Toryglen mum blasts housing association as flat is overrun with ants

Tracy Rarity, 45, is now accusing Thistle Housing Association of "palming off" the situation, after the housing association told her it was "nothing to do with them".

She claimed she first noticed the bugs in her flat over two weeks ago and laid down powder and wrapping over holes in a hope to get rid of them.

She said: "Two weeks ago, my daughter noticed them in her room. There were hundreds, wall up the wall, up the door and underneath t-shirts in her room.

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"A few days later I was lying in bed with my dog and I notices high queen ants on my bedroom wall and gradually there were more and more.

"We went into the hall and there were hundreds in there."

Tracy Rarity and her 17-year-old daughter.

Tracy then contacted Thistle Housing, who she has rented the Corlaich Drive flat from for the past four years.

She said: "When I phoned up, I was basically told that there was nothing that they could do about it and they advised me to contact Glasgow City Council environmental department.

"But when I contacted the council, I was told that they don't deal with bugs, only rodents and things like that. I was getting passed back and forth.

"When I got back in contact with Thistle, it felt as if they were almost laughing at the situation, it's as if they don't care!"

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Tracy says that the housing association eventually organised for a contractor to come to her house, but was left devastated after she was told that there was nothing that he could do.

She said: "The contractor didn't turn up to begin with but once he came out, I was told that it was probably coming from my front door which is nonsense because you can see them coming in through the middle of my house.

"He treated the ones that were out out of the holes but I was told there would be nothing he could do about them coming back.

"I had them wrapped up and he told me to keep the wrapping over it and not to wash my wooden floors, I couldn't quite believe what he was saying.

"That is impossible in my house with a 17-year-old daughter and a dog!"

Tracy Rarity was forced to cover an ant infestation in her flat, and was told not to wash her wooden floors to help the situation.

Tracy also claims that she was told by Thistle that a full spray of the house wouldn't be available until March 2021, and that she would be expected to pay herself to fix the problem in the mean time.

She said: "I have bad knees and having to bend down to fill in these holes myself is hard at the best of times and I had to spend money on silicon to fill it in myself.

"This whole thing has been a nightmare, and Thistle Housing seem to think that this story is finished and it isn't.

"I could understand if the lockdown affected the work but that wasn't their excuse, it was basically 'it's nothing to do with us'."

Thistle Housing Association were reached for comment, with a spokesperson saying: “Ants are not uncommon at this time of year and tenants would normally be expected to deal with them themselves.

“However, we arranged for pest control to attend the property on 30 June, the day after we received the report. This tenant hasn’t been in touch with us since pest control’s visit so we have no reason to believe the issue persists.

“A further inspection will be carried out and the ant holes repaired as soon as we are able to do so."