Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ok, we moved into our house officially 1 and 1/2 months ago. Our landlord told us the house was clean. Asked him about a pest problem, before we moved in. He said there wasn't one. He told us the house would be clean, when we moved in. After we signed the lease, we started taking showers. And we would notice one or two roaches in the bathroom. So we decide to clean. We realized he hadn't cleaned at all. and We found mouse traps in corners.( about 3 days into the lease) Then we realized there were mouse dropping in corners and roach pellets in all these crevices. We documented this all and we brought it up to him. He said he didn't know of a mice problem, but he would do something about the roaches.
We waited a couple weeks, he was BSing around. Finally, we asked him what he was doing about it. And he gave us roach pellets...
So we put those out. But now the problem is ridiculous. We see roaches every single time we take a shower. And a couple of places around the house. What was the finally straw was, I left my lunch in a bag on a table. Left to go to lab(2 hours), came back a mouse had tore through the brown paper bag and aluminum foil and eaten my piece of my sandwich.
So I called my landlord, and asked him to call an exterminator. He can over and got really pissed at us. Said we are being young and immature. And that, we should just put out trap. We stuck to our guns and asked him to call an exterminator. He left and said we will discuss this tomorrow.
Now my question, whose problem is this?
I feel it is his responsibility because he did not disclose this information to us. He knew he had mice, but did not tell us. We only found out once we cleaned the house. He said he did not know, but he left a box of mousetraps under the sink!
Finally: The lease is a basic lease. It does not specific whose problem it is. I'm just wondering if the law says anything about this.
Fyi: he(my landlord) lived in the house for 10 years before renting to us. It is in a nice wealthy area.
You should check TN landlord tenant laws which are probably linked in the first "sticky" on this forum. However, since your lease doesn't provide for professional extermination and since you only have a few roaches around when you take a shower and apparently a mouse ate your bagged sandwich, this isn't likely to be deemed an "infestation" and it may fall upon you to conduct regular maintenance to keep your home as free as possible of such pests. I live where mice, rats and cockroaches abound and although some larger condo complexes provide for regular extermination, most private renters deal with it themselves (my cats are my natural exterminators!). Roach tabs work well when used regularly, mouse traps likewise but your best defense is basic cleanliness and particularly where food is concerned.
Keep your counters clean and free of crumbs, don't leave out any food, and package cereals, rice, bread, etc. in plastic lidded containers.
Landlord must provide a livable living space...It is his duty to provide this...no difference than providing a roof that does not leak .
If this falls within uninhabitability issues under TN law then the OP has recourse - but I rather doubt that it does. Once he reads the applicable statutes he can make that decision. The LL is going to discuss this with him today and possibly he'll agree to an initial extermination after which the onus for basic maintenance will be on the tenant. Only The Shadow knows.
Thanks for the feedback. What is the OP? Yeah, I was thinking this would fall around the grey area of a lease, since its not explicitly stated one way or another. FYI roach pellets don't work literally just too many. We set out mouse traps. I forgot what about pigeons? There are pigeons that live in our roof. We brought it up after the first night we moved in, he sai he would board up this little hole, that they use to get in and out of. Obviously that never came to fruition. Bird are obvious carrier of disease. Just the worst landlord I've ever had. On top of all that, he comes over at least once a week. Argues with us for an hour, and leaves. I've never had this much contact with a landlord, if he's not doing any repairs.
Thanks for the feedback. What is the OP? Yeah, I was thinking this would fall around the grey area of a lease, since its not explicitly stated one way or another. FYI roach pellets don't work literally just too many. We set out mouse traps. I forgot what about pigeons? There are pigeons that live in our roof. We brought it up after the first night we moved in, he sai he would board up this little hole, that they use to get in and out of. Obviously that never came to fruition. Bird are obvious carrier of disease. Just the worst landlord I've ever had. On top of all that, he comes over at least once a week. Argues with us for an hour, and leaves. I've never had this much contact with a landlord, if he's not doing any repairs.
The OP is you - "Original Poster". Once you've read your state's landlord tenant laws you need to do as they suggest and put everything in writing via certified return receipt mail, in order to create a paper trail if worse comes to worst. Also take dated photographs of any deficiencies which need addressing. Perpetuating a scenario of him coming over once a week followed by arguments is totally unproductive so you should stop that right now. He has no legal right to enter the property unless repairs need to be made which you've requested and not without giving you sufficient notice. Again, read those landlord tenant laws as much of what you're asking is covered in them.
If you were in my unit, the responsibility would be yours. That's in my rental agreement.
I treat for vermin between tenants, so I know the house is clean. Then if the tenant sees a mouse, or an ant, or a roach (except we don't have roaches here, unless the tenant moved from out of the area and brought roach eggs in their packing boxes), it is the tenant's responsibility to get a can of Black Flag or a mouse trap.
If pests are treated immediately, that is the end of the problem. If that first mouse or bug is ignored and allowed to reproduce, it can then turn into a big problem. A problem that the tenant should have headed off at the pass.
Note: I am responsible for things like termites and powder post beetles. Things that won't be in the house just because the tenant is not a good housekeeper.
We live in a building of 6 apartments, 2 down, 4 up all attached to other similar units in a big complex.
The mouse problems is something the landlord was forced to deal with because it was not just "one slob" who was a poor housekeeper. We had 8 or 9 mice PLUS roaches all since May.
Finally the complex was forced to admit they stored items in our basement that might attract animals. Also they were threatened with legal action and called in an exterminator to each apartment to monitor the situation.
We are trying to be extremely clean now. We put out borax mix to kill the roaches, got a mouse trap (how we know how many mice we had).
Bugs and mice come from "somewhere." We had the odd mouse in our own private home. We also had crickets invade us.
I say try to be clean and research how you can seal cracks and if it keeps up, complain.
Yes, an apartment building would be a different situation, because one slob who won't control pests can infect the entire building.
It's already my policy to ask the people who live like pigs to move out. If I had apartments (I don't), I would kick out any tenant who caused a pest problem.
I will ignore untidy and disorganized. I don't care if the laundry is all over the floor. But pizza crusts piled in the corners and moldy garbage spilled all over the floor will buy the tenant a notice to move out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
