Woman says her rental home is infested with rats

HOUSTON, Texas (FOX 26) - "I mean just because we are in the ghetto doesn't mean we have to live like that in the ghetto and I mean I don't think that's right", says Gloria Kilpatrick who rents a home in the 2900 hundred block of Sauer St.

Kilpatrick lives with her daughter and two grandchildren but says that for months her and her neighbors have had problems with rats, rat droppings and even roaches inside their rental properties.

"I have grandchild and I have kids children that would like to come over and visit and they like to spend nights with me but the rats are so bad they get in the bed with them", says Kilpatrick.

She says the home needs major repairs, the floors, windows and even plumbing. "It was hanging off the wall, they came by to prop it up with two sticks to set it up against the wall", says Kilpatrick as she explains how her bathroom link was repaired.

Back in February Linda Rhodes complained about a similar problem. She says she complained multiple times about the rats in her home. City council member Dwight Boykins stepped in to help her and give her a new life.

Kilpatrick says she paid her $500 dollar rent every month, until now. She was handed an eviction notice from the landlord but says she doesn't want to pay rent until the repairs are made and the rats are gone.

"If I'm paying my rent they should fix the problem but when I pay the rent they say they are coming back tomorrow and fix it and I've never seen them or heard from them till the neat following month", says Kilpatrick.

While Kilpatrick says she alerted the landlord months ago. We spoke with the owner Ray Montalbano, who did not want to go on camera, but told us he did not know about the problems and that he plans on having an exterminator come out over the next few days.