Rodents/Vermin/Varmint in Twin Cities rental housing (is it a problem?) (Minneapolis: apartments)

[Kavalier]

I just found out from someone who lived there, that Phalen Shores apartments have varmint roaming the property, inside. It shocked me, as that building is not all that old (in the grand perspective of things - I would peg it at about 30 years old, give or take?).


And I had this discussion with my father - I told him, yeah, it would be nice to steer clear of that place in the future if I choose to rent, but maybe ALL rental properties have this problem if a newer building like that has rodents?



Maybe it's impossible to gauge on a micro (city to city, or zip code to zip code) level, but maybe people here have some feedback.


How is the Twin Cities in general when it comes to garden variety renting/rental units? Are rodents just par for the course no matter where you go?

[Izzie1213]

No, not particularly for the course, as far as I know. I guess though I am gauging that on suburb apartments, not more inner city. I've heard of issues near the Mississippi River, more of issues and there are rats and mice around. But landlords should be implementing some sort of rodent control. If I heard they were seen in a building on a regular basis I would avoid it.

Anyone can get a occasional mouse that can slip in a small opening but rats are huge and would need a bigger hole to get in.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

We had a rat problem at one point in our old house (South Mpls). The war with the rats went on for about a month and in the end we were victorious (there were three of them as I recall). Anyway, after that ordeal I hired someone to redo the exterior of the porch where they likely entered and we never had an issue after that.

Mice are everywhere though. We have had mice in the garage in both of our houses here.

[Kayekaye]

Big problem for public housing. They have bed bug extermination procedures all the time. Be very careful. I would think the same applies to any big apartment housing in town, both Minneapolis and St. Paul.

[Citykid3785]

I guess, define "problem". Every corporate office I've ever worked in had an ongoing contract with a pest management company, and I've worked in some nice new buildings. In fact, you can visibly see some of the traps out. They are taking a proactive stance to ensure pests don't become a problem. Every house I've owned I was able to catch mice in as well. So the fact that a new building has had a rodent is not a concern for me. But if they have been dealing with the same issue for months on end, that would raise a flag for me.