A WOMAN has been putting up with a “horrific” smell after a council has delayed cleaning a home that its tenant died in.

Police were called to a flat in Milngavie on June 13, and the body of a man was sadly found.

It was not known how long ago he passed away.

Karen Brown, who lives in the flat upstairs, has hit out at East Dunbartonshire Council for the time it's taking to get the home cleaned.

She said: “The place is totally a health hazard. The smell is seeping through to my home.

“The flat is full of blue bottles. It’s also a mental thing, I’m living above this and it’s just absolutely disgusting.

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“I’m finding it hard to sleep. It’s a wee bit better now because I’ve had all my windows open.

“But I can’t even shut the close door because the smell builds up.”

After the police had left the home on Monday, council staff boarded up the flat door.

Karen phoned and requested emergency cleaners attend the property, but nobody was sent out until Friday afternoon – and that was to install a new door.

The 56-year-old said: “At first, the smell was absolutely unbearable.

“I’ve had the close door open for days.

“The police said they told the council exactly how bad the state was in the flat.”

Karen has rarely been in her home, which she owns, over the last six days.

Speaking on Friday morning, she said: “I’ve been spending time outwith the house to get away from it.

“I don’t really like coming back here. I don’t come back until I have to.

“I’m very stressed. I’m feeling depressed because the council won’t do anything. I feel hopeless.

“When I first phoned them on Monday, they told me they had nailed the door shut and that’s all they were doing. I told them ‘it’s eye-wateringly stinking, I can’t live here, this is disgusting’.

“It’s even disrespectful to the man that they haven’t cleaned up.

“It’s a dire situation for me and it’s horrible that my neighbour has died, the whole thing is just horrific.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable that they expect someone to live above that.”

Karen, who has a puppy, said she had noticed flies and a strange smell around her home recently, but thought it was due to her dog.

She said: “I’ve only just house trained the puppy.

“If she was desperate for the toilet, sometimes I’d let her out on the balcony to pee and I’d immediately clean it.

“I had been wondering about the flies, and I was thinking it was maybe because of the dog.”

East Dunbartonshire Council said a specialist trauma cleaning service had to be sourced to attend the home, which took a couple of days.

They added that a company was cleaning the property on Friday, and it would take around three days to complete.

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But Karen claims she was told by an employee on Saturday that the flat had been sprayed, to kill the flies, and they would be back in a few days.

She said: “Somebody came and sprayed something around to kill all the blue bottles.

“That person said he wouldn’t be back until Tuesday or Wednesday to clean it, and I think that’s normal as it needs to settle.”

Ann Davie, depute chief executive at East Dunbartonshire Council, said: “Our housing team were contacted by Police Scotland on June 13, regarding the unfortunate circumstances and we sealed the property once the police had left the building.

“A specialist trauma cleaning service was required to be sourced and unfortunately this took a couple of days.

“A new door has been fitted on the property and a specialist trauma cleaning company is currently cleaning the property.

“The work is likely to take two to three days to complete.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson added: “Police attended a flat in Milngavie after receiving a report a man had died within. Enquiries were carried out and the death is not suspicious.”