Mum pleads for help after catching 42 mice in her Cliftonville flat in less than a month

Millie says she and her daughter are being overrun by mice

A mum-of-one from Cliftonville is pleading for Environmental Services to get involved after catching 42 mice in her flat in less than a month.

Millie Sparks, 25, says she has previously found mice in her 15-month-old daughter Tazanna’s bed.

Just before Christmas she used humane traps -due to worries her daughter might touch them – and ended up with nine mice that she put in a cage. But the sheer number of rodents getting into the building meant she could no longer cage them.

The vermin problem at the 18-flat block in Athelstan Road has now been ongoing for 18 months but because the flats have different landlords Millie says it won’t be resolved until Environmental Health step in.

Millie, who suffers from a painful back condition following a trampolining accident several years ago, said: “My landlord is trying to help get this problem fixed but with it being a whole building problem it’s very very hard as the mice will remake new entry points.

“I was hoping Environmental Health would have been able to contact landlords, agents and land owners who are responsible and they would be forced to fix these issues so the problem can be solved.

“But with no tenants having any of the relevant information it makes it harder which is why I’ve been continuously trying to get help for this.

“I have a 15 month old daughter and we are sharing our home with many many mice. Within 48 hours before Christmas I caught 9 mice. I think the entire block, every flat, has mice. It is a shame some other tenants haven’t got the funds to afford glass jars for food and other measure to help prevent this. Some people leave food around so this encourages the mice.

“Environmental Health said it’s mine and the landlord’s job to deal with it. I’ve done more than my fair share and changed entirely how I live even with my severe health problems but one flat out of 18 will not make a difference.

“They seem to have pretty much washed their hands of this case although they are still on the case of cockroach issues after a flat in the building was found to be the source of an infestation, but even this isn’t resolved yet.”

Millie says her health issues prevent her from being able to move at present, adding: “I struggle doing the weekly shop and day to day living, let alone the massive work and stress of moving.”

She has turned to ward councillors Heather Keen and Alan Currie for help and says Cllr Keen has contacted Thanet council’s housing and environmental health teams to push for action.

Cllr Alan Currie

Cllr Currie said: “I feel really sorry for Millie, the mouse problem in her flat seemed to have improved but as we have come into winter it has returned and seems as bad as ever. I visited Millie a year ago and immediately contacted Environmental Health, after a couple of visits to the property they told me they had thoroughly investigated the problem and various things were done to deal with the rodent problem.

“The landlord was advised to contact a pest control company, bait and traps were laid, possible rodent entry points blocked and all the other flats in the block were contacted by EH and given advice if they too had the same problem.

“Other areas of concern with the building were identified and these were communicated to the land owners. Private Sector Housing, which enforces housing conditions and selective licensing, checked all electrical certificates were up to date and advised that the landlord should have an electrician check internal wiring as Millie had concerns about this.

“Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 situation and social distance guidance, Environmental Health have informed me that they are not at this time performing internal visits to properties but will re-visit again when possible.”

Deputy council leader Helen Whitehead, who has responsibility for housing, said efforts are being made to deal with the mouse problem.

She said: “I visited before lockdown to look at the issue directly and have been working since that point with selective licensing, private housing and environmental health to try and find a solution.

“We have been aware and working on it for a long while, but it requires approaches across all three areas to address long term, but we are all putting effort in to resolve it.”

Millie says she just wants some help, adding: “I am a mother, I am civilised, clean and tidy and myself and my daughter should not have to suffer this.”

‘Not the freeholder’

When contacted about the infestation last February a Thanet council spokesperson said: “Pest control in a tenanted flat is primarily the responsibility of the occupiers. The landowner would only become involved if the issue was associated with something beyond the tenants’ responsibility, such as problems within communal areas or clear structural issues with the building.

“The council is not the freeholder of this property and has no duty to provide a pest control service. It has the responsibility for ensuring that landowners and landlords take relevant action to resolve infestations.

“Environmental Health team has conducted numerous visits to the building to investigate the issues that have been raised. As part of this investigation, the team has written to all tenants on two occasions – requesting information in the first letter and giving general advice in the second. We have been unable to identify a specific party who is causing or adding to the issue. The council therefore cannot take any further action as there is no clear evidence.”

