Residents are demanding action after the body went undiscovered in the flat for weeks, leading to the stench

The body, which was found on July 12 in the flat in Cradley Heath, had been there for several weeks.

And the home wasn’t cleaned for 12 days afterward, forcing neighboring tenants to endure an unbearable stench.

The man who died was the second tenant this year to go undiscovered for weeks in the same row of flats on New Pool Road.

The number of bodies left undiscovered in properties for weeks has increased in recent years.

Official statistics show that 1,000 were found in the UK in 2021, compared with 59 in 1961, with men more likely to be undiscovered than women.

However, figures for ‘lone deaths’, when the person was found at least a week after they died, showed 8,000 cases in 2022.

The sad phenomenon has worried residents of Sandwell, where a downstairs neighbor of a man who died smelled birds from upstairs and maggots falling from her ceiling.

New Pool Road resident Simon Ball told how he repeatedly called Sandwell Council with his fears about a body lying in the flats and then to ask for a deep clean.

He said: “The smell is so bad and when the hot weather comes it’s even worse. I called so many times and was ignored. What’s sad is that it continues to happen, with two found dead after staying there. months this year and three in the last five years.

“You worry if you don’t see someone now. But what is upsetting is that I know questions were raised months before the latest man died because his electricity meter was unpaid. I’ve lost track of how many complaints I’ve made. When a housing officer was told that the tenant might be dead, his response was to smell through the mailbox to see if it smelled, only then was something done.”