A mum who claims her flat was infested with rats has now said that "hundreds and thousands" of flies have swarmed both her own and neighbouring homes.
The woman, who wishes to simply be known as Caroline, captured video footage of a vast amount of flies in her neighbour's window and shared it on social media.
She has hit out at Sovereign Housing - the association responsible for her block of flats in Bristol.
Sovereign said in a statement that Caroline's neighbour has been confirmed to be safe and well following a welfare check.
The company will be visiting the property today with Environmental Health to investigate the cause of the flies.
Caroline told Bristol Live she had returned home at 11am on the morning of March 14 to find what she describes as "hundreds and thousands of huge blue bottle flies" inside her neighbours flat window, "all trying to get out". She believed she probably hadn't noticed it sooner because the weather hadn't been warm or sunny before that day.
She added: "I knew something was dead in that flat and I have also not seen the owner for two years. I alerted Sovereign but got the standard email reply back that they have two weeks to even read the email.
"I have been woken at night by these huge horrible big flies in my bedroom lounge upstairs. There are three of us living in a two bedroom flat and I sleep in the lounge where I have made a little room for myself at the end.
"They frighten me because I don't want them anywhere near me or my children.
"We just don't seem to be getting any better and the stress of being ill and the constant cleaning, hoovering and washing is so exhausting.
"The children cannot attend school due to being so unwell and I'd personally like to thank Bristol Cathedral and Bristol Cathedral Choir School for their wonderful safeguarding advocates for contacting Sovereign Housing early this week as Sovereign had said it was a lease holder issue and they couldn't get involved."
Back in January, Bristol Live reported on how terrified Caroline had been after discovering rats in her flat - and how she had even resorted to cooking on her balcony to avoid attracting them. At the time, Caroline told Bristol Live that upon reporting it to the housing association, she was told they could find no evidence of rats.
She said: "I think it's pretty disgusting to say that's the end of it for us because there is no evidence, and yet you've got somebody who's living here saying, 'but they are in my ceiling'." She later bought an endoscope camera and poked it through a hole in her ceiling and eventually captured on of the rats on video.
At the time, Sovereign said they wanted "all customers to feel safe and secure in their homes which is why we've arranged a number of visits from pest control firms to our shared ownership properties on Hotwell Road.
"Until very recently, we had not been provided with the video footage which could show where the rats are getting into the building, and we’re hopeful that this will help nail down the point of entry.
"We’ve been working closely with an officer from Bristol Environmental Health to resolve the issue, putting bait down around the scheme, since this was reported to us in November 2021.
"We are also scheduling an independent appointment with a second pest control agency, which is due to take place as soon as possible."
After Bristol Live's report, Caroline said "there seemed to be some action on Sovereign's part especially after Environmental Health also stepped in to help me in my plight to prove I was plagued with rats."
She also described how Sovereign allowed Ecolab to have three visits but said: "You can't treat pest control effectively in three visits."
Eleanor Lowman, regional home ownership manager at Sovereign, said: “We’d like to thank Caroline for expressing concern for her neighbour who we’re pleased to confirm is safe and well.
“We’ll be visiting the property tomorrow (Tuesday) with Environmental Health to investigate the cause of the flies and to seek a resolution.
“We’d always urge residents with concerns about the welfare of a neighbour to check on them, report it to us or ask the Police to do a welfare check.”
