Paying for Critter Control

[Edward Brewington]

There was a problem with rodents getting into the house and the tenants were complaining, so I hired a service to solve the problem. The initial cost and monthly visits were quite expensive, so I said I would do the initial phase and stop the problem now, but I am not going to pay for the whole year, I did 4 months. The property management told me this is a problem in the whole area and most landlords in that area agree that it is their responsibility. I feel I have done enough and the tenants need to take some responsibility from here on out. Am I wrong? Should I continue the service? One year is well over 1K. Thought?

[Drew Sygit]

@Edward Brewington rats are a common for Warren. We once had some chew through the floor to get from a crawlspace into the house!

Hiring a monthly service is actually setting you up to be gouged - the company has no incentive to SOLVE the problem if they can keep getting paid monthly.

A good pest company should be able to identify most of the entry points, so a handyman can address them. Steel wool should be used as rodents will ingest and it then blocks there intestines and kills them. You can also put poison in the steel wool.

Your PMC should do their own inspection video and supply it to you, to figure out what's attracting the rats in the first place. The two most common attractions are tenants not cleaning up dog feces and not putting their garbage in cans with lids.

If this is the case, your PMC should properly document, issue tenants a written warning and then it's the tenant's problem.

Of course, the tenants may still call the city to report this and the city will threaten tickets, so then you may want to evict the tenants if they won't accept responsibility.