I was duped into buying a rat-infested home — and only found out because I was pregnant

When Sarah Hurst and her hubby started trying to conceive their 3rd kid successful 2021, they knew it was clip to commencement searching for a new house.

And so, erstwhile the accidental arose for them to purchase a property successful Ilkley, West Yorkshire for considerably little than the market price, they jumped astatine it.

They were pleased with the information of the home, and had informed the owners that they couldn’t spend to instantly walk a immense magnitude of wealth connected renovations, hoping that this would ward disconnected immoderate glaring issues.

The location needed enactment eventually, but it could hold for present – and they were blessed with that deal.

However, anterior to buying the home, they’d had a regular survey carried retired and recovered what they thought were rodent droppings successful the loft.

Querying it with the owners, they said that they’d had a squirrel up determination a fewer years agone which had since been dealt with. Trusting their reply – arsenic the woman Sarah was buying from was her doc astatine the clip – they pushed connected with the decision.

But erstwhile Sarah and her household moved in, she was already six weeks pregnant. She was definite that she could observe the musty scent that comes with a rat infestation, but her hubby wasn’t convinced.

As Sarah was convinced the musky ‘cabbage’ odor was worsening, the mates decided to telephone successful pest power – and they confirmed her worst fears.

‘Within 5 minutes of him arriving astatine our location and having a speedy look around, helium confirmed that not lone did we person a historical rat infestation, but determination was besides a existent rat infestation of unrecorded and decaying rats,’ Sarah, who runs a blog called ArthurWears, explained successful a TikTok video which was subsequently liked implicit 20,000 times.

But due to the fact that helium couldn’t find immoderate entranceway holes into the property, helium advised that they needed a drainage study to spot if it was the drains that were acting arsenic a beforehand doorway for the rats.

And, debased and behold, arsenic helium was mounting it up, a rat walked successful beforehand of the camera and into the room done a spread successful the pipes.

‘We paid to person the spread sealed up and much bait laid down, and we hoped that that would lick the problem,’ Sarah recalled.

‘We had to person a afloat rewire of the location due to the fact that the wiring had been chewed extensively by the rats and it was dangerous.

‘We besides had to person the full location replumbed, and during these works, we recovered retired that successful the downstairs bathroom, the discarded tube had been chewed truthful severely that the discarded was really going nether the level and the subfloor of the house…the nonstop aforesaid happening happened successful the upstairs bathroom.’

Then, aft a fewer days of moving connected the house, the electricians downed their tools and left, stating that they ‘weren’t going to proceed moving connected the location until the odor had subsided,’ arsenic successful bringing up the floorboards, they’d discovered immense amounts of rat corpses that were present rapidly decaying.

In fact, 1 was truthful ample that they mistook it for a cat, arsenic brownish rats tin turn to beryllium betwixt 15 and 27cm long, with tails reaching up to 24cm.   

At that point, Sarah and her hubby decided that they needed to interaction the erstwhile owners who, contempt the information that determination had been bait laid precocious and caller corpses recovered beneath the floorboards, maintained that they had nary thought determination was a rat problem.

Ringing astir the section pest power companies to spot if helium could find retired whether anyone had worked connected the spot earlier they moved in, Sarah’s hubby was capable to find much accusation astir the infestation.

They’d visited 8 times successful the past fewer months, with the past sojourn being the time earlier the caller household moved in.

‘Normally, you don’t person to disclose a rat infestation, but the information that we asked means that they should person told us,’ Sarah noted.

‘We did an out-of-court colony for a tiny magnitude of money. It wasn’t adjacent capable to screen the decontamination and insulation of the loft.

‘By this point, we’d had to wage for 2 caller bathrooms, a afloat rewire, replumbing, each of the visits, the drain survey, the drain repairs and the loft decontamination. I was large and I conscionable couldn’t combat anymore, arsenic we needed that wealth to assistance wage for things.’

Naturally, Sarah’s followers were appalled astatine the ordeal she and her household went done – and immoderate adjacent recalled akin experiences.

‘We moved into our spot 4 months ago. We conscionable precocious looked successful the loft arsenic we were told we weren’t allowed to usage it, and person discovered dense rat droppings,’ @glastogoddess wrote.

It was a akin concern for @clairywairyfairy, who had her caller location rewired aft she moved in. As helium went up into the loft, the electrician recovered a enactment which read: ‘beware, rat house.’

‘I besides bought a rat-infested location with a ample wasp nest, [there was] thing successful the survey. I had to region everything successful the attic and re-insulate, rewire, and person the drains fixed,’ @gilljones0 added.

‘Only erstwhile I got a feline did they leave.’

Do you person a communicative to share?

Get successful interaction by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

MORE: I near London for the suburbs — wrong a period I was begging to spell back

MORE: Britain’s cheapest level is connected merchantability for conscionable £1 — but there’s a catch

MORE: 80s popular icons’ erstwhile workplace hits the marketplace for £6,000,000