Rental rights - cats wee

leighleigh5

I have recently started renting my new property and whilst waiting for my furniture to arrive I have noticed a strong smell coming from the bedroom.
I did notice the smell when viewing the place but thought it was from the student living there at the time, as the place was a tip. The rental company arranged for professional cleaners to clean the property but I could have done a better job.
However the smell is still there and at first I thought it was damp but now I think it is cats urine. The previous tenant shouldn't have kept pets but I have noticed clues to the tenant having cats such as a whole box of cat toys, litter trays and cats hairs. This is a first floor, so the cats couldn't have got outside. All the floors are laminate but the smell is mostly coming from the bedroom where the tenant stayed in. Unfortunately this will be my sons room who is two years old, so whilst I'm waiting for my furniture to arrive I want the smell to go. I have tried barcarb soda and white vinegar and floor cleaner and it still smells. I called up the owner of the property and he came down to see it and he said he couldn't smell anything. Yeah right! What do I do now, as I believe the wee has gone through the floor boards. What rights do I have as I don't think this smell was listed on the inventory?
It is not fair for us to go through this.:mad:

Rabiddog_2

I did notice the smell when viewing the place but thought it was from the student living there at the time

:rotfl:

Not fair on sudents

leighleigh5

Sorry for offending, I didn't mean to put it like that. I would have said the same thing about anyone who was living in the flat before hand whether they were students or not.

teabelly

Cat pee takes ages to fade smell wise. Only thing to do is to clean the whole area with a solution of biological washing powder and hot water. That should start to eat away at the smell. If it is laminate floor then ask the landlord to take up the boards around the smelly area and replace them if the cleaning doesn't really help. If it has gone through to the floorboards then the whole area of floor will need to come up. Also clean down the walls with the same solution in case one of the cats has sprayed up the wall.

mewbie_2

leighleigh5 wrote: »

The previous tenant shouldn't have kept pets but I have noticed clues to the tenant having cats such as a whole box of cat toys, litter trays and cats hairs.

Great clues, I think you could be onto something!

creditscore

:rotfl:lols...
you're having a terrible place..maybe you can try to talk the pet's owner..

barnaby-bear

teabelly wrote: »

Cat pee takes ages to fade smell wise. Only thing to do is to clean the whole area with a solution of biological washing powder and hot water. That should start to eat away at the smell. If it is laminate floor then ask the landlord to take up the boards around the smelly area and replace them if the cleaning doesn't really help. If it has gone through to the floorboards then the whole area of floor will need to come up. Also clean down the walls with the same solution in case one of the cats has sprayed up the wall.

It doesn't really fade because it's the uraic crystals - you need rid of those - a specialist ENZYME product is pretty much the only way.... with the riht enzyme to break down the cat particular compounds...
something like
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=329&pf_id=2510

Marg

I agree with teabelly - I'd certainly get the laminate floor lifted to check the floor boards any liquid seeps under laminate and eventually it will lift the laminate - you don't want to be blamed for it - Get the landlord back - he wont want dodgy floor boards. Good Luck!

poppysarah

Get the landlord back def. It's not your stink so get them to sort it.

guppy

leighleigh5 wrote: »

The previous tenant shouldn't have kept pets but I have noticed clues to the tenant having cats such as a whole box of cat toys, litter trays and cats hairs.

Have you considered a career as a detective? I agree you need to get landlord back.

Gingernutmeg

I'd get the landlord in again and ask him to check the floorboards, if it's gone right through the laminate then sprays and things won't do much to eradicate the source of the problem.

As a stopgap, I don't know if it's any good for laminate but you can get an odour remover that's sold alongside the Rug Doctor carpet cleaners. We had a similar problem when we moved into our current place (along with the fleas, you might want to check for these too if there's been animals there...) and we found that this did knock back the smell eventually, although it did take a few goes.

You can also get a product that's called something like 'Urine-off', I personally haven't tried it but I've seen it advertised a lot so it might be worth giving it a go.