insect and rodent problem? (agreement, rental, house, record)

[aoifster]

Hi,
I moved into a newly renovated house a few months ago, but in the last month there I have started to see mice and insects all over the house. there is a basement room directly underneath my bedroom that was not renovated with the rest of the house and is dirty and full of holes. This is where all the mice and insects are coming from.my landlord did nothing about the mouse problem for three weeks and then three days after he finally had a contractor 'fill the holes in the basement' we saw three more mice in our kitchen and bedrooms. (we had killed the original infestation ourselves with traps when it became clear he wasnt going to do anything about it). There are mice and insects coming into my bedroom at night and it is seriously affecting my sleep. last night i woke up to find a three inch long slug on my bed crawling towards my head. I really dont want to move, and cant afford to break my lease, but I really cant live in these conditions much longer. i know that this mightnt sound very serious to some people but it really affects me hearing mice and insects crawling around my bedroom at night.

I need to know what is my landlord required to do about this problem? is there anything i can make my landlord do to get this problem fixed?? And, if it came to it, is a mouse infestation that persists for a long time sufficient grounds to break a lease?
thank you

[MAtheBanker]

Check your rental agreement and see what it says about the landlord keeping the property in habital condition. I'm sure you'll find your answer there...

[ShaneSA]

You can take the iniative and set off foggers in the basement. it seems the holes have been plugged and foggers will take care of the bugs. Make sure any foggers you get are for the bugs you want to eradicate.
As for the mice, they live in colonies and may be reproducing and are living there again. Set out more traps. They are always in groups, so one mice is not the problem. Set several traps.
As for the LL, ask him to at least pay for the stuff to erradicate the problem.

[Domsey]

Inform your landlord in writing that the house is not habitable in its current condition due to an infestation of rodents and insencts. Inform him or her of your steps to attempt to resolve the problem. Advise him or her that if s/he does not take action within 7 days to eradicate the rodent and insect issue, you will retain the services of a contractor and/or exterminator to handle it and will deduct the costs of remediation from your rent.

That oughta get the LL moving.

If the LL does nothing, document the infestation with photos, videos and a journal. If you can't stand it, send notice to your landlord that s/he is in breach of his/her duty to maintain a habitable rental unit. Provide the LL with your photographic, video and other evidence.

If the LL still does nothing, move out. Don't forget to keep records of all your correspondence with the LL and of your evidence. If push comes to shove and you do end up in court, you want all the evidence to show that you were the reasonable person in this dispute and that the landlord was unreasonable, so word your correspondence accordingly. Get your friends to weigh in on whether they think you're being too sensitive to the mice and bugs -- if a reasonable person would not be offended by the pests, you probably will not find sympathy from a small claims judge.