An update from Thanet council adds: “”This is an ongoing case which is still under investigation. We can however confirm that we have liaised with the resident to offer advice and confirm her responsibilities in relation to seeking appropriate pest control services, and will continue to do so based on the latest information provided to us.

“We would not recommend anyone catch wild rodents and keep them in their home, as this may be in breach of Public Health legislation. Our guidance to occupiers is always that they should immediately book a registered pest control company to attend the property to remove any live rodents, instigate measures to destroy any that are entering the home and provide wider advice to the occupier on the issue.

“Whilst we don’t have a duty to provide a free of charge (or any) pest control service, we have negotiated affordable rates with a registered pest control company which charges £48 for a course of mouse treatment.”

Visit www.thanet.gov.uk/pest-control-services for information.

51 Comments

  1. Get a riddex mouse deterant I got mine on line Amazon 3 years ago and not had a mouse since I plugged it in it’s brilliant I live in Cliftonville and it solved my problem instantly

  2. Get a riddex mouse deterant I got mine on line Amazon 3 years ago and not had a mouse since I plugged it in it’s brilliant I live in Cliftonville and it solved my problem instantly best £5 I spent

      • Try Googling Riddex pest control I’m not sure of link as my son bought it and it was 3 years ago after my dog kept catching mice and leaving them in the middle of the room for me yuk

  3. What a sad person you are.
    What, do you think, caused all the mouse problems in the past when we didn’t have “DFLs with their airey fairy ideas” and “people from other countries”?
    Are you saying there were no rodent problems? Mouse traps are are 21 century invention? The good folk of Berkshire and Surrey don’t have problems with mice?
    Good grief.

  4. Millie’s attempt’s to get both the landlord & TDC to take decisive, concrete action to eradicate the rodent infestation at her home & reportedly throughout the entire 18 flat HMO block, has been literally heroic & has dragged on for a very significant period of time – at various points over the past 18 months, or so, ARTRA has attempted to help expedite matters, but to no avail. Eventually, TDC Officers refused to communicate further with anyone but the tenant concerned & the Ward Councillor undertaking the case – bureaucratic petulance – following ARTRA’s challenge on the scope & validity of Environmental Health’s effective failure to establish the true extent of this extremely severe, property wide infestation, beyond the bureaucratic/statutory minimum, which has resulted in negligible action by the multiple landlords leasing & subletting properties from the actual owner, in this extremely dystopian & atrociously mismanaged HMO.

    ARTRA hope that 2021 sees a very radical change in the circumstances of this huge HMO block, with numerous severe issues, reaping significant tenant benefits – ARTRA’s greatest fear is that this block, with extremely dangerous electrical wiring stripped by rodent action, will eventually cause an electrical fire with significant loss of life – it is no overstatement that this property could very easily become Thanet’s Grenfell Tower, despite all attempts to get urgent TDC action to oblige the multiple leaseholder landlords to coordinate a property-wide eradication program & whole building electrical rewire. Millie’s images evidencing the stripped electrics have been repeatedly submitted to the authority & it is believed TDC may now be taking a more significant & radical approach to resolving this matter. ARTRA remain absolutely committed to the community suffering the indignity of living in possibly Thanet’s very worst HMO & wish TDC‘s Housing portfolio holder every success in her very appreciated & ongoing support on this matter.

  5. Once upon a time we had a reasonable stock of rentable social housing, owned and maintained by Local Authorities.
    Then there was Margaret Thatcher.

    • I agree, but someone ultimately owns the Freehold, or it could be a property company, and they should be held responsible! Someone somewhere is responsible for the Common Parts, so check to see who manages the block. It is wrong in my opinion for a leaseholder to Let a flat out to a third party, as in this case, because the Leaseholder doesn’t own a brick. In law a Leaseholder is a tenant, and anyone buying a flat, is buying a long term rental agreement, be it 99 years, or less usually.

      So, how do you get a Freeholder to take action? You could try applying to a Leasehold Tribunal, but you will need to get everyone in the block to contribute to the costs, which usually involves a solicitor! Never buy a flat, because you will never own it, only a long term rental agreement!

  6. DFLs as you call us are ordinary people, with a wide variety of opinions, beliefs and preferences. Do please explain what you mean by “airy fairy ideas of community”.

  7. Cliftonville is lost.. Gone…tragic place from what it was….RIP..massive overpopulation and rubbish strewn streets equals vermin.. No vermin here on North Foreland.

