Environmental health officers may be forced to intervene in a heartbreaking family inheritance dispute after Peterhead residents complained a decaying house was blighting their community with rats.
Water from a damaged waste pipe has been filling the property in the town’s Rose Avenue for over a year but the supply is yet to be turned-off.
And as mould has grown to cover the interior, the property has also become infested with vermin, leaving neighbours fearing it is now a major health hazard.
Aberdeenshire Council is now investigating but in the meantime a young north-east woman says she been left feeling “sick” about the state of her grandmother’s former home.
Leia Stephen and her younger sister are due to inherit the two-bedroom house when they turn 21, but in the meantime it is in the “care” of another family member.
The 17-year-old has been left “disgusted” by the rat infestation, the damp covering the walls and the floors and ceilings awash with seeping water.
Miss Stephen said: “This is my inheritance and it an awful situation. I genuinely just want to wash my hands of it.
“My granny and my mum would be turning in their grave if they could see this.
“I would hate to imagine what it looks like inside. It is disgusting and just makes me feel sick.
“How can anyone leave a house like that?”
While Miss Stephen finds herself embroiled in a family struggle, Peterhead residents neighbouring the home at the heart of the wrangle are desperate to see urgent action taken.
Claudine Summers, who lives in the adjoining home with her partner and daughter, is worried about the impact the rapidly deteriorating property will have on her own house.
She has raised the issue with the council’s environmental health department, but claims she was initially told no action could be taken until it damaged her own property.
Miss Summers, 46, said: “I saw a rat last Saturday. It is just horrendous. I am not getting anywhere at the moment.
“Nobody has come in to turn the water off and even when they do stop it running this house is still going to be a health hazard.
“I raised the issue with environmental health but because it is not affecting my property at the moment it seems they won’t do anything.”
Miss Summers said her family had been aware of “large thuds” from the neighbouring house, which they believe was part of the interior collapsing.
The current owner of the property was approached but declined to comment.
Both the council and Scottish Water have said they are investigating the situation at Rose Avenue, but there appears to be some confusion over the action being taken.
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said environmental health officers were investigating and considering what actions, if any, might be appropriate under the Environmental Protection Act.
He said the council had also spoken to Scottish Water “to effect any necessary repairs, including shutting off the water flow”.
The spokesman said he understood that would be “actioned as a priority” but yesterday, while confirming they were working with the council, Scottish Water said it could not switch off the water because it was on a shared connection with nearby properties.
