fortune on buying stuff to get rid of them and it's made no difference.
"They seem to eat the poison but its not killing them."
Housing provider Habinteg has put in a new order with the pest control team following the complaint from Antonia.
Sara Hendry, head of housing at Habinteg, said: “We take the welfare of our tenants very seriously.
"We are and have been working with residents to identify areas where we need to act and given advice to our customers on preventing vermin generally.
"A new order has been raised with a pest control team to bait the communal areas and we are working with Middlesborough Council and our residents to try to make sure that their estate benefits from improved refuse collection to help combat the issue.”
