Dearborn Heights, Mich. – A woman renting a home in Dearborn Heights says she feared a rat problem was running rampant, so she called an inspector. Sure enough, the inspector said it was infested. Local 4 found complaints about rats at the same house stretch back more than a decade.
Local 4 spoke to the woman’s mom. She reached out because she worried about her grandson’s health in the home and she says her daughter never would have chosen to live there had she known about the rat issues.
Recommended Videos
According to city property records, the property was cited as recently as April 27 for not having a certificate of occupancy.
“Moved her out yesterday - an emergency move,” mom Tashan Lacy said.
Lacy’s 8-year-old grandson is on the spectrum. Lacy’s daughter and grandson moved into the home in January.
“She made the house into a home for her and her special needs son,” Lacy said.
Her daughter installed a new sink, new toilet, a stove and painted the home. But, she says something was off.
“She had this mink rug in her living room,” Lacy said. “Of course, when you step on a mink rug, it leaves prints. So she said, ‘You know what? I am not crazy.’ So, she shook it out, went back upstairs for the night. She cut the lights off. When she came back down, there were prints. So, she was trying to figure out what was in there.”
They say it just got worse. The landlord never told them about the rats during the move in.
Then, Lacy started digging into things. Lacy said she found the home had been cited even in December of 2015 for the issue.
“‘New tenant moved in in June/July of 2015. House has rats in the crawl space,’” Lacy said, citing a city record from 2015.
Lacy’s daughter had the house serviced. The report said the pest type was rats.
“The rats have at least 20 entryways,” Lacy said. “He wants people to live like that.”
Lacy says Orkin placed black box traps around the home.
She says her daughter either wanted the issue fixed, or her rent money back. She wasn’t getting anywhere.
“At this point, we feel like you knew that this place was rat infested and you don’t have an occupancy license,” Lacy said.
Lacy says her daughter went to take legal action. But, just yesterday, she said the landlord settled with her daughter and gave her the security deposit back. She moved out last night.
Local 4 called the landlord about it today. He says the issue was settled in court.
Lacy says she is sharing this story because she does not want any other family to experience this.