A young Scots dad has hit out after being handed keys to a council flat that was plagued by a ‘dead body smell’, blue bottle flies and had police tape over the windows. Craig Buchanan was supposed to move into the Kilmarnock property last month but believes it’s unsafe for his partner, Morgan Davidson, 20, and their one-year-old son Harris.
The 22-year-old found a used needle on top of a kitchen cabinet and told how the windows and back door have been extensively damaged after previously being ‘kicked in’. After speaking to neighbours, the couple discovered the previous tenant had overdosed and died in the kitchen causing the alleged fly infestation.
Dad-of-one Craig said: “When we got the property, we weren’t really told anything about it. There were loads of things wrong with it when we went to see it but we were told it would be sorted before we got in.
“We ended up speaking to one of the neighbours who told us that the previous tenant was a drug addict. Apparently he overdosed and died in the kitchen. When we got the keys, there was still police tape covering the windows.
"The guy must have been in there for a few weeks because you couldn’t stand inside for more than two minutes because of the smell. Any time we turned the heating on, these massive bluebottle flies just appeared from everywhere.
"Then we found a used needle on top of one of the kitchen cabinets. We were told the council had done a needle sweep and found over 200 of them.
"They did try to fumigate it but it never worked so we ended up getting fly bombs to kill the blue bottles ourselves. We’ve also bleached the floor but there’s still a very noticeable smell.”
He added: "There’s a big metal cage over the living room window because apparently the previous tenant kept losing his keys and kicking it in. The window has been replaced but it’s not been done properly and there’s a big draft coming through it.
"The back door had been kicked in so the metal and the plastic around the keyhole was all cracked and warped. There was plastic missing from the window sills so you could see right through and drafts coming through there as well.
"A few of the window sills weren’t glued down properly so there were drafts coming from under them. Every time we call the council, they just seem to keep passing on the problem to someone else.
"We’ve had the flat now for almost a month and we’re not able to live there. It’s not safe to move my son to stay in that flat in that condition. We’re sitting in a one bedroom flat just now and there’s stuff everywhere because there’s nowhere to put it
A spokesperson said: "East Ayrshire Council can confirm that Housing Services are aware of this matter and that officers are liaising closely with the family."
