Residents on a rat-infested estate are so fed up of the "constant scurrying" that their lives are "being ripped apart".
The Dodson and Amigo estate in Southwark, south London, has reportedly been infested with vermin since at least May of this year and residents say it has made their lives a living nightmare.
They claim the council doesn't care about their plight and hasn't helped them.
Jacquie Gilmartin, a 63-year-old cancer survivor, says she cannot go into her kitchen after 7pm due to the "constant scurrying" and the rats "in the walls".
Speaking to My London, Jacquie said: "I reported the issue back in May but I have reason to believe the council knew about it long before then.
"The rats and mice are all in the cavities and they’re in the walls.
"I can’t go into my kitchen past 7 pm because of it and I can’t go in there in the morning until someone has checked.
"The same with the bathroom, there’s just constant scurrying. It’s no way to live."
Rats and mice have been found all over the estate in a number of properties and in communal recreational spaces as well.
Rodents can be seen decomposing in the grass in several graphic photographs.
Jacquie, who has lived on the estate all her life, added: “The council is saying that the estate is substandard but I’ve seen no proof. There’s a vermin problem but that doesn’t mean the estate needs to be demolished.
“They want to knock down eight homes to replace it with eleven apparently, which isn’t exactly a massive addition to housing."
Residents were asked via email to fill out a housing needs form but many have refused citing that no planning permission has been granted.
George Dagan, who has called the estate home for 18 years, says the vermin problem has worsened his mental health challenges.
He said: “I’m an extremely vulnerable person who has very complex mental health issues.
“I have been struggling for the past year with the threat of losing my house to demolition and then having to share my home with mice and rats since last May.
“My whole support network is on this estate and Southwark council are ripping my life apart.
“The effect on my mental health has got to the point where I don’t want to be here anymore.
“The council doesn’t care about us, they just care about developers and profit.”
And Amanda Davies, who has been on the estate for over 25 years, said: “I’ve lived with mice and rats in my flat for six months now, two of which Southwark refused to acknowledge my reports.
"I’ve had a sharp downturn in my mental health leading to me having to report suicidal thoughts to my GP and my asthma has been affected.
“I have had financial difficulty as I have had to replace food and clothing that has been destroyed or contaminated by vermin.”
MyLondon has reached out to Southwark council for a response.
