Section 8 & mice what are the expectations. Give me your opinion

[Rita Medeiros]

Section 8 tenant has asked for extermination for mice. She found a dead mouse in kitchen. Tenant is asking for any holes to be closed up. The home has passed the section 8 inspection. There were no mice when she took possession of home. What are section 8 requirements regarding this issue. Would the landlords out there recommend providing extermination service to make tenant happy, or remind her that the home was rodent free at beginning of her lease. Thank you in advance for any feedback or experience you can provide. 

[Patti Robertson]

The requirement is that the house meet habitability standards, and building code standards say a house must be pest free to be habitable. It would be your responsibility to ensure that any points of entry are closed up.  It would be the tenant's responsibility to ensure they don't encourage rodent entry (leaving doors open, opening the crawl cover, leaving food out, etc.) For rodents, we always send someone to ensure all holes are sealed.  Only if the tenant caused the issue can you hold them responsible for it.