I have a query about the payment for pest control and pest control clause in previous ASTs.
I’m sure there was a clause to say that tenants paid for the treatment of mice, bed bugs wasps other kinds of vermin however, in the open rent contract, this is no longer a clause.
In my view if the tenants get bedbugs it is their responsibility similarly with wasps however it no longer seems that you can include this as a contract clause?
What does the open rent community advise? Of course this is based on there are no pests at the start of the tenancy. Thank you
Bed bugs can be very difficult to prove. Question will always be were they already there or did the tenants bring them? For this reason, many landlords so not supply mattresses in their properties and some replace mattresses at the start of each new tenancy (and really scuzzy LL’s fly tip the old ones) or have them professionally cleaned. Mice/rats - if they have ways of getting in to the property through lack of proper repair then I would say its the LL’s job to sort it. If tenants make it easy for them to get in (and you have hard documented proof of this) then you can attempt to force this onto your tenants but may require a claim against the deposit or legal recourse in the worst cases. Bees nests you should deal with unless your tenants are apiarists. No one keeps wasps do they? LL to sort.
If there are holes in the fabric of the building that pests can get through, then the pests become the landlords problem. Once fixed, theyre the tenants problem.