Family faces health risks 'trapped' in home with 'rats and human excrement'

A mum in Runcorn is feeling overwhelmed due to a persisting smell issue inside her home as a result of prolonged problems with her drains.

Having resided in the same house owned by Riverside Housing Association for over 20 years, Kellyanne Bennison is now worried about her children's health due to the multiple issues concerning their home.

The issue, she alleges, include an infestation of rats and human excrement gushing through the bathroom sink of their family home.

She says drainage problems have escalated so seriously that waste from neighbouring homes are welcomed into their own.

The mother shared her grievances with the ECHO, saying: "Problems started with little things like the sink getting blocked. Riverside would come out to fix it but gradually the issues would get worse."

Alongside this, she reveals: "Eventually the drains began backing up into the property; there was faeces, urine, tissue paper - anything you could think of was coming into our home."

Kellyanne's ordeal continues: "When Riverside would come, they would unblock the drains and leave us with the clean-up. Then we'd go a couple of weeks and it'd happen again.".

Moreover, she laments on a particular event where: "At one point, it massively exploded and was all down the hallway. We lost the carpet and it was under the stairs. We've lost hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds over the years."

Adding to her heap of concerns, Kellyanne asserts that United Utilities were called to her home, following "seven years of issues" finally leading the company to "condemn the drains". The poor sanitary conditions of their home life was deemed as "unacceptable and unhygienic".

The mum expressed her frustration, stating that Riverside has visited the property multiple times but alleges that their repairs are merely "temporary fixes", leaving her family to deal with the aftermath.

She believes the root of the problem is a "four metre straight pipe" that requires fixing underground. However, she contends that when Riverside dispatched a worker to address the issue, rather than repairing it beneath the surface, they installed the drain above ground, which has worsened the situation for the family.

Describing the botched solution, she explained: "They put a pipe in the cupboard which is an air-flow pipe, meaning if any air or bad smells get trapped down the drains, they come up through that pipe. We've experienced the smell of constant drainage coming from the cupboard.

"And because we're connected to both houses next door and we're the main pipe in the middle, we get all of the backlash from everyone's pipes. What's in the downstairs toilet now isn't even ours - it's one of the neighbours' that's come through overnight because it was blocked!"

Moreover, she claims the family suffered a rat infestation as a result of "the bad drainage that has been put in" an issue they only resolved last week.

She added: "Because [the pipe] hasn't been set properly underground, they've left a gap. We could hear rats scurrying around, I sent the housing officer emails begging them to get us out of here because I couldn't cope."

"My four-year-old son has asthma and almost died of pneumonia last year. He was under the respiratory team for eight weeks - he was a really lucky boy [to pull through]. I can't have him living in a property like this because it's always going to put him at risk."

She went on: "I can't even call this place home anymore. I've begged and pleaded with them."

"We're trapped here in the sense that we can't even do an exchange [housing swap to another property] because no-one's going to want a property like this."

When contacted by the ECHO, Halton MP Derek Twigg expressed his concern, stating: "It is simply unacceptable that this family have been left living in these conditions. Riverside need to re-home this family as a matter of utmost urgency and bring the property up to a decent standard."

He added that seeing children living under such appalling circumstances is heartbreaking and horrifying, adding: "Riverside manage 1,083 houses in Halton, they urgently need to re-house this family and make sure that nobody else is living in these conditions in one of their properties.

"I would urge this family to get in touch with me and I demand a full explanation from Riverside detailing exactly what they will do to help this family."

After being approached by the ECHO on May 22, Kellyanne revealed that Riverside has visited her property to address the sewage smell and claims that her housing officer has offered her the opportunity to relocate.

A spokesperson for Riverside conveyed their sympathies, stating: "We are sorry that our customer has experienced repeated issues with drainage, sewage and odours at her property."

Discussing corrective measures taken, they said, "The drain is currently above floor level and after various repairs and surveys we have decided that the drain should be relocated under the floor."

Apologising for the delay, they added "We are sorry that this has taken so long to get resolved and we have been speaking to our customer to discuss options for a move while the necessary work takes place."

To help control the odour temporarily, they noted: "While agreeing this, we have fitted a new filter to the existing drain to help with the odours and ensure the home is habitable."

Although acknowledging difficulties in resolving the matter, they admitted, "Although our repeated attempts to resolve these complex issues in the past have been hindered by a variety of factors both inside and outside of the bounds of the property, we acknowledge that the repeated failure of repairs is unacceptable, and we are working to make this right."

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