ants! landlord or tennant responsibility?

[notjusttheirmum]

we seem to have an ants nest outside somewhere near the door to the kitchen. have woke up this morning to ants on the kitchen floor! our house is very open plan and I'm worried about DD2 as she is young playing outside near them but now worried about her playing inside! how can I get rid of them as the methods used last year haven't worked!
also is this a landlords problem or the tennants? my house is clean so definitely not coming in for food off the floor etc.

[MizK]

I would think it's your problem to sort out....its not that big a deal, really. It's part of maintaining your house and garden. They don't just come into dirty houses btw, we are clean and have had ants before. We bought powder and put it all around the house outside, that worked fine.

[Georgina1975]

Landlord I would say.

You have a clean house and have obviously tried to get rid last year. They are a persistent pest (like mice and slugs) - so over to LL now. One of the benefits of renting I would say.

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Lol I doubt a landlord would take ants seriously!!!

What have you tried so far?

[RidersOnTheStorm]

Tenant. I'm a landlord and I wouldn't be dealing with it. Ants nest everywhere every year. Nothing a LL can do that a tenant can't. Put down that Nipon poison stuff.

[ReallyTired]

A landlord can't do much about about your kitchen hygiene. What do you want him/her to do other than buy you some ant powder. There is no magical solution for dealing with ants. I don't know if pest control can do anything to stop ants.

You need to put things like sugar or cereals in any proof tins or boxes. If you know where the ant hill him you could pour boiling water or ant powder on it.

[nagynolonger]

Tenant. Ants are like flies they come in from outside and the LL can't stop them. Just put down ant killer.

[notjusttheirmum]

the nest is in the foundations of the house, can see them entering through cracks in the lower brick work so very difficult to attack with boiling water
I am getting stuff again today
I don't mind it being my problem to sort, was just making sure it was my responsibility that's all!
just very frustrating seeing little black things crawl around the floor cringe

[Penfold007]

Our council has a lot of information on their web site about various pests including ants. For ants they seem to suggest a self treat approach, pour boiling water on if possible and/or use ant spray or powder. Maybe your council offers similar advice? We get them on the patio every spring I just use the powder and puff it into crevices where they seem to walk and gather.

[99percentchocolate]

I think it depends on the scale of the problem. We had ants a couple of years ago and tried everything - powder, boiling water, bicarbonate, attacking the nest and the entry point into the room (they were coming into the foundations too). In the end one day I came home to find the floor covered in hundreds of them (I still get itchy thinking about it!). I went to visit a friend and by complete coincidence a former owner of the house was there too. She told me it was a serious problem that occurred every year and would only be calmed by pest control. We called our local council who told us to call agent and they in turn told us not to worry, they would sort it. Turned out it was a serious problem that the landlord was well aware of and pest control had to come out every year.

[FinallyFreeFromItAll]

Tenant. You can get spray that is only toxic to humans and pets when wet. Do all around inside perimeter with it after DC has gone to bed, by morning it'll be totally safe for DC but a poisonous repellant to ants. That will at least keep them outside. Then boiling water if you can and lots of ant powder around entrance to nest outside (but have to be careful with DC playing outside).

[specialsubject]

Tenant. Find the nest and chuck boiling water down it. Use a bit of Nippon in other holes.

Five minute job.

[specialsubject]

PS they don't actually strap kids down and eat them.