A MUM said she is constantly in tears as her family are forced to share a bedroom with a RAT in their "hellhole" council flat.

       Lucie Taylor-Theis, 33, lives in a tiny rat-infested flat in Ealing, west London, with her four children, aged nine, three, two, and 10 months.

       2

       Lucie Taylor-Theis says she is constantly in tears over the rat-infested home. Pictured is her mum, Mandy, with Lucie's three kids Credit: BPM 2

       She says she is forced to live in a bedroom with a rat in the council home Credit: BPM

       At the end of 2021, Lucie was evicted from her rented home because the

       landlord wanted the property back.

       Ealing Council placed Lucie and her kids in temporary accommodation in

       Greenford, but she described it as a "hellhole" and said the family

       feels “stuck” and “helpless”.

       Lucie lives with a number of mental health conditions that she says

       have been exacerbated by her current living situation.

       The flat is extremely small - meaning she has been forced to sleep on

       the sofa with her children and she claims there’s nowhere “for the

       kids to sit”.

       Their temporary flat is also up several flights of stairs, which Lucie

       claims has resulted in injuries to her shoulder from carrying the pram

       up and down every day.

       The family has also been dealing with an ongoing rodent infestation

       which Lucie said she noticed almost as soon as the family moved in.

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       So far, Lucie has seen a number of mice in the flat and even claims

       she saw a rat in her son’s bedroom.

       Lucie said: “You can hear them all in the walls. I constantly am

       crying in front of my children. My children are always telling me not

       to cry.

       "My little girl, she comes and wipes my tears because she constantly

       sees me crying all the time. It’s so hard.”

       The flat Lucie is currently living in was provided as temporary

       accommodation by Ealing Council - though it belongs to housing provider Middlesex Group.

       She explained that pest control services visited her flat last week

       to block some holes and eradicate the problem, but she is

       unconvinced the issue has been solved.

       To add to the family’s troubles, Lucie has been moved far away from

       her son’s school and the relatives she relies on for support.

       Because of Lucie’s anxiety, she is unable to travel by public

       transport so instead has to walk for more than an hour to reach her

       son’s school.

       Lucie said: “[Ealing Council] knew all of this. I needed to be by my

       family for support.

       "I'm struggling with getting my son to school and being away from my

       mum. This situation has affected my mental health in every way.

       “I suffer with severe anxiety. I can’t tell you the last time I

       actually slept the whole night.

       "I’ve been having to sleep on the sofa with my babies. I can’t put my

       son in a cot, because where his room is at the back, that’s mainly

       where the mice have been getting in.”

       HELLHOLE HOME

       In May last year, Lucie was admitted to a mental health hospital after

       her previous living situation became too much for her.

       She is concerned this may happen again if she is not moved somewhere

       more suitable.

       Lucie said: “Things got so on top of me where I was living before, so

       much that I ended up in hospital.”

       Her mum, Mandy Forrestal, said: “My daughter has had a terrible

       time - a really bad time.

       "Ealing Council has had numerous letters from all the professionals,

       psychiatrist, her nurse. You name it, they’ve had it.”

       She described Lucie’s flat as “really, really tiny” and said living

       there has been like living in a “hellhole”.

       Mandy feels frustrated that no one is listening to her daughter’s struggle.

       Mandy said: “Lucie’s had a horrendous time. It’s been ongoing for

       nearly four years now that we’ve been fighting Ealing Council [...]

       they said all this isn’t a good enough reason to move her. Lucie needs

       to be moved.”

       A council spokesperson said: “We have been in regular contact with Ms Taylor-Theis since she presented, with her family, as homeless having been evicted from her previous accommodation.

       “We have taken her concerns seriously and arranged for contracted pest control experts to visit on four separate occasions to assess the situation and they have found no recent evidence of mouse infestation.

       "Ms Taylor-Theis has been kept fully informed of their findings.”