Residents in one Southern California neighborhood say they are being terrorized by a rat infestation–and all the rats are coming from one home. 

The problem has gotten so bad that they are afraid to let their kids and pets outside. 

They’re on the roof. They’re in the car. They’re in the trees. There are rats and lots of them.

Residents on a Van Nuys street say the big rodents are invading.

“At times you’ll see up to 15 or 20, 25, running the roof in lines, like, probably offspring,” concerned neighbor Jerry said. “I’m pretty fed up.”

And neighbors say rats are coming from a house on the 16000 block of Wyandotte Street.

Jerry doesn’t want to use his last name, but he lives next to the house where he says the huge rats are breeding and coming onto their properties

“No. 1 concern is my family’s health and the health of my kids and the health of all the immediate neighbors,” Jerry said. “Even the people living in the house, it just smells like if you’ve ever smelled a rat’s–a dirty hamster cage.”

Jerry tells CNN he contacted the health department and they referred him to vector control.

“Vector control sent them some letters in the past saying clean up their property, trim your trees, here’s what we recommend you do…” Jerry said.

But Jerry says the problem has only gotten worse.

CNN spoke with the property’s owner on the phone on Tuesday night.

“There’s no infestation when you’re talking about 10, 15 rats,” property owner Lisa said. “There has been a rat problem in the community of Van Nuys, not even in this immediate neighborhood. Nobody has any proof. I mean, what proof do they have that it originated from our property?”

Lisa tells CNN she never received a letter from vector control but her neighbors did.  

She says she’s in the process of trimming the trees to help control the problem.

CNN asked her why there are rats on-and-around her house on Tuesday night.

“I do not believe in purposely torturing animals or killing them when it’s absolutely not necessary when it could be other methods that are humane, such as trapping and relocating,” Lisa said.

“We just want someone to come out and help them get some help,” Jerry added. “They need some help.”

Neighbors are now calling on the city to step in and help them get rid of the rats.

WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:

>>MORE STORIES