Fury over nightmare neighbours

THIS was the disgusting scene left behind after a family of nightmare neighbours did an overnight flit, leaving piles of foul-smelling rubbish behind.

Chicken bones, children’s toys, used condoms and even a shopping trolley were among the waste left strewn across the yard behind a house in Eastwood after the tenants left without warning.

Neighbours Jonathan Slater and Kirsty Stevens said that up to 14 people had been living in the terraced house in Hardwicke Road.

They said that the tenants, believed to be Slovakian, had treated their home like a pigsty, causing cockroaches to appear in neighbouring houses, and had made loud noises at all times of the day and night. 

“There are people there now clearing some of the rubbish into the street and the stink is awful,” Jonathan said.

“I spoke to one of the people living there when we had some problems with kids shooting airguns on the fields nearby and he seemed OK but when I went into the house there were about ten people sleeping on the floor.

“They were there for about three or four months and we had loads of problems with noise and rubbish. They have now done a midnight flit and left all this rubbish behind. It’s disgusting.”

Jonathan said that he and Kirsty had been forced to call in council environmental health officers to deal with the cockroaches, which they insisted were the result of their former neighbours’ rubbish.

“It doesn’t matter to me that they were Slovakian,” he said. “I couldn’t care if they were white, black, blue or from Mars, so long as they treated the house properly.

“It makes you feel so angry when you have to live next door to that.”

Yorkshire Accommodation Bureau said that they did have a Slovakian-speaking member of staff who collected rent from tenants and checked on their houses.

A spokesman said that the rubbish was being removed yesterday afternoon and that the house would be “gutted” and refurbished before being relet.

He added that the agency had few problems with its tenants but admitted that some caused problems by moving extra family members in and moving out at short notice.

A council spokeswoman said that they were aware of the couple’s concerns and had been in touch with the managing agents of the property in question.

She added: “Pest control treatments were carried out by the authority on April 30 and a further treatment visit is due next month.

“Waste management is an ongoing issue in this particular part of Rotherham and council officers, such as wardens, regularly work alongside partner agencies, such as South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, to raise awareness of waste disposal among the local population.

“This includes delivering letters to all households, using translators, checking addresses to see whether rubbish has been disposed of correctly, talking to householders about their responsibilities regarding rubbish disposal and providing advice and information on general environmental and waste management issues.”

Related topics: