Today I received such videos with flies from the tenant, as well as an email demanding immediate termination of the tenancy and a full refund of the deposit.
The tenant is a young woman with a child who lived in the house for 3 months. The tenancy agreement was made through OpenRent.
In the first month, a rat appeared — I paid for pest control services. Since then, there had been no complaints.
And today, in 2 months she wrote that they can hardly cope with rats, mice, and now also flies… She claims that she has left the house.
The strangest thing is that the house has been completely renovatet before she moved in.
What do you do in such situations?
Should I treat today’s date as the move-out date and return the deposit? We have 12 months fixed contract.
In our agreement we have such paragraph about Mutual Break Clause
12.6. The Initial Term of this tenancy agreement may be terminated by either party giving the other at least twomonths’ notice in writing, such notice not to expire until at least 6 months after the start of the Term. A notice servedby the Landlord under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 shall be suffi cient notice under this clause.
The Tenant is obliged to pay rent up to and including the termination date, so if the tenancy is terminated on a datewhich is not the last day of a rental period, the rent due for any incomplete rental periods will be apportionedaccordingly
And about pest
11.9. To provide assistance to the Tenants with keeping the Premises free from all pests or vermin as well asremedying any damage caused by pests or vermin.
I have payd for pest control straightforward.
But tennt says its unhabitable and left with the same day notice.
If you suddenly have a lot of flies, at this time of year, it means there is probably a dead rat/mouse somewhere that is being used by flies to lay eggs. And then moths will come because they can eat the fur for 2 years. So you have seen live rats and have dead rats, so that means it was probably not just a stray rat wandering around but something more serious. Most pest control are useless and just want to put down poison, but this will not get rid of the dead rat or stop them coming back. Often if you had renovations done then if e.g. a toilet was moved then the builders can often do shortcuts like leave the old waste pipe in place but don’t block it up, creating a super highway into the house for sewer rats! Any voids, etc can be used by them. You could argue about it and follow the contract but if it was me I think I would accept the immediate termination then spend some time to make sure you have completely exterminated the pests before renting it out again and most important stopped them coming back. There must be a hole somewhere they are getting in through and you need to find all such holes and block them up. If you don’t completely resolve this problem now it will keep coming back to haunt you. If it was just a wandering mouse I wouldn’t be so worried, but a dead rat indicates they are living somewhere. I had a similar problem and had pest control out at least 3 times, useless, so I had to put cameras in to identify where they were coming from and get all the holes closed up - to be fair I had a few very obvious holes. Also I bought a “rat blocker” valve to put on the sewer mains head because my camera showed that is where they were coming from. Oh, and I forgot, if you want to stop the flies and avoid the moths you need to recover the dead body.
Check your tenancy agreement. It’s very likely to say tenant has to keep clean and return in as clean a state as originally, and to notify you of problems straight away
Sample AST 9.7 and 9.22
Possible they are in breach but maybe not. But you really don’t want the tenant calling environment health/the council on you , priority is solving the pest issue so you can rent out again. Ask tenant where the flies are concentrated and where they saw mice; and when they became aware of these further issues and if more than a week ago why they didn’t tell you straight away (could have just been busy finding a new place…)
Get pest control and maybe an inventory clerk round straight away to document current condition (or go and take time stamped photos yourself)
Pest control may be able to identify cause of problems. If originally they put down poison and a rat died somewhere that could’ve caused more problems including the flies. Or it ‘might’ be tenant has failed to keep the place clean. Could be builders bodging and not sealing up holes when work done - seems most likely given the timing. Check if neighbours have had a problem as pests sometimes spread across cellars, roof spaces etc)
Then you’ll be able to judge if tenant is a professional scam or not. Fact they just asked for deposit back and not all the rent paid so far sort of suggests may be genuine
I’d probably cut losses, end agreement voluntarily now (all such agreement can be ended early or amended if all parties agree) and return deposit and write off the rent due for 2 more months unless you have documentary evidence showing they eg haven’t kept clean or if they admit in writing not telling you promptly. Even then consider whether trying to keep back part of deposit is right thing to do (not same as what is legal)
Thank you very much for sharing your experience!
I will definitely get a “rat blocker” valve as soon as possible!
The tenant told me that the pest control service visited a few times and collected one dead rat. I collected the key today — the house is clean and smells good, and I haven’t seen any flies.
I feel that if the tenant had raised the issue earlier and explained that the pest control wasn’t very effective, we could have solved the problem sooner.
