Feral Cats living under my rental property - is it my responsibility

[Suzanne Ferguson]

My tenant signed a lease 3 days ago.  We did a complete walk-through of the house - no smells, etc.  This morning she is contacting me saying there is a strong "pee" smell in the kitchen and she believes feral cats are living under there.  Is it the landlord's responsibility to take care of this?

Thanks

[Cathy B.]

Contact a local cat rescue group.  They may be able to trap or teach you how to trap the cats.  They may also have resources to fix and re-home them or point you in the right direction, etc.  This would take it off your hands but you, as a landlord, should secure all openings to this crawlspace so rats, possums, raccoons, etc. don't move in instead.  Hopefully the crawlspace will air out, if not maybe a plastic vapor barrier over the soil will help.

Good luck!