A Croydon Council tenant said she has endured a “rampant” mouse infestation for months with essential repairs not done because of an admin blunder.
The kitchen at the property in West Croydon, has been deteriorating for years, according to the resident, who cannot be named for her personal safety.
In recent months this has led to mice multiplying and when repairs on the kitchen were finally started, it exposed the extent of the infestation.
While mouse proofing has now taken place, the tenant said she had missed numerous repair appointments due to the council having the wrong phone number for her.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It’s just a nightmare, I can’t live like this.”
After moving into her flat at in 2019, the tenant immediately noticed that the property was in poor condition. Her kitchen in particular had many problems resulting from the slow decay of wooden joists and polystyrene under her lino flooring.
She was moved to the flat due to issues caused by a stalker, which meant she was not safe in her previous address. However, the damage caused by years of water damage now left her in a flat with a kitchen floor that could not be used for any of her essential appliances.
During a visit to the flat last week, the tenant told the LDRS how she tried for years to get Croydon Council and their contractors to carry out these repairs which are finally happening.
She said: “These floorboards are above a bin store room. We believe the mice have come from the bin store beneath and come up here. The contractors lifted up the floorboards, which showed the little shop of horrors behind.
“This is a repair I recorded over three months ago, I’ve told them I had rodents so many times. I’ve killed 20 mice in this kitchen alone in the space of two months.
“They mock the poison boxes I put down. I’ve even seen them in my room, they ran behind my bed and climbed on my headboard.”
During the wait for repairs, the tenant placed poison traps across her kitchen to deter the mice. She even spent £28 on a frequency emitter to drive away the pests but said they persisted despite this and the constant presence of her two cats.
She claims the estate has an endemic vermin issue, and she believes the council has been aware of it for some time.
She added: “My neighbour says ‘I’ve got a mouse in the kitchen’, then five minutes later, it’s in here. I know it affects this whole place.”
While the main mouse holes have now been sealed, the tenant has become accustomed to waiting for repairs to her flat. Despite her frequent engagement with the council and lodging a complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman in 2020, she claims she was still left waiting for years before repairs were done.
While she is glad that progress has been made, the tenant told the LDRS of her ongoing frustration with the council after discovering one of the reasons for the delay.
She believes the council and its contractors’ failure to update the phone number she used when her stalker threatened her was a key reason for the “frustrating” lack of progress.
She said: “I changed my number when I first moved here, I told Croydon. Yet Croydon still managed to used the old contact number I gave them four years ago, and they shared it with all their contractors.
“No matter what I try and do, I can’t get rid of it. A guy came to do a repair last week and said ‘I tried to call you, but a lady answered the phone’.
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“I said ‘I don’t have that number; I’m a victim of stalking who had to change my number, so why would you leave voicemails and text messages on there?’
“All the bookings for my old repairs have been going to my old number, which is directly affiliated with my stalking case, which is still live and with CPS. Do you think they would prioritise people at high risk?
“I had to go through my tenancy officer, who updated it on October 7, or so I believed. Since then, up to last Friday, November 15, every contractor coming out has been using my old number.”
The tenant said this poor communication has meant subcontractors have turned up at her property without her knowledge and often without the tools needed for the repair job.
“It’s just a nightmare,” she added.
Since our visit, the flat has undergone repairs in the kitchen. However, she feels strongly that Croydon Council must address the poor housing conditions across the ageing Central Croydon estate.
She said: “So many people around this estate have the same repair issues as me. I just have to make noise for other people here because we need to be living better than we do.”
A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about the resident’s experiences and have been in contact with them. We understand that during essential repairs to the floorboards in their kitchen, rodents under the floor were disturbed.
“Our pest control team has already carried out rodent proofing, and we are now working to repair the sub-floor and reinstate the floor. We are committed to resolving these issues as quickly as possible.
“The council takes its data management responsibilities and customer experience very seriously. We have updated the resident’s contact details in our system as requested, and we can confirm that all parties involved in the repairs now have the correct information.”
