Mother contests pest cleaning bill

A Mosgiel mother wants the cleaning bill for a rodent-infested state house to be paid by the Government.

The former tenant (36) said she and her two sons had lived in the house for three years when a foul smell started permeating from her 11-year-old son's bedroom but she could not locate its source.

Then an insulation installer refused to work under her son's bedroom because of the ''health risk'' of working among the rodent ''carcasses'' under the house, she said.

The house then became infested with rodents, which were entering the house through holes in the floorboards and ate food from the pantry.

The infestation was so bad her son winced when he saw cartoon rodents on television, she said.

Housing New Zealand (HNZ) told her to kill the rodents with poison, she said.

However, the poison was ineffective so she convinced HNZ to get an exterminator in, who called the infestation ''severe'', she said.

HNZ ''reluctantly'' agreed to pay for an exterminator and a week in a motel, but after fumigation the house smelt terrible and the family deemed it unfit to live in.

''It smelt like death.''

The family were moved into another state house by HNZ but had to pay another bond and rent in advance and were told they would be billed for new floorboards, the rental of a skip bin and cleaning costs.

The possessions they left in the house during the fumigation, including couches, chairs, linen and the children's beds, smelt of poison but would be removed at her cost, she said.

HNZ told her she was liable for the costs because compost containing food scraps had attracted the rodents, but the compost was grass and hedge clippings and did not contain food, she said.

''I swear on my brother's grave. I don't have food to waste.''

HNZ tenancy services manager Symon Leggett said the state house was visited when the tenant contacted HNZ about mice in January.

''We then took immediate action to relocate the tenant to a motel so we could assess the extent of the issue and how it could be fixed. We soon realised that the property required significant work.''

She accepted the offer of another state house and investigation of the old property revealed that mice were attracted to a build-up of rubbish and compost that had been dumped by the tenant, he said.

''We have cleared the rubbish and are conducting repair work so the property can be re-tenanted,'' Mr Leggett said.

HNZ was removing her furniture and recouping costs from the tenant, Mr Leggett said.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz