When Jan Moulder's cat began bringing home mice, she realised something was amiss in her neighbourhood.
The few rodents quickly became a plague.
"My cat was then absolutely covered in fleas," she said.
"But it wasn't until my husband saw the garage door open at an abandoned house next door that we figured out where the mice and fleas were coming from.
"The garage was full of plastic bags of stinking rubbish. The place was a disgrace."
Mrs Moulder said her husband had put up a tin fence to keep a dog out of their property when the adjoining home was occupied, but discovering the rubbish was the final straw.
"How can people leave a place like that?
"There's another shed around the back full, too, and the section has been overgrown with weeds."
Mrs Moulder reported the situation to the environmental health officer at Tararua District Council and to the company she believed was managing the property.
Later, work began clearing the smelly rubbish.