ARVADA, Colo. -- An Arvada woman says she is sick and tired of living in a rat-infested apartment and called Denver7 after she says the management company failed to do enough about wha she says has become a severe health issue.
Anne Haines has lived at the Mesa Verde Apartment Homes since December. She noticed rats made their way into her home two months ago.
"Sometimes I feel like there's a rat universe in the whole building, part of their little rat world. It's really that gross,” said Haines. "They had burrowed two holes on either side of the toilet. Two holes."
The rats chewed through her cabinets, ended up in her silverware drawer, her hot sauce packets and almost all of her food.
"They managed to finagle three tortillas from the top of my refrigerator to underneath my couch."
It's not just her, either.
"Almost everybody on the row of my level of apartments has small children. I would be coming undone. I would be coming undone if I had small kids in this building," said Haines.
Anne Cutler lives with her daughter and young granddaughter, next door to Haines.
"I don't think anybody should have to live under these conditions at all."
A spokesperson with Kramer Management and Realty, Inc. tells Denver 7, the rat issue started when they had to cut the grass surrounding the creek that butts up along the back of the apartment complex.
Hi Jackie,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to Ms. Haines complaints.
The problem began a few weeks ago when we had the ditch adjacent to our property mowed. Unfortunately, once ditch area was mowed, some of the rats that lived in the ditch area migrated to a few of our apartments. We have been trying to be very proactive in dealing with this problem. At Mesa Verde Apartments, we have 276 units and as far as we know, there were three units that were affected. We have an annual contract with Terminix to visit our property weekly and take care of any pest problems we may have.
Since the ditch mowing, Terminix has been trapping the rats and the problem has been resolved in two of the three units. We are working diligently to try to take care of the problem in Ms. Haines unit and we are currently baiting the rats on a daily basis in an effort to work through this issue. This means that we are making daily visits to her unit (Saturday & Sunday excepted) to replace the rat bait so I'm not sure why she told you we have only visited her three times in the past two months.
Unfortunately, it seems we are in a bit of a no win situation. If we don't mow the ditch area, we are cited by the city. If we do mow the ditch area we are faced with some unintended consequences such as what we are dealing with in Ms. Haines unit.
We are proud of Mesa Verde Apartments and would love to have you come and visit the property so you can see the pride we take in our community.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Debra K Parker
Broker AssociateSecretary/Treasurer/Controller
Kramer Management & Realty, Inc.
Haines doesn’t buy it. She said Terminix has only been by three times in the last two months and she's ready to take things into her own hands.
"I want six cats and you're not gonna charge me. I need six cats and that's how this is gonna go."
Haines says something has got to change, but she is stuck because she cant afford to go anywhere else.
"Boarding them up and feeding them poison is not really solving the problem," said Haines.