Just moved in and already problems.

c00kie87

Hi there,

This is my first post here so forgive me for any errors.

We've just moved house, after a frantic search due to our old landlord selling the house, we spent weeks finding this place and it all seemed fine so we took it. Because I am a student and my partner currently unemployed and no guarantors we had huge difficulty in finding an agent that would even look at us, so we ended up having to pay 6 months rent up front.

We moved in 2 weeks ago now and have discovered that the flat has fleas! Poor OH has been bitten like crazy, guess he must be tastier, and i've had more than I care to count.

We contacted the estate agents to inform them and said that we would try with the flea powder/spray for the house but if that didn't solve the problem we would ask them to solve it as we do not have a pet, and have not had in the last 4 years, so it must have been the previous tenant.

The agent replied that pets are strictly not allowed in the apartment, and that they had regular inspections so the previous tenant could not possibly have had any pets. Here's the thing, the curtains left behind (landlord's) are covered with cat hair. I've had plenty of cats in my time to recognize those clingy, stubborn, short little hairs that get everywhere. The agency is denying that its possible, but given that they have to provide 24 hours notice for any inspection, quite frankly its very easy to get rid of a cat for a few hours and hide the evidence.

But, are we right in asking the agency/landlord to solve this issue? After all we paid a hell of a lot in fees/deposit and 6 months rent up front. The house wasn't particularly clean when we moved in, despite being told it had been cleaned, (oven hasn't and the bathroom was full of black mould on the grouting, windows dirty etc.) the house is now cleaner than when we moved in, but the fleas are an absolute other issue, they are a complete pain in every sense of the word! I've washed all the bedding/soft furnishings but it's not helped particularly as the fleas live in the carpets.

Pixie5740

I would think that since the fleas were there when you moved in then yes the LL/LA should pay to have them eradicated but I'm not sure what the actual legal stance is.

TBagpuss

was the dirt and cat hair recorded on your check-in inventory?

Obviously the landlord ought to have dealt with the issue before you moved in, but you may find that it is much quicker and more effective for you to do so yourselves, now.

You will need to keep treating the property as most products will only kill live fleas, there will be eggs hatching so you will need to re-treat to catch those as they hatch.

It may be worth contafcting your local council to ask about treatments - I believe that they may have access to products which are stronger that the ones you can buy over the counter.

I found the most effective ways to get rid was using flea bombs, although if you have carpets a steam cleaner may be needed too. However, I only ever had mild infestation as I spotted them as soon as my cat brought back some little visitors; getting rid of a major infestation is more difficult.

BitterAndTwisted

If the agent insists there are no fleas then short of them coming round to be bitten there's not a lot else you can do.

There are effective remedies but these exclude any sprays or powders you can buy in a supermarket like Bob Martins or similar. Contact an online supplier or local supplier and acquire something like Acclaim or Johnson's 4 Fleas. What you are looking for is a product which contains an Insect Growth Regulator which will prevent the adult fleas laying eggs and thus will break the life-cycle. If you use such a product you should see an improvement within days although if there are lots of pupae lurking in the carpets and skirting-boards it might take a while to completely eradicate them.

All told, this should cost you twenty quid or less. Irksome, but possibly not worth getting into a dispute considering how difficult it would be to find another landlord willing to take you on if the current one gives you notice for being troublesome.

Jenniefour

Insist the agent visit immediately and show him. Take photo's of the cat hair. And write to the landlord immediately and let him know exactly what's going on and ask him to get it sorted. Don't be fobbed off by the agent - you are entitled to have the address of the landlord if the agent is not willing to sort out the problem. But it will involve you being willing to do the treatments yourself unless you are happy with the landlord or someone he hires to do the job coming in to sort it out.

c00kie87

Thank you very much for your replies.

TBagpuss: The cat hair and most of the dirt was not recorded in the inventory when we moved in.

BitterandTwisted: You're right about not being able to get them to accept this short of forcing them. We've taken some photos and are emailing them over and i'm going to invite them to come and look at it for themselves if they need further evidence. We are going to have to solve this ourselves I fear, just because the agency are being so stubborn about it we can't live with the fleas while we wait for them to pull their finger out. It's just rather irksome given the extortionate fees and deposit (they charged us 2 weeks extra deposit because of the whole student thing even... 6 weeks instead of 4) now we have to pay to solve a problem we didn't create.


Jenniefour: Thank you for your suggestion, if the agency is not going to help I will indeed ask for the landlord's contact details.. Even just to let him know that his agency is not doing their job properly!

Jenniefour

c00kie87 wrote: »

Jenniefour: Thank you for your suggestion, if the agency is not going to help I will indeed ask for the landlord's contact details.. Even just to let him know that his agency is not doing their job properly!

Yes, and you should have the landlords details - I believe it's law. And landlord may be completely unaware of how agent is fobbing you off - which I think is unacceptable.

gingin_2

Fleas are a pain to get rid of but not hard. You need to get some cans of Flea spray, we bought Indorex online after trying out weaker pet shop versions and after hoovering every crevice, cushion and corner in our house we sprayed liberally everywhere (onto every floorboard, skirting board, anywhere they could hide) and haven't seen them again for 6 months.

It's bad luck for you but you could probably have the problem solved by sunday evening if you wanted.

maninthestreet

Vacuum everday, everywhere in the flat.

SnooksNJ

maninthestreet wrote: »

Vacuum everday, everywhere in the flat.

This. Kills 96% the first time and no harsh chemicals.