Terrified household residing in ‘rat infested hell home’ with rodents biting by partitions

Amie Kavanagh and Shane Brown say rats have rioted their Grimsby home for the past four years – the family of five all sleep in the same room due to the infestation

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Scared family lives in “rat-infested hell house”

A frightened family was left fearful after being trapped in a “hell house” where rats riot and devour their walls and floorboards.

Amie Kavanagh, 31, and Shane Brown, 34, of Grimsby, say they have spent the past four years fighting the rat infestation.

The couple live with their children Chloe, 11, Lilly-Rose, 9, and Harvey, 7, and say they have just spent hours hunting rats over the past week and have a spade in hand all the time, just in case they see one.

All five family members slept in the same room because the infestation is so bad, reports GrimsbyLive.

Despite continued efforts with their broker and the North East Lincolnshire Council environmental health team, the family says they’ve had enough and wish they could just “burn the house down”.

Are you having a terrible rat infestation problem? Email at webnews@mirror.co.uk

The rats have eaten their way through the floorboards and walls
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

Amie said the past eight days had been horrific, adding, “We had rats for four years.

“The last week has been by far the worst though, they come through the floorboards and the walls. It’s so bad that the whole family has to sleep in the same room because the kids don’t feel safe.

“I have severe Crohn’s disease and am currently on immunosuppressive medication. So if I am bitten by a rat, I will die.

Shane said he “just wants to burn the house down”
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

“We had to nail up a number of holes in the nursery around the house for the rats to get through. They’re popping up all over the place, however, we spent an hour last night catching one with our spade.

“For the past seven days, we’ve seen rats that varied in size and got bigger as the days went on. They also show up all over the house, not just in one place.

“When my brother was visiting recently, he saw someone looking at him on the stairs and he raced through a narrow crack in the floorboards.

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“Even in the room we sleep in, there was a huge hole right next to my daughter, through which a rat came.

“We’re just covering everything to stop that now. We spent £ 500 in May decorating the house with our own money and now we had to stop because of the rats.

“We haven’t even bought groceries for the closets this week because we don’t know what they’re nibbling on.

A hole in the wall that the rats had eaten
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

“Also, the shower is now leaking and the water is dripping on the lights below – the house is just a health hazard.”

Partner Shane said, “I just want to burn the house down.”

Since the couple cannot work, with Amie unable to take care of her and her autistic son Harvey due to her health and Shane, the couple cannot move.

Amie and Shane say they can’t move, but they are forced to live with the rats for four years
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

Amie said, “I can’t even bathe myself without Shaun’s help and the chances of us getting a surety so we can move out is impossible, it’s like we’re trapped.”

“I also think why should I just go? We tried to do things ourselves and now it’s all ruined.

“You just have the feeling that you exist in the house. We don’t sleep, we hardly eat, and we spend all of our time catching rats.

“Our son’s fear goes through the roof because of the rats and he only sleeps an hour a night.

“He keeps asking if it’s safe to enter a room.

Amie said it’s not just the impact on the house, but the emotional impact the ordeal had on her and her children.

All five family members sleep in the same room because of the rats
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

She said, “As a mother, I just feel like a failure because of that. I can’t give the kids a nice home while this is all happening.

“It’s not normal to live like this, when we see one we can’t stop until we catch it because we’re so worried that it might bite one of us.

“It really affected our lives and we had to give up a lot of things that we wanted to do because of it. Now we’re not going to leave a single door open just in case one gets through.

The North East Lincolnshire Council has announced that a member of the pest control team will conduct an investigation
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Image:

GrimsbyLive / Donna Clifford)

In response to these claims, the property’s rental agent, Belvoir Estates, said, “We have arranged a pest control tour of the property for Monday; however, this was canceled by the tenants.

“After a long search we found someone who can hopefully go to the property tomorrow (Thursday, August 26th) to solve this problem.

“We are doing what we have to do to help the tenants with the situation as best we can.”

A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesman said, “While we cannot discuss the details of individual cases, we can confirm that our officials worked with the landlord and tenant to arrange a pest control visit.

“We have arranged a visit to the property for an inspection and will continue to work with both parties to make sure this happens.”