A desperate family say they can hear rats crawling through their walls at night after the rodents invaded their home – leaving urine and droppings on their clothes and surfaces.
Jemma and Sean Williams say the pests have survived traps, bait and pest control as they battle to rid their home of the infestation.
The family had been struggling with rats outside their property for around two years before discovering they had made their way inside.
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Jemma believes they entered through faults in the Cwmbran property in Torfaen, Wales, which is maintained by Bron Afon Housing Association.
“We are a proud, hard-working family and this is very distressing for us,” council worker Jemma, 36, told Need To Know.
“We have been struggling with rats for two years.
“They are living in the cavity of our walls.
“We can hear them scurrying around at night.
“We even have one dead one in the wall.
“One morning, we woke up, and our whole kitchen had been ransacked.
“Our bread had been eaten, our biscuits had been stolen and stashed, everything had been gone through, and my work clothes had been ripped up.
“We found rat faeces on our kitchen unit and in our utility room, and there was rat urine on our clothes, on the kids’ clothes and on our floor.”
Jemma said the family has already spent hundreds of pounds on traps and bait in a desperate attempt to tackle the problem themselves.
She claims the rodents have been travelling through cavities in the property before getting inside through holes around cupboards and pipework.
Pest control attended, and entry points were blocked, with the family initially believing their nightmare was finally over.
But Jemma said the rats soon returned.
She said: “It was all quiet for about a week, and then it got worse.
“The rats came into our kitchen again, ransacked the kitchen again, ate our food and started going into my son’s room, as well as the kitchen and utility room.”
The family became so desperate to prove what was happening that they installed CCTV inside their own home.
Jemma says cameras captured rats emerging from a hole and scurrying through the property.
She added: “I have hours of footage of them.
“We had to buy CCTV for our own home to capture the rats as evidence so they would listen to us.
“We’ve had to get more school uniform for the kids because the other clothes were ruined.
“My clothes have been ripped up by the rats.
“We’ve had to buy rat traps, rat bait and rat cages.”
Jemma said repeatedly washing clothes contaminated by the rodents has become another exhausting battle.
She added: “Every time I get on top of the washing, we end up with piles of clothes that have to come back downstairs again because they just stink of rat urine.”
A spokesperson for Torfaen Council said the problem was a matter for Bron Afon Housing Association.
Bron Afon Housing Association has been approached for comment.
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