I often get questions about what to do about pests. Bed Bugs seem to be particularly problematic, but it is upsetting for tenants to find ANY form of pest or vermin in their home.

What should you do about it? And who is responsible?

Here are the relevant issues:

Was the property infested when the tenant moved in?

If so, it will be the landlord’s responsibility to deal with it.  Landlords are now required to provide a rented property that is fit for human habitation, and a property with bed bugs, mice, rats and other nasties will not be considered ‘fit’.

Sometimes, landlords try to brush this sort of thing off by saying that the vermin were introduced by a previous tenant. Well, that’s not a valid excuse!  Landlords should check properties thoroughly between tenancies to make sure that, among other things, there is no infestation.

For example, this sometimes happens if tenants bring in second-hand furniture which is infested.  So, if you are a landlord, make sure you check the property out thoroughly.

If the infestation is picked up fairly soon into the tenancy, the tenants may be entitled to ‘unwind’ the tenancy if the landlord fails to deal with it.  If they do this within 30 days they can recover all payments made.  Otherwise, they need to do it within 90 days.

Tenants can find out more about this from the Renters Guide by doing a search on ‘unwind’.

What is the situation if the infestation starts after the tenant moves in?

This will depend on the reason for the infestation. For example

• If rats get in because there are holes in the wall that the landlord has failed to repair, it will be the landlord’s problem, and the landlord will be responsible for dealing with it (and paying any costs)
• However, if vermin are attracted to the property because of the tenant’s fault – for example, if the rubbish is not dealt with properly and there is festering food lying around, it will be the tenant’s responsibility.  If the landlord agrees to deal with the problem, he will be able to claim the cost back from the tenant’s deposit – provided he is able to justify this if the tenant later the charge to adjudication.  So, if you are a landlord, make sure you keep any evidence, such as reports from tradespeople brought in to deal with it, as to the reason for the problem.

Getting advice

If you are a tenant and are not sure what to do, consider

• Getting someone from the Local Authority Environmental Health Department out to have a look.
• Or maybe getting an inspection done under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.

Taking action

I can speak from personal experience with the Local Authority. They were very helpful several years ago or so when we had a rat in our house.

The rat got in through a small hole in the wall (now blocked up) and duly died a death from poison while we were on holiday. Its corpse awaited us in the bathroom on our return, and was duly disposed of by my husband.

So the Local authority service is definitely an option.

Local authorities, though are short on staff and resources.  You may get quicker service from one of the specialist pest eradication services which are around – you will find them on the internet, often with helpful articles on their websites.

So who pays?

The person who is legally responsible. If it is difficult to work this out, probably the best thing to do is to split the cost.

This is an updated version of a post originally published in September 2011.

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