I am asking people to sign my petition, to stand up for our basic right to have habitable homes. 

 

Myself and my family are currently 3 to 4 months in dealing with a rat infestation in our kitchen. 

Due to new houses being built on the old test track in leyland. Animals as well as vermin have been uprooted and forced out of their homes and natural habitat. 

Unfortunately for us, our house being one of the closest to the building site, we have been infested with rats who are just finding somewhere safe to live. They have started to nest under my kitchen cupboards. 

Our cupboards started to fall through and then we started to notice leaking water. The rats had chewed through our water pipes. Causing damage to my kitchen floor, my laminate flooring in the hallway and leaving live wires exposed to the water. This potentially being a fire hazard. 

Rats carry diseases such as weil disease and hantavirus. Which can make the most healthiest of person poorly. People who have respiratory issues these diseases can be fatal. My 6 years old son has respiratory issues. 

This is where I come to Accent Housing and their lack of compassion, responsibility and just a moral compass. 

This issue was reported to Accent, who told me that they didn't deal with pest control and i needed to contact my local council, which i did. The council came out straight away and laid down poison. However this was not effective. 

The damage to the property became progressively worse, water pipes being chewed through, meaning that our water had to be shut off. We were left 36 hours without any running or drinkable water. We had no hot water or access to cooking facilities, for myself to be told by an agent who works for Accent, that my house is not classed as inhabitable as we have electricity! I continued to explain that we could not use the kitchen as we did not know whether the rats had been on our sides /cooker etc. I was then told by said agent, to just keep on bleaching and disinfecting. I have been doing this, however I have two small children, one with additional needs and respiratory problems, who would not cope with all the chemicals. 

I was completely dismissed and made to feel like i was being stupid and overreacting. I asked if we could be decanted from the property or at least provided with some form of temporary accommodation. Again, i was dismissed. 

Finally when I threatened to go to the local paper and environmental health, the phone was put down on me. 

I spoke to someone a couple of hours later who escalated the reports and we finally received water and 1 heater, 36 hours after our water was shut off. 

Accent have still not offered any temporary accommodation and we have had to return home and be at risk from rat derived diseases..

I am asking for signatures to make Accent sit up and take responsibility for their tenants. 

I have spoken to some of my neighbours and they are now having problems with rats. This is going to continue to be an ongoing problem until Accent start to listen to us and start to help their tenants rather than neglecting them and leaving us in a property that isn't suitable for us to live in n.