Selling house, potential liability for pest control poison left?

HomeOwner40

Hi,

I am soon to be selling my house, which is a 1920s mid-terrace.

We have a cellar which has been properly tanked out. About 4-5 years ago, we had a problem with mice or some kind of rodents - we could hear them behind the plasterboard walls of the cellar during the night.

We had a pest control man come out, set some traps up, lay some poison down, and so on. This didn't get rid of them.

So when he came to check the traps the next time, he laid what he described as more "industrial" level poison down.

This worked.

But when he was leaving, he said that he was going to leave some of it down, although he shouldn't really do this.

I didn't think anything of it at the time, and as people sometimes slept in the cellar room, I liked the idea of keeping whatever rodents it was at bay.

But now, as I come to sell the house, I'm concerned that some of this "industrial" poison might still be there, and that sometime down the line children/kids might go exploring behind the walls (the electricity/gas meters are behind the walls, so there are little cupboard-like doors through to the meters, and so through to the open wall area) and fish out some of this poison, and that I could be liable for any accidents.

I would appreciate any advice on this at all.

Is there even such a thing as a kind of poison that pest control people are allowed to lay down in residential properties, as long as they remove any that is left when the job is over, and dispose of it properly? (Something that I could get in trouble for not alerting the buyer to? Or get in trouble for not having it disposed of properly?)

Could I arrange the contract of sale to stipulate that poison was used in 2015 and traces of it might still be there, and that my liability is therefore removed?

Thank very much you in advance for any help,

davidmcn

If it's accessible to children, isn't it accessible to you?

silvercar

I wouldn't mention it until after completion.

HomeOwner40

It's behind a plasterboard wall, in between that and the external brick work.

So yes, it's accessible to me, but I'm a grown up, and I'm not in the habit of going rooting behind walls and amongst brickwork and eating what I find there - in my house or anyone else's.

If I moved into a place, and my children did such a thing, I would probably think it largely my fault for not keeping an eye on them and/or teaching them that they shouldn't do such things.

But on the other hand, these days people seem to get sued for just about anything, hence my concern.

If your question was: "why not just get rid of it yourself?" Well, it's "accessible" in the sense that, it's lying at the bottom of the gap between the plasterboard wall and the brickwork. You couldn't fit in there and get it out. I'm not sure how I'd be able to get it out. Nor even whether I could locate it. But if a kid were given this as their room, who knows how many hours the kid might spend investigating what's behind there, and so on.

davidmcn

HomeOwner40 wrote: »

it's accessible to me, but I'm a grown up, and I'm not in the habit of going rooting behind walls and amongst brickwork and eating what I find there

I wasn't suggesting you eat it, I was suggesting you could remove it. Then nobody need be worried about being poisoned or sued (though I can't see the latter being realistic).

hazyjo

I'd just add it to the list of 'moving in notes'. I leave something saying which day the bins go, best takeaways etc, maybe a reliable tradesperson's number, and any quirks like how to lock a certain door. Just a line such as 'we had pest control out in 2015 as we thought we could hear rodents in the basement. Please be aware that poison was used, so exercise caution if children or pets are in that room in case there are traces left'.

Davesnave

Have you no tame child to send in there like the chimney sweeps of old?


"Go on Dominic, get in there with the Dyson, you little wretch!"

FreeBear

HomeOwner40 wrote: »

If your question was: "why not just get rid of it yourself?" Well, it's "accessible" in the sense that, it's lying at the bottom of the gap between the plasterboard wall and the brickwork. You couldn't fit in there and get it out. I'm not sure how I'd be able to get it out.

Vacuum cleaner with a long reach nozzle. With a decent amount of suction, you can pick all sorts of stuff up.
How did you deal with the dead, rotting carcases ?

phill99

FreeBear wrote: »

How did you deal with the dead, rotting carcases ?

You don't have to as rodents, like humans take to their beds when feeling ill. So they tend to die in their nests, not at the place of the poisoning.

HomeOwner40

Thank you, that sounds like a sensible option.

(I could try removing it with a vacuum cleaner, but it wouldn't fully address the issue because I'd never know if I'd got it all, or even most of it. The pest control guy was just throwing this stuff around)