Infestations in rented property - responsibilities?

pinklady21

Hello all
A couple of threads this week have got me pondering. (maybe I need to get out more...)

There has been one about mice in a rental property, possibly coming in from other parts of the building, and another about carpet beetle infestation where the beetles seemed to have been brought in inside a carpet/rug belonging to the tenant.

Neither event seemed to be due to any negligence on the part of the landlord which got me thinking, where do the responsibilities of landlord and tenant in these situations begin and end?

It is obviously in the landlord's interest to ensure that any infestations are dealt with and he needs to ensure the property remains in a properly habitable state, which if infested, is unlikely.

Eg in the case of mice - the landlord might buy some traps, or poison etc, but what about cleaning up any debris?
The tenant would need to co-operate with setting the traps, disposing of dead mice, finding and blocking any new holes etc?
What if the entry holes are in places that are not easily accessible?

For the beetles, would the landlord be responsible for eliminating them, or would this be down to the tenant, as they might have been responsible for them in the first place?
How would a landlord go about proving the case one way or another?

Interested in other views and experiences.

comeandgo

My take on it is that the landlord has no obligation at all. Mice and beetles are due to the people living in the house living habits.

pinklady21

comeandgo wrote: »

My take on it is that the landlord has no obligation at all. Mice and beetles are due to the people living in the house living habits.

Yup - could be - but what about in the case of a block of flats, where the tenant keeps it reasonably clean, but the mice have nibbled through the walls from a neighbouring flat?

That is neither the tenant's nor the landlord's fault. So who pays / does the work to sort out the problem?

need_an_answer

pinklady21 wrote: »

Yup - could be - but what about in the case of a block of flats, where the tenant keeps it reasonably clean, but the mice have nibbled through the walls from a neighbouring flat?

That is neither the tenant's nor the landlord's fault. So who pays / does the work to sort out the problem?

potentially that becomes a maintenance issue for the leasholders,which I guess if its not proved where the infestation is coming from becomes a communal problem to all to eradicate.

damage to the structure of the building would be presumably block insurance or similar.

comeandgo

pinklady21 wrote: »

Yup - could be - but what about in the case of a block of flats, where the tenant keeps it reasonably clean, but the mice have nibbled through the walls from a neighbouring flat?

That is neither the tenant's nor the landlord's fault. So who pays / does the work to sort out the problem?

Still the tenant I think. The mice visit because they can find food.

G_M

The LL is responsible for maintaining the fabric of the building.
The tenant is responsible for acting in a 'tenant-like' manner.


If the building needs work to prevent access by eg mice then the LL should undertake this or, in the case of a shared building, get the freeholder/management company to do so.


If the tenant brought the infestation in, or was responsible for it eg by leaving food lying around, then the tenant is liable.


In reality of course (as we've seen recently!) it's usually not clear-cut - which is why we have courts and judges to help decide in ambiguous or contested cases which party is liable!