Residents have told of fear at "plague of rats" at an apartment block where they can hear the rodents "squeaking".
People have said they can see rats "running about all the time" at the newly built flats in Salford, Greater Manchester, with footage showing them scurrying around.
And the infestation has prompted a newly-elected Salford city councillor to raise a petition calling for the waiving of the £45 fee for pest control officers to deal with the issue.
Dad-of-two Zubair Bassa, 34, took a video of rats in front of his home and told of rats running in the shrubbery opposite his house, in front of a newly-built complex of 77 apartments.
Zubair, who moved in with his wife Maryani, 33, five years ago, and have children, aged two and four, said his family are terrified to go outside in front of the house, claiming: “We can hear squeaking sometimes.
“When the children play out in the back garden we have to make sure our patio doors are closed to prevent the risk of them coming in the house.” Zubair says he has already had pest control officers out to deal with mice in the four-bed house.
“It’s so bad for my family, we are considering moving out,” he said. "It's a plague of rats."
His close neighbours are Feyishola Omoniyi and his wife Kehinde, both 30, and their children aged one and three. “It’s very frightening,” he said.
“What doesn’t help is the amount of shrubbery opposite our houses. We see rats running about all the time. It’s crazy. My wife and children are very frightened.”
The flats opposite have been managed by Hunters Residential Block Management on behalf of a freehold owner. A spokesman for Hunters told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that apartments are 50% owner-occupied with the other half rented and Hunters were now ‘addressing the problem’ having only been managing the complex since February.
“But a lot [of the apartments] have been rented out as holiday lets, which is against the terms of the leases,” he reportedly said. “The leaseholders and their solicitors don’t seem to understand that you can’t just decide to rent out your flat without permission from your mortgage provider or the freeholder.
“The visitors are tending to leave rubbish strewn all over the bin area, which is attracting the rats. There is also a problem with rough sleepers getting into the bin area and rummaging through rubbish.
“We have a programme in place to deal with the rats using a private contractor. There is an old gatehouse on the site and we believe there may be a nest under there. The development may have disturbed the rats. But we have bait traps down. It’s early days, but we are hoping within a couple of months we will have dealt with the problem.”
The spokesman said appeals for hedges and shrubbery to be cut could be counterproductive. “We have been advised that if we cut back hedges and shrubbery, the rats will run everywhere, which is not what we want," he said.
Meanwhile, Coun Grogan said that he had been receiving complaints over rat infestations in parts of Salford where there has been new development. “These areas are hotspots for fly-tipping and littering too which we're aiming to tackle as part of the long-term strategy implemented alongside the waiving of the fee,” he said.
His petition, read out at the first Salford city council meeting following the local elections on May 4, read: “Ordsall Labour has been working with councillors from other wards about the increase in rodents that residents have been telling us about, which may have been caused by an increase in new developments around the ward and neighbouring wards.
“Currently, there is a £45 fee for the council to investigate and deal with the issue. Our petition is calling for the £45 council fee to be waived for all residents in Ordsall for a fixed period and for the council to develop a proactive strategy to deal with the issue in the problem-areas long term.”
Coun Grogan added: “We have done a paper petition across the Stowell Estate so we're just collecting the final sheets which will be submitted to the council shortly. We focused on that estate as it is the worst affected area with reports from residents about rats in their gardens, communal spaces, and even inside some houses."
Coun Barbara Bentham, lead member for environment, neighbourhoods, sports and leisure, said the petition will be considered through the usual council process. She said: “We understand residents of nearby homes are concerned about this situation which emphasises the responsibility of private sector developers and property owners to deal with rodents."
The Mirror has contacted Hunters Residential Block Management for additional comment.