The tenant told me that the pest control service visited a few times and collected one dead rat. I collected the key today — the house is clean, smells good, and I haven’t seen any flies. So, once they removed the dead body, the flies disappeared.
I feel that if the tenant had raised the issue earlier and explained that the pest control wasn’t very effective, we could have solved the problem with the flies much sooner.
The thing is, the tenant informed me about the problem for the first time, and I paid for pest control immediately. The second time, she just said she couldn’t live like that anymore and left the house on the same day, without giving any proper notice.
Do you think it’s reasonable that the tenant didn’t give me the opportunity to resolve the problem before leaving?
Unclear if flies more recent or only one mouse since. Probably smells good if tenant cleaned before leaving if didn’t want you withholding part of deposit on cleanliness grounds. May be another dead rat somewhere and if you wait flies may return. If a recent mouse there’s a hole somewhere where entering so still needs fixing
I agree not terribly reasonable tho multiple pest control visits suggest it was more of an ongoing issue than you knew about and, and you could consider withholding part of deposit as tenant clearly havent kept you informed of problems. That said if I had a pest problem and had had to call pest control I’d be following up a month later with tenant to check if sorted not waiting 3 months (2020 hindsight is wonderful tho isn’t it). I try to organise inspections a month after tenants move in (to check if all ok any issues with neighbours etc) and quarterly thereafter and emphasize when signing contracts that they need to tell me quickly about any problems to stop them getting worse.
Question is whether you want to try to claim something from deposit due to loss of rent from not giving any notice, lack of opportunity to try to rectify as not informed of ongoing issues, and extra re-letting costs you face and risk tenant going to council (they sound clued up if have used word uninhabitable) and /or disputing and even claiming back the rent for whole 3 months in a counter claim.
If you held back one or maybe two weeks rent due to not having been informed and given chance to rectify I think that would be fair tbh tho won’t feel that way to a tenant living with regular visits from pest control. Less sure about withholding all of it due to 2 months of unpaid rent or trying to pursue tenant for payment of that. But assuming you have the evidence and good reasons, you can try withholding however much of deposit you like and if tenant appeals, let tenancy deposit scheme decide - check what the agreement on the deposit schemr says, and consider whether the possible hassle/stress is worthwhile. No right answer
I understand that a dead rat was found, after which flies appeared. During one of the pest control visits, the dead rat, which had died as a result of previous treatments, was removed. At the time I collected the keys, there were no flies in the house. However, the tenant did not report the presence of flies, nor did they inform me of the pest control results.
You are right that I should have been more vigilant — I should have checked in with my tenant after ordering pest control. But I assumed that if she said nothing, everything must be fine. And then I received a message about immediate eviction.
Of course, I will call someone to seal around the pipe entering the kitchen (although in my view there is no hole, but I will take precautions) and also hire a plumber to install rat valves.
If the tenant had reported this earlier, I could have resolved the problem long ago. I would like to recover one month’s rent, as the eviction occurred without any prior notice.
I am very grateful to you for sharing your experience. This is my first time being a landlord, and during the first three months, I didn’t know many things. Thank you so much for your time!
Rats and mice especially the baby ones can get though very small gaps as small as 1/4 inches (6-7mm), have a look at everywhere renovation was done and the whole property as well inc gaps between skirting boards and floors and block up everything with wire wool and also.seal - if their access is blocked and the smell of enticing food can’t get to them and it’s being kept clean they will hopefully go away eventually - no food= better places to be -tho can take time if they are breeding/have established a nest - most mice are in pairs or more. Cover any external air vents/air bricks with wire mesh too. If there is a back door leading to a garden tell tenants to keep it closed to avoid mice sneaking in. Check garden sheds to make sure nothing stored there that might be encouraging them to shelter there (once found a fox in mine…)
Ps Maybe you should be asking whoever did your pest control back to seal all the holes gaps and means of entry as they clearly didn’t do a complete job so far hence still getting mice. It’s their job to know all the ways pests can get in and how to block with the right materials. What have you paid for otherwise…
Actually, I didn’t know I could request this from pest control.
I asked them to provide a report on what they did, because the tenant claims he couldn’t stand the rats, mice, and flies. In the same time, her cousin said she found only one dead rat, but the house smells nice now, which suggests there are no more dead animals.
I also plan to hire a specialist to install rat blockers in the sewer system. When moving out, the tenant mentioned that pest control had come several times to spray, but she never informed me about any updates, since I have refunded her the fee for pest control.
Thank you again! I haven’t hired any additional specialists at my own expense yet, so I’ll first ask pest control for their recommendations.