Inside the street where horrified residents finding dead rats in their gardens

04 October 2023 , 08:22

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A seemingly-abandoned home in Nottingham has sparked a health and safety probe (Image: Rucsandra Moldoveanu)

An overgrown garden infested with rats has prompted a council probe after neighbours started complaining about dead vermin.

Residents on the street in Arnold, Nottingham, lodged complaints after the abandoned property began harbouring pests, posing a health risk - particularly for young children and pets. Now furious residents have grouped together with a petition lobbying the local authority over the state of the house, which has been unoccupied for around 10 years.

One woman described her horror at finding a dead rat in her garden and had to call pest control, as one hit out claiming people in the area were "sick of this house". Now council health and safety bosses say they are planning on investigating the vermin-infested property, Nottingham Live reports.

Councillor Henry Wheeler from Gedling Borough Council said: "I do understand the concerns of local residents in terms of the state of the property, but I'm confident that the officers of the council, given the concerns I've raised and having gone back through the casework relating to the property, will investigate this and take action to remediate any of the issues there.

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Residents say the unkempt and rat-infested garden is 'bringing the area down' (Rucsandra Moldoveanu)

"I've immediately acted upon the request of the resident to try and get some work to remediate the issue around that property because that property is in a dire state. I do know that officers have been looking into it and they've been trying to establish whether the property is empty or not."

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He added: "If there are any serious safeguarding concerns with the owner of the property, then appropriate support and help needs to be put in place to ensure that the property is maintained and cleaned up and that the owner is supported to keep the property and garden in an acceptable condition, so that it does not cause any further environmental health problems for neighbours. The legal issues around this investigation are very complex.

""At the end of the day neighbours shouldn't have to put up with the environmental health issues caused by this property, so the sooner the issues are resolved the better." A petition initiated by a neighbour who reported sighting rats in her garden has already gained over 40 signatures.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "We are aware of a petition regarding the condition of a property in Arnold and officers are investigating. Officers will be carrying out work to assess health and safety concerns around the site and, if needed, will work with the owners to find a solution."

Elliott Frier, 24, a resident on the street, believes the seemingly-abandoned property "is bringing down the area", prompting his partner to start the petition. He said: "The house is in a disgusting state, there are dead rats in the garden. Their garden is pushing into both sides of the houses attached to it, it's bringing the state of the area down completely.

"If you just go down the street, you'll know exactly which house I'm on about because of how bad it is. There are a few trees in their garden that just keep growing and eventually, it's going to be a risk and the council will have to bring it down."

Inside the street where horrified residents finding dead rats in their gardens

Resident Steve Rostron hasn't seen the people who used to live there in years (Rucsandra Moldoveanu)

Elliott, who has lived on Spinningdale for two years, said the owners of the house used to only come to collect their post. He said: "Everyone in the neighbourhood sticks together and we all get along very well."

"We are all sick of this house. Our neighbours have been here for years, way longer than we have, and they've been going to the council since 2005 about this house causing rats and bringing the general street down. It's just a big mess. They used to come and collect the mail, but in the two years we've been here, we've never seen them."

Linda Hill, 65, also said she found a dead rat in the garden recently. She said: "I've been here for just over two years now and it's been like that since I've been here. I found a dead rat in my garden last week and I just threw it back over the fence and pest control came around. I also saw a mouse about a year ago. I've heard the owners haven't been here in over 10 years. When I first moved here, I saw them a couple of times but didn't realise it was them. They came to collect their mail."

Another neighbour, Steven Rostron, 44, also confirmed he hasn't seen the owners of the house 'in years'. He said: "I've seen rats in next door's garden within the last week. The state of the house just brings the area down a bit. We've not seen the people who claim to live there in a long time.

"I agree with the petition. I know the person who previously lived at one of the houses attached to the abandoned one, she'd been complaining to the council for 10-15 years and wasn't getting anywhere. I think it eventually got to her and that's why she moved out."