    • That’s because you’ve got big houses and aren’t crammed together in sub-standard housing like many of the poor buggers who live in Cliftonville. Are you gloating or what?

  8. Good God how terrible to have to live in a such an environment it sounds more like a zoo than a flat. Under the housing law the landlord has a legal responsibility for the health and safety of the tenants to sort the matter out. All this DFL nonsense is from locals who are just being childish and rude. Locals have nothing to boast about I am a local born and bread. Clarendon house school when I was a child used to have mice running about manly white ones after some escaped one weekend from one of the cages that one of the girls had brought in.

  9. In reality the problem started throughout the UK when the water companies were privatised. When it was a nationalised department the water companies were responsible for putting poison into the sewage network. Privatisation killed all of that. Then local authorities assisted without making a charge. Now I believe we are redirected to private companies.

    • The water companies were never responsible for mice infestations.
      Rats live in sewers and the water companies are still responsible for rat problems if a problem is found.

  10. Mice in a building will be almost entirely a result of there being food available. Remove the food source and poison them is straightforward and simple, but in a block of 18 flats you’ve no chance of getting everyone to join in. The council no longer has its own pest control officer, last time i tried to use the suggested company it turns out they are based in the midlands and wouldn’t be able to attend for 3 weeks. Hopefully the council now promote a more local company.
    Many references to the building being an hmo, but from the article appears to be a building containing 18 self contained flats.
    There are most certainly some dfl’s who are intent on turning cliftonville into their idea of what it should be and have little interest in the existing residents, fortunately they don’t seem to be getting theor own way. There are also a number who are trying hard to make those small changes that in time make a big difference and involve everyone in what they do, hopefully they’ll flourish and succeed.

  11. TDC Councillors response pretty much summed up as “We are trying to do something about it but it’s times like this we are reminded that it’s the officers who run the Council and not the elected members”

    Bless them. They’ll learn.

    • Don’t expect it was the council officers that side stepped planning and listed building law to force through the shelter on behalf of Paramount at the old british legion, councillor whitehead did her trick of ignoring her constituents enquiries and despite the 60 plus objections chose to not even take the matter to committee or make any attempt to liase with the local residents.
      Council officers were left in the dark or instructed what to do. Councillors were most definitely in charge of that particular piece of shady business

      • I’m afraid the points regarding the Legion building simply aren’t true. Hawley Square Residents Association will, I am sure, confirm that I met with their representative as soon as they registered concern, listened closely to their concerns, as well as working closely with the school and Governors. I offered tours of the building to representatives of the residents association, and the school, and concerns were addressed via ongoing planning, rather than via committee, which would not necessarily address particular concerns.

        It is also worth emphasising that Paramount is a private company that owns the building outright; it is up to them what they choose to do with the building, and we are lucky that they are providing well staffed provision for some of the most vulnerable in our society; which is, after all, the job of Housing.

        As I have only been in this role for just over a year, I’m afraid I can’t speak for “years” of issues; I can say that community measures in place should be making a difference to the needs of all of the community.

        I have visited Ms Sparks personally, and we are doing all we can to help; it is an issue that encompasses private tenants, Selective Licensing, environmental issues and many other factors, so we will continue to do our best to work across all areas to make sure that Ms. Sparks has all the help she needs.

        Very best wishes all.

