landlord responsible or tenant for mice?

red_devil

Ive been recently treating the home for a few mice which i saw. I bought traps and their food as you do?

Shall i tell the landlord what I am doing? Should he pay or me? I dont mind paying should i tell him though?

G_M

Certainly tell him. At the very least, he will want to know.

Whether you want to demand he do something himself, or you are happy to deal with the issue yourself is seperate - either way telling him is helpful.

I have mice every winter. I live in the country and field mice come in to find the warmth. As there are 100s of them out there, and the house is old with multiple cracks/entry points, there is no way to stop them.

However they stay under the ground floor floorboards and we co-exist! They only come up if I am careless with food (eg crumbs on kitchen floor etc, so

* be meticulous about cleaning
* store food where they can't get it
* use traps with peanut butter - I find these work well.

I don't use poison as they then die under the floor and stink!

hazyjo

They can gnaw through wires so please keep a close eye on white goods, TV and other electricals, especially if they're included as part of your tenancy.

Would definitely tell the LL. Better to cover yourself. You never know what the little blighters might chew through, or, as above, they might die under/in things within the house.

Can you borrow a cat?

Jx

FireWyrm

Hmmm....good one. I would say out of 'courtesy' you should advise the LL that there is a mouse problem as they tend to do some damage inside walls and to wiring. Perhaps you can politely request some 'guidance' on his perfered method of control. These are pests after all and represent a health hazard since they spread disease and ruin food.

whalster

I got my 4th this morning Bacon rind works best As GM says most people get them this time of the year traps are best poison will only kill them then you will get a smell
tell yur landlord, I have had 3 people ring me over as many weeks ,but I'm not bothered about mice Rats yes Mice no

sywolf

Hello

Finannly a topic I can help with.

If the vermin are a direct result of poor proprty maintence or the vermin were present when you moved in, this is the care of the landlord

If the vermin are caused by yourselve (having food in you house which the vermin would feed on - if they were already present isnt your fault)

However I do not know how you would prove that vermin were already there?!

rpc

I would say that informing him comes under "behaving in a tenant-like manner". Mice are probably harmless, but can cause problems when they munch into cables. If you do not tell the landlord and there is a problem later on then he might try to argue you have some responsibility.

Our (floorstanding) boiler is a favourite spot for them to get all cosy.

FireWyrm

whalster wrote: »

but I'm not bothered about mice Rats yes Mice no

Mice carry Lyme disease and Hanta virus (for which there is no known cure). Male mice urinate all around their territory to signal their presence to others. They are also fond of chewing electrical cables and wil gnaw through walls to get to the crawl spaces behind.

In contrast, there hasnt been a decent outbreak of Y.Pestis (carried by rat fleas although this has never been proven) in the best part of 600 years. I'm more concerned about hemorrhagic fever from hantavirus myself. Mice are small and almost impossible to catch...rats...not such a problem. Most people in cities live no more than 5 feet from one or more.

Fire_Fox

Landlord or tenant or both can be responsible for vermin. Landlords if a fault with the property such as a broken drain or badly sealed kitchen units are permitting access, tenants for supplying food. If you are already starving the mice then wrote to your landlord and inform them of the infestation, vermin can do a lot of damage.

Put all dry goods (flour, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, pet food) into sealed plastic, glass or metal containers, nothing in paper or thin plastic bags. Clean all worktops daily, under and behind white goods regularly, empty the toaster of crumbs, no pet food left down overnight. All food waste in sealed bins at all times, empty any kitchen pedal or swing or open bin into the main wheelie bin every night, no compost heaps.

If you use humane traps you need to take the mice several miles away before release - seriously!

ManchesterMiss

If you've just moved in, it's probably the landlord's responsibility.
If you've been there a while, it's yours, unless there was structural damage to the property that you reported to the landlord and they've not actioned, and even then, if you don't leave food out, then the mice won't bother to move in, even if they can pop in through a handy hole they've found. So you may also need to demonstrate that you've kept the place clean and tidy and that you reported the mice access points.

Mice arrive because food is left out. No food: no mice. The landlord can hardly be responsible for long-term tenants' mess - and there is almost certainly a clause in the tenancy agreement requiring you to keep the place clean and tidy.

You do need to tell the landlord, though, because they are legally obliged to have the house certified as electrically safe, and if there are mice, it's possible the mice have damaged the wiring, leaving the house (and therefore you) unsafe. It's not reasonable to wait until you've been electrocuted, then blame the landlord for the mice they didn't know about which are there because of your mess. If there are mice because you've left food out, the landlord will (quite reasonably) expect you to pay to have the mice removed, the damage repaired and the house recertified.

Easiest therefore to stick to that "keep it clean & tidy" clause:)

phill99

ManchesterMiss wrote: »

If you've just moved in, it's probably the landlord's responsibility.
If you've been there a while, it's yours, unless there was structural damage to the property that you reported to the landlord and they've not actioned, and even then, if you don't leave food out, then the mice won't bother to move in, even if they can pop in through a handy hole they've found. So you may also need to demonstrate that you've kept the place clean and tidy and that you reported the mice access points.

Mice arrive because food is left out. No food: no mice. The landlord can hardly be responsible for long-term tenants' mess - and there is almost certainly a clause in the tenancy agreement requiring you to keep the place clean and tidy.

You do need to tell the landlord, though, because they are legally obliged to have the house certified as electrically safe, and if there are mice, it's possible the mice have damaged the wiring, leaving the house (and therefore you) unsafe. It's not reasonable to wait until you've been electrocuted, then blame the landlord for the mice they didn't know about which are there because of your mess. If there are mice because you've left food out, the landlord will (quite reasonably) expect you to pay to have the mice removed, the damage repaired and the house recertified.

Easiest therefore to stick to that "keep it clean & tidy" clause:)

Why have you randomly picked up on a thread that's 9 months old?