Stephanie Hamilton, 37, says her family has been living in a rat-infested home in Islington, London, since 2016, with the problem worsening in recent months. The hotel receptionist claims that the rodents have bitten through pipes, flooding her kitchen, and forced her three children, aged 15, 12 and six, to abandon their bedroom. Her housing association, Peabody, has repeatedly refused to rehouse her, according to Hamilton.
Family Battled Mice for Years Before Rats Arrived
Hamilton moved into the block of Peabody flats, situated above a food market, in 2016. Within a year, she says she first saw a mouse while making breakfast, sparking the first of many pest control visits from Peabody. She described a constant infestation for three years, catching six or seven mice every day. The issue temporarily disappeared for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic after Peabody sent a surveyor to fill the mice holes, but the animals eventually returned.
Early last year, the house began to stink, worse than when mice had died in the past. Pest control discovered a large rat under a cupboard. Since then, Hamilton says they have only seen rats, not mice. In autumn last year, she saw a rat's tail behind the sink, leading the family to avoid the bathroom for a week, using facilities in the supermarket below their flat. At night, the children had to use a tree behind the flat. Peabody sent pest control, but when Hamilton asked to be rehoused, she was told there was nothing they could do.
Rats Returned With a Vengeance in July
On July 6, Hamilton was about to make breakfast when a rat ran across the kitchen floor. She screamed, waking her children, and immediately shut the door. Since then, the family has not used the kitchen. They have moved an air fryer and microwave into a tiny passage. Hamilton said: 'The only thing we do in the kitchen is take milk out of the fridge next to the door. I leave a light on in the kitchen at all times. When we want to go to the kitchen, we put on long tracksuit and trainers. We bang the door so the rat runs away before we go in.'
Two days later, the kitchen flooded. A contractor found that a rat had bitten into a pipe. The broken pipe has forced Hamilton to wash clothes in the bath and buy all meals for her children. She claims there are now several rats in the kitchen, where she can hear them moving items. Weeks later, she locked a rat in a cupboard, and pest control killed it the next day. Hamilton said: 'Every time he hit that rat you could hear it scream. My blood went cold. It took him so long.'
Health Fears and Threat to Withhold Rent
Hamilton's biggest fear is the health risks rats pose to her children. She said: 'Rats carry so many viruses. If something happened to me or my kids, what are you gonna tell me? “I’m sorry” won’t be good enough.' Her son fell off his bunk bed and injured his leg when a rat ran into his bedroom. The children now sleep either with their mother or in a makeshift bed in the living room. Hamilton has repeatedly asked Peabody to move her, but they have refused. She said: 'It has been nine years that we have been living in fear. We can’t get back to normal. My kids do not want to be here.' She has threatened not to pay rent until she is moved. When she asked Islington council to house her at a drop-in session, she was told that was not possible because she already had a property with Peabody. She was warned not to make herself intentionally homeless, otherwise the council would send social services.
Peabody and Council Respond
A Peabody spokesperson said: 'We’re very sorry for the distress this has caused Stephanie and her family. We understand how difficult the situation has been and are doing everything we can to put things right. We’ve carried out pest-control treatments and our specialist team that handles complex repairs is looking at how we can resolve this as quickly as possible. The shortage of family sized social homes in central London makes rehousing really challenging, but we’ll continue to support Stephanie as our team identifies a lasting solution to the problems.'
Cllr Jackson, Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods in Islington, said: 'We want everyone in Islington to have a decent place to call home. Any household can apply to be homeless, and our team will conduct a homeless investigation. The housing law is very clear in this area, and the council will always follow the law. If the council accepted that they have a homeless duty, the household would remain in temporary accommodation until a suitable vacancy occurs in council housing.'
