A family of six have opened up about living a flat that is so infested with mice the children have started to think they are part of the family. The condition of the flat is so bad that the entire family has been forced to sleep in one room.
To make matters worse, mum Falhado Eders, 32, tragically lost a baby boy while giving birth last year. She believes that the awful conditions in the flat may have been a factor in the child's death.
Falhado lives in one bedroom along with her husband and children Yussuf, 12, Leben, 7 years, Yasmin, 5 and baby Qaseeda, seven months. The flat is infested with vermin, HullLive reports.
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The mum said: “It is just a nightmare. I try to keep the flat clean but it is just impossible. I get so afraid the mice will bite my baby at night."
Hull City Council has told the family that it will charge them for work around rodent infestation, and said it would contact the family around maintenance at the flat. A spokesperson for the council said that they were trying to help Ms Eders find somewhere new to live, but acknowledged she had failed in five bids for improved council housing.
The family, originally from war-torn Somalia, arrived in Hull nine years ago. They have indefinite leave to remain in the UK because of the risk to their lives if they returned to east Africa. Falhado said: “The situation in Somalia is very difficult and dangerous there is no safe life there and we wanted to build a safe stable future for our kids here in Hull.”
Falhado said when the family first moved into the flat in New George Street it did not seem so bad, however, after a few months everything went downhill. She said: “At first all the damp started to come through the walls and then mice started appearing from random holes around the flat. It was just disgusting.”
When Hull Live visted the property after being alerted by a concerned neighbour, they found the flat is filled with mice holes and droppings. “Mice are just running around everywhere,” said son Yussuf. “We have tried to put mice traps but there are too many of them. We even found them on our bed.”
The family of six have no other choice but to sleep in the living room on a mattress as it is the only room they say they can get some sleep. Falhaldo said: “Me and my kids cannot breathe in the bedroom as the damp is everywhere. My son Yussuf now has breathing issues and constantly feels itchy. He has a report from the doctor proving this.
"Me and my children don’t get fresh air it would be better if we slept outside at least we wouldn’t have to breathe this dirt in. We have not slept well in a long time and it breaks my heart to see my kids suffering like this. I keep ringing social services but they just don’t seem to care."
Falhado claims that her bathroom leaks around four to five times a week and she has called the council many times to resolve the issue. "The council came once to look at the leak then they told me if the leaking has stopped on its own then we don’t need to send someone to fix it so we haven’t had anyone to help us since then."
A spokesperson for Hull City Council said it had no record of any requests for assistance for leaks in the property but had visited in January last year to treat damp with a “fungal wash”. The spokesperson added: “No further repairs were identified. Consequently, we are contacting “the tenant” to arrange an appointment for contractors to attend. The only 'live' request we have for repairs is for our contractor to look at cold draughts coming through the front door, and an appointment has already been arranged for 17 May.”
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