Fort Myers woman wants rodent infestation at her rental fixed

Reporter: Justin Kase Writer: Drew Hill
Published: Updated:
rodent infestation fort myers

A single mother says she’s at her breaking point after she’s been living with a rodent infestation for months.

Her duplex is along Dora Street in Fort Myers, and she just wants the problem to be fixed. But according to this mom, she isn’t getting much help.

WINK News reached out to her property management company about issues, and they said pest control is the tenant’s responsibility. Still, they are working on getting a pest control company on location.

The woman who lives there says she’s tried that for more than 90 days and has been left overwhelmed trying to fix the problem by herself.

Your home is supposed to be your sanctuary. But for Stephanie Rodriquez, right now, it’s not even close. “I’m not at peace. I’m not at peace at all,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriquez says she’s lived with a rodent infestation in her apartment for months. “I hear scratching,” she said as she imitated the scratching noise. “I hear this noise. I’ll tell my daughter, ‘mute the TV’ to make sure that I’m not wigging out, you know.”

Rodriguez says she’s reached out to the property management company but says she hasn’t received help. “I have taken money out of my personal account, you know, to try to get things from Lowes; the sticky traps, the pellets for the rats, you know, things of that nature… the putty to patch up holes,” Rodriguez said.

WINK News brought her concerns to Streamlined Property Management and Real Estate, the property management inc charge of her duplex. Streamlined told us that they’d made improvements around the home, including trimming trees back near the building and preventing rodents from entering around the AC lines.

But, they said that in order for pest control to enter the unit, it’s up to her schedule with pest control.

“I’m very fed up. Oh my God, I have a headache now because I’ve been worried about this. Every day I’m obsessing over this. And I feel like I’m harassing them,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez says she doesn’t want to move because she knows how tough affordable rentals are to find. She just wants the problem to be fixed and for this to be over.

“It’s ridiculous. This has been over 90 days that this has been going on with the rats,” Rodriguez said.

WINK News reached out to the property management company to ask for contact information for that pest company to pass along to Rodriguez. They told WINK NEWS that a company will be at her residence next week, and the property manager is reaching out to her directly to make arrangements.

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