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The building i live in has a really bad mice problem. We have looked for all the holes in the apartment ( which were a lot ) and despite sealing them all with brillo and "great stuff". They come back within a month or so. If it were a couple of mice here and there i can deal with it , but we have counted even up to 6 running back and forth while we were sitting in the living room. WE decided to get a cat and In just one night my cat caught 5 mice and she is still killing 1 every other day. It's so bad that you can hear them squeeking and running through the walls. It is so disgusting!
I clean under the cabinets atleast every 2 weeks , and the amount of Mice droppings i find is unbelievable. I don't know what else to do. The owners of the building are extremely cheap and if they don't consider it to be a major issue they don't really fix it. There is a sign that there is supposed to be an exterminator once a month for pest control , and i have been here a year and he has come once! I have mentioned the mice problem but they seem to brush it off. " like oh really , wow" and thats it nothing gets resolved.
I am not an unreasonable person as i know living in a building you will have a fair share of pests, but seriously this is a bit out of control! I have never seen such a problem before.
I have spoken to other neighbors and they acknowledge the problem, many of these people have lived in the building for many years and its as if they have just gotten accustomed to this problem, some have even told in a joking manner, me that they collectively got 2 cats for the building as pest control, as if its a funny matter. When i ask them why not speak to the owners, they are just accustomed to the fact that the owners don't do much and that's just the way they are.
I just don't understand people, they pay rent and are ok with being taken advantage of. When we first moved in there was a constant issue with the heat and it being turned off. Instead of people calling the owners and telling them to put on the heat they would just buy space heaters. Apparently after we moved in, and would start complaining about the heat, tenants started getting heat. Some tenants even were surprised and would say things like " Wow this is the first year in a long time i didn't have to use my space heater". Really, so you just hand over your rent every month without requesting the things on your lease???
We are desperate to move , but my husband is the only one working at the moment, and we have not been able to find an apartment that is appropriate for our budget. We live in Union City NJ, and rent has become very high in the area, so until we find something affordable, we have to suck it up in this place.
So my question is how can we get the owners of the apartment to be attentive to the pest problem. I feel as if this is a health hazard to myself and my family especially with the amount of droppings i find under things.
Can an owner rightfully get me evicted if i make a complaint to the DOH. I have been told by neighbors that the few tenants who have brought in the state, have been evicted. I have actually wondered about this , as i thought this was illegal , but i would hate to have to go through housing court for this.
"Please note: Records of public complaints are public records; however, the Environmental Health Branch generally does not share the name of a person making a public complaint."
Frankly, if they start eviction you'll probably be better off, it's not like they can just make it happen.
Can an owner rightfully get me evicted if i make a complaint to the DOH. I have been told by neighbors that the few tenants who have brought in the state, have been evicted. I have actually wondered about this , as i thought this was illegal , but i would hate to have to go through housing court for this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jaymoney
Frankly, if they start eviction you'll probably be better off, it's not like they can just make it happen.
When one considers the grave health consequences of Hantavirus--which is spread by rodent excrement--eviction is something that the OP should fear much less than the horrible death that can result from contracting that disease from the mice in his/her home.
For many years, it was thought that Hantavirus was confined to the US Southwest, but when a young Chiropractor from Long Island died from this disorder in 2011, public health authorities realized--belatedly--that the possibility of contracting this usually fatal disease exists in most areas of The US if one is exposed to mice and their excrement.
You need to take pictures and document everything. I would file a complaint with the feds and I would call every news organization within 50 miles. You are crazy for living with mice infestation.
Did you check behind the stove and dishwasher when sealing up holes?
I had to renovate my entire kitchen last year because of mice. I had sealed up all the holes I could see, but still catching 1-2 a week in Ortho Traps (those are fantastic!).
Well, when my contractor removed my cabinets, the drywall behind them was BUSTED. There were holes punched in various places, there were holes made to run wiring for exhaust fan (I presume), there were huge gaps between drywall and flooring at the bottom. The worst places were behind the stove and dishwasher. When my husband saw the state of the demo'ed kitchen, his first reaction was, there was no way we could have de-miced the place without gut renovating and sealing just the bare walls and flooring.
These old buildings man... haven't had any problems since. Though now I hear my neighbor has seen more mice since I renovated...
Did you check behind the stove and dishwasher when sealing up holes?
I had to renovate my entire kitchen last year because of mice. I had sealed up all the holes I could see, but still catching 1-2 a week in Ortho Traps (those are fantastic!).
Well, when my contractor removed my cabinets, the drywall behind them was BUSTED. There were holes punched in various places, there were holes made to run wiring for exhaust fan (I presume), there were huge gaps between drywall and flooring at the bottom. The worst places were behind the stove and dishwasher. When my husband saw the state of the demo'ed kitchen, his first reaction was, there was no way we could have de-miced the place without gut renovating and sealing just the bare walls and flooring.
These old buildings man... haven't had any problems since. Though now I hear my neighbor has seen more mice since I renovated...
Yes! I actually think that this is the problem. My kitchen looks like it has not been touched for YEARS (more than 15 I would say) The floor that is under the sink base cabinet is warped and looked like there was some type of water damage in the past. The bottom of the cabinet is not in good condition at all, and the back of the wall looks like there was a hole that was just covered with plaster and is falling apart. If it were my apartment i would love to do a gut renovation as i know that this is probably the main issue, but i rent here and am not planning on staying here long. The hole apartment needs to be gut renovated if you ask me. These landlords are extremely cheap. You can tell the borders and frames were becoming old at one point and the landlords fix was to put tape over it and paint it..
We are looking for a new place but with the price of rent , its pretty hard to find someone that is within our budget and In a good neighborhood. Rent has become so high in our area many apartments are not even in great condition.
What is up with most landlords just wanting to rent places at high rents and not wanting to at least have a nice place that is in good condition. I mean I dont need state of the art stuff , but jeez i feel like walls should not look like they have 20 layers of paint over them or feeling rigid or floors that have like 5 layers of tiles over them where doors don't properly close. especially if you are asking for more than 1500 a month. We actually went to see an apartment day not to long ago , there was a huge hole in the ceiling and the walls looked like they had not been painted in the longest they had pen marks, and dingy. When we asked the landlord if they were going to paint and fix the hole their answer was " We will fix the hole but you should be able to afford paint and paint the place yourself" . I though apartments were usually painted and cleaned before someone moving in.
Yes I recently had several mice problems. New Windows 7 computers. Finally an IT friend advised me you have to tell the computer not to keep searching for a serial mouse. Computer goes nuts driving the mouse off the screen and all over otherwise. Winds up you go into regedit, the registry editor and change a value in SERMOUSE from 3 to a 4 and done. No more problems with mouse or keyboard
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. Apparently after we moved in, and would start complaining about the heat, tenants started getting heat. Some tenants even were surprised and would say things like " Wow this is the first year in a long time i didn't have to use my space heater". Really, so you just hand over your rent every month without requesting the things on your lease??? 
