New flat stinks - please help!

[didalittlenamechange]

Just moved into a new rented flat and despite being told it would be cleaned before I moved in, it's filthy. I've raised the issue with the lettings agents and they're sending a cleaner on Monday, but the worst issue is the smell.

Apparently the previous tenants were problematic. They flooded the flat twice, kept their rubbish in the garden, had cats that they gave the run of the place (the mattresses and sofa all had to be replaced after they left), and the carpets have recently been shampooed – they're still damp, and it smells of a horrible mix of cat pee and wet carpet... I can't seem to get rid of it.

I'm borrowing a friend's dehumidifier tomorrow to try and suck the worst of the damp away, but what else can I do to neutralise the stench? I hardly slept last night, the smell was getting to me so much.

The lettings agents said the landlord would consider changing the carpets if absolutely necessary, but that it's unlikely to happen in the immediate future. I can't live like this - any help or suggestions are more than welcome!

You can get a spray that neutralises cat wee. That will help with that part of the odour.

Yes, pet urine enzyme spray will help.

White vinegar, on your hands and knees dabbing it into the carpet

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemical-Trade-Store-Professional-Enzyme-Based/dp/B0F4DXNQR1

You'll need a spray bottle to apply it!

It’ll be the carpet - it needs to come up as the stench will be locked into it. You could try washing it again etc but ultimately it needs to be replaced

Bicarbonate of soda the box kind of and sprinkle everywhere it will absorb the stench

This. I would just bite the bullet on getting that changed.

For a start you maintain it's absolutely necessary to change the carpets!

Put a piece of kitchen towel on the carpet and stand on it - to gauge how wet the carpets are. If they are really damp, the underlay could go mouldy and that's a horrible smell that won't go away. Push for replacement carpets

It will have soaked i to the foam underlay.

Ugh, thanks everyone. You're confirming what I already suspected – this is going to be a big old job, isn't it?

I'm so frustrated; the chances of them doing it right before Christmas are slim, and it's awful in here....

Second this. Son had this when they moved into new house. Had carpet professionally shampooed but the smell (dog in their case) came back and carpet had to be replaced. We also moved many years ago into a house where it reeked of old dog - no smell when we viewed, no idea how they did it. We ripped up the carpet and lived with bare concrete and floorboards for several weeks. It was preferable to the smell.

I agree and it'll probably have gone down onto the underlay which is now just damp and not washed . Utterly grim,you poor thing.