        • Firstly you’ve made no mention of the issues relating to No.17 next door to the RBL , which you took a brief interest in then stopped replying to enquiries.
          With regard to the RBL, yesmits owned by Paramount who initially put in for planning to convert to 7 flats this application was ongoing for sometime.
          In the intervening period , covid appeared and as soonas lockdown started Paramount started ripping the guts out of the old RBL, at that point they had no plnning permission or listed building consent.
          However ( as later revealed) Paramount lodged a building control notice with TDC that had no permissions to back it up.
          It was then noticed that new planning application had been lodged with TDC for the hostel. It was reported in a kent newspaper that the facility had been designed in consultation with TDC (do you deny having any such interraction on this?)
          Innaddition why would Paramount propose a facility with no one to rent it to? Amazingly enough it soon transpired that TDC were going to take on the facility costs. Its been suggested that it is currently used as the winter shelter , which if correct is more money pushed towards Paramount. Who already receive huge sums from TDC.
          Not surprisingly (given the mayhem associated with No.17, and the issues in the area related to drug dealing and some of the tenants paramount house locally) locals were dismayed to see the underhand methods with which the scheme was being pushed through and what equates to vanadalism of a listed building (TDC’s conservation officer was hardly complimentary to what has been done).
          You were contacted by 2 local residents that I know of and maybe others, yet you made no efforts to reply. That a planning application with around 60 objections did’nt go to committee is a total failure of local goverment, but seeing as it was a done deal within TDC it was rubber stamped and allowed to continue.
          Flagrant breaches of planning and listed building law willfully ignored and a good possibility they were aided and abbetted by TDC .
          Yes there is a condition that the building is returned to its original state within 3 years of the permission being granted. If that occurs i’ll eat my hat, it’ll just be ignored.
          The St.Johns area of margate has little going for it , but its architecture is one thing it has in abundance, the hoops that TDC makes owners go thrpugh to change their homes are endless, but Paramount just did exactly as they and TDC wanted.
          Plus TDC made a big deal of declaring a climate emergency yet has chosen a listed building (exempt from insualtion standards ) to house the vulnerable and be heated 24/7, where is the joined up thinking ?
          In respect,of No.17 , once the council finally took action (after the fire bombing) another listed building has a completely inappropriate entrance door fitted.
          The building was ignored for years, despite obviously having serious hazards under HHSRS , that would have compelled the council to act, but the council took the easy option of choosing not to make an assessment (citing lack of resources (a good job the police had enough money to waste on thier endless raids and visits)) and so avoided their responsibility..
          I’m also told that the St.Johns are will not be considered for a selective licensing designation ( despite its many issues around rented property. , deprivation and drug related issues) because its where paramount place a number of thanets emergency housing obligation. This may or may not be true.

  12. The council (whitehead included, who deployed what seems to be her usual trick of just ignoring emails on matters she doesn’t want to deal with) did nothing about the endless problems in St.Johns road in respect of the drug dealing and associated activities including violence. Went on for years, the building was patently unsafe , yet the council refused to act claiming lack of resources, it was only when there was an attempted fire bombing at the property that anything was done.
    So expecting concerted action regarding mice is maybe a bit optimistic.

  13. I cannot understand why a mother would put her child at risk of ill health be it sick or even worse she is even feeding them .
    It takes time to get any action taken by landlords .
    Mice are attracted to food and it reads strange that mice have been found in childs bed , so maybe smell of something.

    If it was me i would get shot of the lot , put poison in the cages that way mice take it back to her babys and they die.
    Then buy some “Mint plants ” and put them around the walls of every room , Mice hate the smell and and won’t return to the ladys flat they will find another .

    I was loaded with mice a few years ago , not seen one since , I do however never leave food out not even my loaf of bread .i put it in my microwave .

    • Please don’t sit behind a screen and read half a story and our judgment comments on. As a single mother with server pain disability, I have gone above and beyond trying to fix this problem, I spent over 300£ on glass storage for food, there is never food or washing up lying around, I clean every single day, I’ve spent a good lot of my own money to help fix this problem. But mice just make new ways in. I want the whole block of flats treated or this will never be solved. This is a battle I have been fighting for 18 months, there is also another article about this with me months ago. My house has had many professionals and councillors in, who have all said I’ve done up my place to a very high standard & keep my house immaculate. Please don’t judge my parenting when you don’t have the full story. Maybe ask questions instead of passing judgement.

    • Don’t judge my parenting from a story you hear. I am a single mum, I have spent so much money buying glass food storages, mouse bait, mouse traps, mouse repellents. I have been trying to get this problem resolved for 18 months. In a block of 18 flats not everyone lives to my standards or even afford to… I’ve had councillors, professionals in my flat and they have all commented on how beautiful I have made the flat, how there is no possible way that I give mice any reason to be in my flat. But this is how big the infestation is. So Paul, please kindly ask questions rather than judge my parenting

      • Sorry Millie, I did not intend to judge and i am really sorry you are living in such conditions and have for soo long, It will take forever to get anything done by the council or whoever they just pass the butt to someone else. This was proved today as i made a comment dirrected at Cllr Barry , It is not his job he can only help with street lights and 20 mph limits . He has no friends or contacts with Tdc so unable to ask for help for you.

