HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A Sunnyside apartment complex has been warned to clean up its act after multiple complaints to the city about rats.
An Eyewitness News crew spotted several of them sleeping near the garbage bin at the Cullen Park Apartments on Tuesday afternoon.
Each night, residents say the rats take over.
“It’s about a million of them just going around,” Rich Maserati said.
One woman shared a video with Eyewitness News of dead rats she said she found inside her apartment.
Records show the city took three complaints about rats at the complex in May, including reports of rats chewing through walls.
“They’re the size of cats,” Fuzz King said.
“It’s like Ratatouille around here, bro,” Maserati said. “Literally. Literally. Y’all seen the movie. It’s worse than the movie.”
After another complaint about rats Monday night, city inspectors posted a violation notice at the complex on Tuesday.
It gives the complex until Aug. 12 to clean up trash that the city notes provides ideal conditions for rodent infestations.
“As we’re putting the trash in the thing, the rats come and attack us, like, try to get the trash out our hands or something,” Audrey Richardson said.
On its website, the Cullen Park Apartments invites prospective tenants to “experience quality apartment living” and boasts of “exclusive resident amenities.”
But over the past six months, the city said it investigated 13 complaints ranging from overflowing trash to leaking sewage to an elderly man who said he fell through his floor on July 4.
The leasing office was locked when Eyewitness News went to inquire about the code violations, and property managers didn’t return a request for comment submitted through the property’s website.
“We have some tough questions that we want to know. One, how did it get like this with these doggone rats? That’s one. Two, why does this trash look like this?” activist Candice Matthews said.
For news updates, follow Luke Jones on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Copyright © 2025 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
