Residents face legal action over festering pile of rubbish building up outside Birmingham home

• A huge pile of junk has continued to grow outside an address in Holyhead Road in Handsworth - with property owners now taking legal action against the tenants.

Residents are facing legal action over a festering pile of rubbish on a street in Birmingham, which neighbours say is causing them utter misery.

The huge pile of junk has continued growing outside an address in Holyhead Road in Handsworth, with waste repeatedly returning despite being previously cleared by the housing association which owns the site.

Damp clothes and old household items fill the front entrance to the terraced home.

The front door is barely accessible, while nearby householders said rubbish was also stacked up in the back garden.

Neighbours said waste had been removed from the home where a man and woman, aged roughly in their 60s, were said to live, about a year ago.

Midland Heart, which manages the property, said several clearances of the affected area had previously taken place - but it said it had now launched legal action against the tenants.

Nearby resident and mum-of-five Nasra Mohamed, 54, said: "I'm so very tired of this situation.

"The smell is not nice. You want to open the windows on a hot day but we can't. Their garden (at the back) is the same.

"We're also getting all these ants coming into our property. Everything is out there, old clothes, chairs, a protective medical boot, a supermarket trolley, all discarded items.

"It was cleared once by someone we think was the son of the woman living there last year. But then more returns. She is a nice woman who lives there - but nothing changes. So many neighbours have complained.

"We've tried to speak to the housing association, but it's been bad like this for five years. This situation is ridiculous - something needs to be done."

The daughter of the mum added: "I'm not sure if it's charity or they are selling the clothes, but they are leaving it outside exposed to the weather. It's damp and awful."

Vicki Brownhill, the head of housing management at Midland Heart, said: "We fully understand the impact this has had on the local community and have been working with our tenant to help address these issues for some time.

"We have already completed several clearances of the affected area and tried to facilitate conversations to improve relationships in the area to find a long-term solution for everyone.

"Unfortunately, this has not been as successful as we hoped and as a result we have had to as a last resort start appropriate legal action."

The tenant has been approached for comment.