        Questions why do you keep the mice in cages that will spread vermin ? , If your Daughter puts her fingers in her mouth she may become very ill.

        why do you bother keeping your flat so clean when mice spread fleas , bedbugs and if they fancy a chew may so through an electric cable , hopefully it wont start a fire .
        This is something no counciler has even thought about , oh it mice can they do that, never had them but if I did they be fine for 18 Month until i sort something .
        You have spent lots of money on stuff and will not rid the other flats , but if you purchase “Mint plants ” and place one in each corner in every room they will not return to your flat they will go elsewhere. If you buy a plug in airfreshner thing ,its a plug in item that you can set with Mint stuff that will ensure the job, I must say i not a clue on these items.
        If you feed the mice with poison they may take it back to their babys of wich there will be many.

        I do have a friend who works for a top rentakil i am unable to name on here , but i cannot work a bloody air freshner.

        So comeon any councilers can any help this lady now with a result rather than saying we are looking into it and doing our best .

      • I really feel for you, I hate mice. Have you considered adopting a cat from a cat sanctuary? Even if it’s not much of a hunter the smell of the cat will frighten mice. Good luck.

        • I have a dog and he catches some but not many. I’ve literally tried absolutely everything, I’ve spent hundreds almost into 1,000 of my own money, let alone how much my landlord has spent himself. Pest control have given up, everyone’s just giving up because it’s a loosing battle, but I refuse to be allowed for myself and daughter to be living with vermin at all let alone A server infestation of them! I already have health problems I don’t want to have more due to this. I clean 3-4x times a day, I use all sorts that is suppose to deter them away. I also have traps throughout my flat, I have pest control bait boxes. Everyone else here seems so calm about living with mice so I just look like the odd person freaking out thinking it’s vile… my best option is to move. But that’s very much a lot harder than said for me.

  14. It really don’t make sence or does it?

    Mother and young child, small flat , shit area , its been ongoing for Months these mice.
    Have tried speaking to the other residients but they not speak english.

    Come on Cllr Barry you carn’t allow us to live like this.

    • I am a county councillor, i have no power in thanet district council, i work with the residents on matters in the area that i am able to change such as street lighting, pot holes and 20 miles speed limit.

      • Talk about pass the butt, I am sorry you have no friends contacts in thanet district council and unable to put a word in . You will in time as they a new lot . East kent housing had to leave over a large mulity million claim againts P&R , they were the contractors for heating who failed to meet their contract leaving hundreds without heating for several months includig myself.
        Good luck with the street lighting it will assist the fire brigade should those mice chew through an electric cable.

  15. Maybe the council should supply more waste / recycling bins as it seems there is a lack of them considering how many residents there are maybe that would help a bit just a thought

  16. Yes an idea , we have many tower blocks in Thanet and I don’t think theres a problem , perhaps a skip at the end of each road would cuts saving the cleaners picking rubbish up from the pavements .

  17. This is an appalling situation. Unless the whole block is treated as with the cockroaches this problem will persist. Passing the buck and effectively ignoring this tenant who must be applauded for her persistence reflects very badly indeed on Thanet District Council. Any rodents chewing wires could well be the cause of a fire with disastrous consequences in an HMO. Is this what TDC wants? Does our MP Craig MacKinlay think this is acceptable? What is the point of TDC having selective licensing if it can’t resolve a situation like this? The whole building should be condemned and compulsorily purchased by TDC. Better than wasting money on Dreamland, NDA’s and shenanigans at Ramsgate Port. I despair. Millie and her child don’t need hard work by TDC she wants and deserves a solution. Is this the best the Labour Party can do?

    • The problem , as reported in the article last year, is largely down to the behaviour and attitudes of other’s in the building, It will be the resdents of the block that are underlying cause of the problem. In the absence of each flat making sure there is no food available and a concerted effort by all to poison the mice you will never solve it. There is far more likelyhood of a fire as a result of the way tenants use the electrical system ( use of extension leads etc) and the items they plug in and how they use them ( cheap phone chargers being a common problem). Than mice will ever cause.
      I don’t know if TDC have any powers to make tenants tidy up and vacuum more often , ( common sense says not) so beyond general advice what do you do?

