Mum's anger after finding rat in garden following flooding in Gentoo home

Lynsey Talbot, 44 says she “has had enough” after a bathroom pipe caused two floods in her family home in South Hylton, leaving an ‘awful’ smell of sewage and a rat in her garden.

The mam of three says she contacted her housing association Gentoo to ask for the family to be re-homed while work was being carried out to remove the sewage from beneath the floorboards, but her request was denied.

The 44-year-old says the floor boards in the living area have been lifted to suck the sewage out using industrial hoovers by Gentoo – leaving a ‘terrible’ smell in her home.

She said: “They wouldn’t re-home me and the family, it’s ridiculous because we can’t live here while this is being sorted out – the smell is absolutely disgusting and when I found the rat, it really was the final straw.

"My little girl can’t play in the garden because she’s scared of seeing another rat, it’s just not on.”

Lynsey says she has ‘waited months’ for Gentoo to send workman to rectify the ongoing flooding issue which started in March last year.

She added: “We had no electricity for two weeks because the water from the flood had got to the plug sockets in the living room.

“Then we started to notice a strange smell and we thought it was the dog at first, it just started getting worse and when someone was sent out to sort the electrics they said a joiner would need to come and lift the floor boards.”

The mam, who lives on Evesham in South Hylton has been living in the house for the last 12 years but says the flooding problem started during the first national lockdown.

She said: “I spoke to the housing manager at Gentoo to arrange being re-housed while the work was being done but they said this couldn’t happen.

"I cried all day because I just felt helpless.”

Nigel Wilson, Chief Executive Officer at Gentoo Group, said: “We were made aware of an issue with a blocked drain at one of our properties in Evesham, South Hylton.

“Drainage Engineers attended the property the following day to clear the blocked drain from the neighbouring property and remove the water from underneath the tenant’s floor.

“We are conducting an investigation to identify the route cause of the problem and continuing to work with the tenant.”

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