Hello
My tenant sent me an urgent message to say he spotted a mouse in the kitchen. He requests I contact a pest control company urgently, to identify and block all entry points in order to avoid the plague.
I’ve been letting the flat for 18 years and never had any type of infestation. At my last visit I found the flat clean, but quite clattered, especially the kitchen. The tenant has been in the flat five months.
Shall I call pest control, or should I suggest they tidy up, keep all food covered and use mousetraps?
Did anyone else had this problem?
Thank you
Buy a couple of mouse traps, bait them in the evening with peanut butter, and set the traps close to the skirting boards. The following morning it is highly likely your tenant will advise you that the mouse is dead.
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Tell tenant the plague died out in 1666
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Before you do anything whose contractual responsibility is vermin ?
Yours or the tenant’s?
If it’s the tenant well the tenant can pay for it !
There is usually food around or there’s a nest in close proximity.
You can buy bait that’s c£5 a box from screwfix. It works just fine .
I used it in my mums house during the pandemic and the problem went away for £5!
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Ha ha, my hyperbole, not theirs
Thank you.
I can’t find anything in the contract re: vermin.
By ‘bait’ do you mean mousetraps?
The contract should have a clause regarding pest infestation
If it doesn’t you are liable under statute
If it does, which most clauses do, the tenants are liable
They are bait blocks in a tub
Pest stop rodent wax blocks they are now £6.49
Throw them around the house
Check if there are holes of entry and fill with filler or plumbers wire
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Do take photos of the state of the kitchen and tell them to clean up
No matter what you do if there is food lying around they will keep coming back
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First set up a motion detector night vision camera in kitchen. They are incredibly cheap costing £25 on Amazon. It will send alerts to phone and video movement. You can then assess the situation. What floor is the flat on? You need to understand if it is rats or mice, one stray explorer or a family. The way to deal with an occasional explorer versus a family in a nest is quite different.
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Thank you.
The flat is on the second (top) floor. There are two other flats in the building. should I check if the other flats are affected?
Oh, well that’s quite high up. I would just set up a camera first. This can get very complicated if they are coming in through a hole in the wall on the ground floor because you would have to get the freeholder to do the external repairs. Or if they are rats they could be coming in through the sewers which is also a freeholder job. So first I would get activity recorded on video because you will need to discuss with freeholder e.g. if its rats then the sewer is the more likely entry route. Normally if there is an infestation you will see more than one of them on camera, they all scamper around at same time. If there is a hole downstairs then it doesn’t matter how many traps you put out, they will keep coming back. One thing is for sure, if you are on the second floor the entry point is not through your flat. Does your tenant have any pets as leaving pet food out is the number one attraction for a rodent to be so far upstairs.
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Personally, I’d just put out some mouse traps, and see what happens. If you catch one, and the problems persist, make a Plan B. However, if it a sole mouse, the problem is quickly & easily fixed with a mouse trap.
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Call pest control- then advise the tenant to keep things clean and tidy because pest control told you to tell them.
please get a humane trap where you can release the little critter, they have a hard life and we humans are overpopulating everywhere. its a poor wee timorous beastie. we get them all the time in our house as we have a big garden and just release them again, its no biggie
… so …
I advise the camera and the traps. We had a family in our loft (discovered when they ate through a bag of wet wipes!). The camera showed me where they were coming from (which turned out to be a hole in wall to neighbour’s loft which I couldn’t block due to position of it. But hard chocolate on a mousetrap got rid of three of them and then problem never came back after that. Camera very useful for monitoring where they come from, when they come and whether traps are successful or not.
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Is hard chocolate poison for mice?
Well it has not killed me yet and I am not a tall person
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I don’t think you are a mouse though ….
just googled it. It is deadly to mice., I am surprised at that . It might even work out cheaper than bait !
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people always say mice because it sounds nicer than rat
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