  18. Get out of Cliftonville the place is disgusting drove through there the other day first time in years couldn’t believe my eyes I won’t be doing that again in a rush shocked you couldn’t pay me to live there errr

    • Did you venture into the alternative reality of Athelstan Rd? What were your thoughts as you passed through? Can you beleive that TDC have had 10 years of a selective licensing scheme to improve the area? When tou look at Dalby Square does the heritage grant scheme appear to have made a difference? Especially bearing in mind that TDC made sure it had taken /distributed the (large ) lions share to the wall around the gardens. (Reported 400k) and two favoured properties which between them scoffed nigh on half the whole pot. Have wander up Edgar Road and look at Hatherley Court owned by a social housing provider and in an awful state, the bays are rotten, new cladding fitted to stop pigeons nesting in the gutters blew off in the first gale of wind, as a result of cars being dumped and the barrier being damaged often they closed the car park , pushing even more cars onto the street, but as a social provider nothing is done. Then you have Julian Court which apparently has considerable amounts of asbestos that is rotting away under the balconies, pigeons roosting innthe rotted dtructure and despite being in a conservation area the cast iron balconies are being allowed to slowly collapse,. The building the other side of Hatherley court has had rotting waste in its bin area for years meaning the bins now live permanently on the street, wouldn’t take much to sort it out, even if council did it inngood faith once .TDC are again well aware but choose to do nothing. Hardly seems as if there is much effort going into improving things. On a brighter note there seems to be a bit of effort going into buildings at the top of Edgar Road to improve things and now that TDC no longer use the Glenwood for emergency housing there’s no longer a need for an almost continuous police presence.
      But you’ll never see a local councillor taking an interest at street level, they just want to promote themselves in articles like the above, best I ever achieved was getting to meet Clive Hart who took on board my points and said i should sit down with the then head of housing Madeleine Homer, who in the great tradition of TDC ignored any approach , if a council leader can’t sway things who can?
      Finally when TDC put forward the Selective Licensing Proposal , the only qualifying reason they chose not to consider was immigration, happy to include deprivation figures for migrants in the document but would’nt look at even simple migration numbers. How you deal with an area without at least acknowledging one of the lbiggest changes in an area is beyond me, but you can’t let common sense get in the way of political idealism.

  19. KCC Cllr. Barry Lewis has been highly supportive & proactive in his work on raising the quality of life for all our community on Athelstan Road – he has undertaken everything asked of him that his County Council status allows – it isn’t legal for county councillors to deal with District Council matters – it isn’t a matter of choice, or contacts, or friends – this case was initially a TDC Environmental Health matter, but as the 7 leaseholder landlords didn’t take collective responsibility & action to eradicate vermin from the entire building & then collectively re-wire the entire building it’s now in the hands of TDC Housing & TDC Selective Licensing, who, as ARTRA understands, are pursuing the rogue landlords & rogue management agencies for failure to maintain their property in a fit state for human occupation.

    It is ARTRA’s – Athelstan Road Tenants & Residents’ Association – hope that after the sub judicial process is completed on this HMO block, TDC Housing may be in a position to do something similar to what was achieved at No. 19 – a high quality conversion of a 4 storey property into council maisonettes – but clearly the HMO block in this case is 18 flats & very much more legally complex, involving an absentee freeholder & 7 separate leaseholder rogue landlords, rather than just a single building with just one rogue landlord to contend with.

    ARTRA are extremely grateful that TDC Housing & Selective Licensing are currently involved in tackling this extremely nasty situation & trust that 2021 will see a very significant change in circumstances at this block & possibly two, or three other severely neglected vast Athelstan Road HMO blocks too.

    Housing portfolio holder & Deputy Leader of TDC Cllr Helen Whitehead has been extremely helpful & forthcoming on this case & ARTRA are very grateful for her direct involvement on this, which has involved visiting this block, personally interviewing numerous tenants, to gather verbal testimony & taken photographic evidence of the dire physical state of the property.

    ARTRA continue to support & advise Millie & have helped raise the profile of this & other severely neglected HMO blocks on Athelstan Road with TDC in the hope of a major change of circumstances for all long suffering tenants living on Athelstan Road. That said, Millie’s immediate situation is truly dire & were TDC in a position to offer Millie any temporary, or permanent respite, while the case of this HMO’s long term future is ongoing, that’d certainly be an extremely welcome option.

