To have mice

[Nixpix1]

Moved into this flat 6 months ago. Have hated living here, drain problems, boiler problems, frozen pipes when it was cold, no wall insulation which meant it's was always cold once the heating went off. The hallway never warm up no matter how much heating u put on.

Anyways, we Just discovered mice. They are from the shop next door. Must be thru the flooring or then the walls. Ive at the end if my tether with this place. The estate agent has had peat control I'm, will take 2 weeks to clear but the guy said the shop has mice which is probably why we are getting them. They have been in our sofa and I hate sitting on them now thinking they are somewhere in there. They have left dropping under the cupboards, behind the wooden covering. I have a toddler and I'm going ocd about him picking something up from the floor and eating it.

Is there anythinf i can do to get out the of rental contract? I'm sick of this place and would like to move ASAP. We have a break clause in June so we can move out then, but I want to leave asap. Its nasty.

I can't help with the contract but can suggest that you buy some wire wool/Brillo pads and block every hole in the place, no matter how small. For bigger holes you can use scrunched up foil.

Put some talc on the floors if you have hard flooring, do this at night when you won't be walking on them, in the morning look for little footprints and you will find where they are coming in and out. Then put some traps, baited with cat food/peanut butter/chocolate, and do not disturb them.

Poison is not a good idea as it is easy to contaminate your home with it, although if you put it under the floorboards it should be safe, however if something dies under there you will have a couple of weeks of the smell of death. Once all the holes are blocked to stop entry you might be OK.

The other thing with poison is that the mice will likely die outside and be eaten by other creatures, owls for instance, and will then kill them, so keeping the mice out is the best solution unless you can get a baited trap that keeps them in.

Have you spoken to the shop owner? If they sort their problem that will help, it's surely very bad for business for them.

You can mix up essential oils to create a repellent that does work.

I think its peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, lemon oil & tea tree oil, with a carrier oil maybe. Mix it up and put it on cotton wool pads and then put down everywhere in corners/holes/under cupboards etc.

Do that with the wire wool and it should keep them out.

Thank you ladies. I will ask the DH to put powder on the kitchen floor to see where they r coming and going from.

Does anyone know if there is a way to end my rental agreement early on this basis?

What sort of shop is it? If they're selling food it might be worth a quick call to whatever local authorities deal with that sort of thing.

If you're not too squeamish mice seem to like bacon in a trap. Or you could get a cat!

If your landlord is being useless then chat to the CAB re whether they are legally required to sort out an infestation.