Who should pay? - Pest control

lalaland11

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g_attrill

Rats (and mice I think) should be free from the local council for private houses, did you call a private company?

taxsaver

I think you will find very few councils giving free pest control these days. My area have contracted it out to a private company who you must pay, but will meet 50% of the costs for those on 100% HB, JSA etc.

MX5huggy

Unfortunately you have jumped the gun a bit by booking pest control yourself. The LL would be very kind to pay for this without first being consulted. If you had called me as a LL I would have come round and attempted to sort them myself at little cost to either of us. I can be quite viscous with a spade when required.

daisygrabber

As a LL, this is something I would try to deal with myself first. With rats, I don't think there's a lot a pest control company can do that you can't do yourself effectively.

MX5huggy

lalaland11 wrote: »

oh my :O myself and my young son would be horrified if my landlord had came round with a spade :O

The spade would probably actually be a small trowel just to be used for shovelling poison. Rats a like blocked drains some people won't go near them others roll their sleeves up and get on with it.

daisygrabber

I've no idea who would have legal responsibility......anyone know?
If rats are actually getting inside, I would want it sorting both as a tenant and a LL. Not just killing this batch off but stopping them getting inside in future.

ladymarmalade1970

There seems to be a huge rat problem at the moment! Both my OH and i have BTL properties and both of us have had problems in the last month. My tenants called out pest control themselves (£150) and i have said i will re imburse them when they have paid their rent up to date (they are in arrears). My OH's tenants phoned him and he got pest control round there and they shot the rat! It cost him £125.
I guess it depends what sort of LL you have but for us personally we felt it was our responsiblity to sort it out.

daisygrabber

It's alright shooting it, but there's never only one rat. They are all over the place all the time but it's only a problem when they go to places you don't want them to go. I got rid of ours with a "safe" poison. I had my doubts as to its effectiveness but seemed to do the trick. From Wilkos, Under a fiver. I can't stand the thought of finding dead/ haemoraghing rats about the place (almost as bad as seeing a live one) <shiver>

pmlindyloo

To try and answer your question as to who should pay.

Does it say anything in your rental agreement about this?

Where are the rats - in the garden/in the house?

My daughter, who lives in a privately rented house, also called pest control when she found a rat in the house ( immediate reaction before thinking about calling letting agent/landlord.) The rat had come up through a hole in the floor in a cupboard. This, I think, would be the landlord's responsibility - structure of the building.

As it turned out my daughter and landlord went 'halves' on the bill.

There will always be the argument that if you leave food about rats will be attracted to it and some landlord may argue this point and say, 'your fault, you pay'.

To be honest, no matter how strongly you feel about it, keeping on good terms with your landlord seem a sensible course - negotiation, negotiation!

pmlindyloo

I agree, I think that is a very reasonable charge. Even if you are happy to pay this yourself it might be worth informing the letting agent/landlord about the problem. You never know, they might offer to pay!

Re: rats killing birds. Have just done a quick 'google' and it seems 'yes, they can' but not sure how common it is (I now wait with baited breath for the rat stories from folks!)

Am most intrigued about your planning to take 'immediate action to prevent any more birds being killed'. Do tell!