    The long term wellbeing & housing needs of all tenants in all privately rented properties on Athelstan Road remains a very serious concern for ARTRA & TDC Housing/Selective Licensing, as ARTRA understands, TDC Building Projects & other TDC housing depts. – the extent of mass housing in substandard HMO property on Athelstan Road & other parts of Cliftonville West is effectively a scandal & all relevant depts. aught to be enlarged to deal with resolving the enormity of the vast problem caused by rogue landlords & rogue management agencies & unfettered subdivision of former hotels & guest houses into bedsits & flats.

    The two BBC News South East items entitled ‘Athelstan Road: the Worst Rogue Landlord Street in the South East’ , broadcast approx. 3 years ago, was accurate & aught to have been a wake up call to the TDC administration of the time – alas it most certainly wasn’t, hence the creation of ARTRA & our work with the whole community on Athelstan Road & TDC councillors, to help redress the crime of extremely poor, ultra high density housing on Athelstan Road.

    • Not quite sure what planet you’re on, TDC will this year come to the end of a second 5 year selective licence designation for the area, if you’re trying to say that its taken nigh on 10 years to identify and start to deal with a housing issue it’s more likely that the issues are within TDC and the way it operated the scheme which was little more than a money making scam.
      The selective licensing team has at different times had two alcoholics on its team, numerous staff that could lie in bed straight and a policy of running the scheme from desks, sending out letters making threats of prosecution based on an inability to read documents presented to them or lack of understanding of legislation that had changed.
      In the meantime we had TDC as a part,owner of EKH and had oustanding has certification on considerable numbers of properties.
      Many properties in the scheme have never been inspected, council officers make pitiful amounts of effort to gain entry , in one instance wouldn’t even try the front door of a block , i did it for them and lo and behold it opened.
      Cliftonvilles biggest problem is the disproportionate number of people living there that few are willing to house, council and social providers don’t want them , neither does any decent landlord, so you end up with an end of the rental market that takes them ( unfortunately decent people end up in some of these flats too). The council then does as little as possible about the issues namely to avoid having to serve notices closing properties and leaving the council with a duty to rehouse the tenants.
      The council did nothing but alienate decent landlords with selective licensing and the complete lack of interest in dealing with the poor quality buildings. My tenants would most certainly rather have had the licence fees spent on my buildings rather than donated to TDC to waste.
      A hotel that set up in the not too distant past that backed onto properties in Athelstan Road eventually changed hands because the original owners had so many complaints from guests whose rooms backed onto Athelstan Road and its associated problems.
      Whilst the work done by the council refurbishing the property mentioned is to be lauded, will we ever get to know what the overall cost was and how many years it will take to recoup the outlay?

  20. If you have a problem with cockroaches, check the outside drains!! Put something down the drains to kill the roaches!
    If you have them inside your home, it is seriously time for a deep clean. Surface cleaning is NOT enough!
    Bag ALL your rubbish and dispose of it in the bind provided!
    Put down CHUNKS of CUCUMBER!! Cockroaches do NOT like them!!

    • Next door is the source of cockroaches I’ve don’t many man deep deep cleans, had pest control out many times… but again cannot be solved until every landlord fixes up and does what NEEDS to be done and what there suppose to do as a landlord. Because of this result and people here not caring how they live landlords simply do not care about anything, so that problem comes on to someone like me who simply dosnt live unclean and it’s a massive health risk to me and my 15 month old daughter. I’m in a unlucky boat.

      • Have you tried looking for entry points in your flats that the mice might be using to get into your flat.look for droppings and grease Mark’s around pipes under your sink,boiler cupboard bath etc.mice only need a tiny gap about the size of a pen.fill any gaps with wire wool.i did pest control for 29 years,I no longer do it.

  21. Yes we’ve done al the entry points many of times, but they make new ways in as it’s such a large infestation they make a new way in from another place.. it’s a on going cycle. I did all of this with wire wool suggested by the pest control who was involved. But I can only keep them out for so long until they’ve made new ways in so it’s never ending. It’s ok saying to block the holes ext but with the size of this infestation it’s proving it’s not doing anything

  22. They are not the easiest thing to get rid of I’m afraid.had many problems with mice in east london not eating poison and not gaining access to other properties to treat for mice rats cockroaches etc.
    You could try using glue boards,but then you would have to killed humanly
    Good luck

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