A frustrated father has told how a rat appeared next to him in the kitchen as he cooked for his young son - the latest in a string of horrifying incidents the family has had to endure in their home. Jamie Burns, his girlfriend Quiana Evans and their son Ziyah have been plagued with rodents and mould problems on and off over the past two years since they moved into their home in Bootle.
Jamie, 26, says they have come to the end of their tether because despite reporting the issues to their housing provider, they are still having issues. The couple applied to move into their current home when they found out Quiana was pregnant, and they moved in in March 2021, when their son was a couple of months old so he could have his own room.
But the problems started soon after, with Jamie and Quiana, 25, noticing rat droppings in April that year. Pest control were called out but they didn't find any rats, the Liverpool ECHO reports.
However, they did find that their roof was collecting water, although Jamie says nothing has been done about that since the issue was raised. Jamie says the couple "don't know what to do anymore," adding that Quiana has "broken down" because of the stress the problems are causing them.
He says rats have been chewing through the boards in the kitchen, which has made the area unsafe for Ziyah, one, to be in. Plus Dane, the housing provider, reportedly told the family the next appointment to get someone out to fix the boards is not until the end of March.
"I'm a chef by trade, and my son loves being in the kitchen with me but we have to tell him not to go there," Jamie said. "You have to go to the bathroom through the kitchen to get to clean water so we don't run the risk of coming into contact with rats.
"We've had five incidents with rats but the worst one was when I was cooking the other night and this rat just appeared next to me. It's lying dead in the kitchen now and we're waiting for pest control to come in but pest control don't seem to work on Thursdays and can't come out until Friday.
"Then, because of the roof collecting rain water the mould is coming from that. The roof is too spongey apparently. There's black mould everywhere, even under the bath where I need to wash my son."
Jamie has claimed he and his family are unable to move out of the home after an error with their universal credit which means they have rent arrears with the housing company. Jamie added: "My son is two on Sunday and he's asthmatic. I can't think of a time when he hasn't had a cough while we've been living here.
"If something happens to him we're going to be fuming. My partner has sent emails but they asked us to wait 10 days for a response - that was two or three weeks ago now."
A Sefton Council spokesperson said: “Sefton Council’s Pest Control Team works Monday to Friday with Thursday’s normally given over to activities such as treatments in parks & green spaces, commercial work and sewer baiting, so the suggestion that they don’t work on Thursdays, is incorrect.
“In the case of this property, an initial visit and treatment was undertaken on Wednesday, January 4 with a follow-up visit scheduled for tomorrow. If someone contacts the Council’s Pest Control team to report a problem an appointment will be made for one of the team to visit the premises and, if necessary, apply a treatment to deal with the problem.
“We appreciate that discovering a dead rat is not pleasant but, unfortunately, we cannot attend to dispose of each individual case found and would recommend that should this occur, people use a plastic bag or something similar to dispose of it for collection in their general waste bin.
“If they think it is a problem that is likely to recur, they should then contact pest Control to arrange a visit. Details of the Council’s Pest Control services and costs can be found at www.sefton.gov.uk/pest-control."
Paul Knight, chief operating officer at Plus Dane Housing, said: “We have been aware of this case for a number of months and our welfare support teams and external agencies have been working with the family to try to resolve the issues, including scheduling appointments to carry out necessary works.
“We are visiting the customer again tomorrow to discuss how we can progress with any works necessary and agree timescales.”
