A Cornwall Housing tenant living in Liskeard says he has been at his wits end for months with problems with his home - including rats coming in from a property nearby.

Despite Stephen Budge bringing the issues to the attention of the housing company, he says they’ve been slow to do anything.

Stephen Budge says that he always does his best to be a responsible and tidy tenant but has had problems arising with his home that have been out of his control. He says he’s had numerous emails and contacts with Cornwall Housing and various officers, but has been “continually put off”.

He says that early in his tenancy he was diagnosed with cancer – a health problem now fortunately resolved – but he says that when problems arose with the air source heating installed in the property due to an inadequate amount of insulation and insufficient gap between properties, it took months before anyone would address the problems.

Mould also developed in a bathroom, but when that was eventually replastered and redecorated it was only a matter of weeks before the new paint started cracking and peeling.

In addition, hedging along a pathway needed by tenants for access became overgrown and untrimmed, but he says Cornwall Housing officers did nothing until he contacted South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray.

The biggest problem, however, has been with rubbish discarded around a neighbouring property, and the rats that this has encouraged. At one point he says he had a rodent come into his kitchen and also saw some of them climbing windows – a big concern to him as he has his children and dogs living in his property. Initially when he complained to Cornwall Housing he was advised that in view of his health he should keep his windows closed – despite there being very hot weather at the time.

Councillor

Mr Budge says he even called the police about the issues, but there was little they could do. He also tried enlisting the help of a local councillor.

Mr Budge says that whenever he asked Cornwall Housing to address the issues with the neighbouring property they cited tenant confidentiality as a reason not to proceed – but he says he just wanted the rubbish and rodent problems resolved.

After the Cornish Times contacted Cornwall Housing, Mr Budge says that he has received a visit from representatives of the housing company, and they have promised him that his bathroom ceiling will be skimmed to remove any mould later this week. They mentioned to him that they currently had a number of staff off work due to receiving ‘ping’ alerts from the COVID app and that this had contributed to the delays in dealing with his case.

However, he tells us a pest controller who visited the nearby property to see if he could locate and deal with any rats’ nests said that he could do little until the interior is cleared.

When approached by the Cornish Times, a representative of Cornwall Housing gave the following statement about Mr Budge’s case: “Cornwall Housing is sorry to hear of the problems being experienced by residents at this location in Liskeard.

“Our officers have visited the home, to inspect the property condition and check on the wellbeing of the tenant. We can assure you that we are working closely with colleagues from across other agencies, to resolve these problems and address the immediate issues associated with the property condition as quickly as we can.”