RODENT RAMPAGE!

Horrific footage reveals how rats have invaded an entire block of flats in London and turned it into a ‘Victorian Britain hellhole slum’.

Frightened residents are fleeing the block and moving out after feeling neglected and abandoned by the housing association responsible.

The footage shows dozens of rats scurrying across the walls and fixtures of a bin and utility room in Crystal Court, Hackney.

Families living there say they ‘constantly’ see the vermin and hear them during the night, leaving them unable to sleep.

Families say they have spent more than four years begging the housing association, Notting Hill Genesis, to rid the block of the rats.

Destin Domokundi, a 22-year-old student who has lived there with his mother since 2012, said the ‘disgusting’ issue had been raised ‘over and over’ with the management.

He said: ‘It’s been an issue for years, not just recently.

‘This became an issue four years ago. It’s gotten really intense recently. People have been scared to go into the bin room.

‘Even myself, I’m not queasy around rats, but it’s too much for me. You have to give the door a little tap to spook them before you go in.

‘I feel they are making their way up the stairs. I can hear them in the ceiling.’

Another resident, who has lived in the property for 13 years and pays more than £900 a month for her flat, says she is kept awake at night by the sound of rats scurrying above her ceiling.

She said: ‘I can hear them in the walls. It’s mostly at night – but even in the day, you hear packs of them scurrying about. 

‘It has been affecting my mental health – I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in over a year. It’s awful.

‘Next door had a leak really bad because rats bit through the pipes. So they had to move out for a year.’

Crystal Court says it found no evidence of a link between pest issues and damage to pipework. 

The resident, who requested not to be named, showed emails about the rat issue to the block’s management officer from August 2024. 

She said that pest control attended last year to lay down traps, but the problem has become increasingly dire since then.

In order to set more traps and secure the bin room, pest control has now returned. Only on weekends could people use the facility to fill up their gas supply meters because it was locked throughout the week.

Mum Pauline Aldred, 46, who has lived there for two years, said: ‘It’s absolutely horrific. It’s like a horror movie. I cry myself to sleep sometimes at how bad it is.

‘I am terrified of rats and any vermin. This is the worst situation I have ever been through in my life. It’s utter hell. The housing association has not helped.’

Another local said, ‘It’s the pits. It’s like a Victorian Britain hellhole slum.

‘It’s third world. This should not be Britain in 2025. It’s disgusting.’

A housing manager visited the block earlier in the week – and blamed the rat situation on residents not properly disposing of their rubbish, according to residents.

One resident said: ‘They have said the other block’s bin room is spotless, and they have a rat problem too.

‘I think the problem is a vicious cycle. I think that people just open the door and throw the rubbish in because they are scared to go in.

‘Once a year, we have the housing officer come around. No disrespect, but she’s quite young. She doesn’t understand.’

Destin added that the rat infestation is just one problem of many facing the block’s beleaguered residents.

He said: ‘I feel that a proper renovation of the bin room would be a good first step. We haven’t heard anything from them. The whole estate is a mess. 

‘The lift barely works. Post turns up weeks after it’s supposed to have been delivered. We used to have a cockroach problem in the early 2010s.’

Notting Hill Genesis houses about 130,000 people in London and the south-east.

A spokesperson for Notting Hill Genesis said: ‘We are tackling ongoing pest issues at Crystal Court and apologise for the impact this has had on our residents whilst we have been working to resolve matters.

‘Household waste left in communal areas has now been cleared, and we have carried out extensive pest control and prevention work within Crystal Court. 

‘Work to clean and remove waste from the bin store has been completed, and cleaning will continue to keep the space sanitary.

‘We continue to work with residents and have advised them to take additional care when disposing of waste to prevent these issues from reoccurring.

We will continue regular communications with residents every two days and continue to support them as we resolve this issue.’

Rats are adept swimmers and frequently live in waterways like canals, which allows them to enter buildings from those regions. Crystal Court in Hackney is located just next to Regent’s Canal.

They can climb well and are known to use sewer systems, which can bring them into homes through drains and other openings. They are especially drawn to urban canals because of the easy access to food, so residents of Crystal Court need to make sure they keep it litter-free, and they don’t leave food around.

Regretfully, the widening wealth and poverty gaps, the pressure to pack as many people into HMOs as possible, the rise in crime, the prevalence of vermin and litter, and the inaction of the political class have made society resemble Victorian times.