Or is my landlord - carpet moth infestation!!

[DriftGames]

I need to know where I stand here. Been here 2.5 years, notice given for the end of this month a few months ago as we are moving to a bigger property.

Today I moved 2 pieces of furniture in the lounge and found large carpet moth infestations. They've eaten the wool carpet beneath a set of drawers and a console table in the lounge.

I've contacted my landlord and explained, asking if they can arrange treatment ASAP as I now have to take my 11mo out of the property until it is safe to return. By infestation I mean thousands, and now I've disturbed them they're climbing the bloody walls (not envy).

The landlords have come back saying it's our problem as it's our responsibility to look after the house.. it's spotless. Not a mark. These were under furniture - how could I know?! Luckily we've made arrangements to stay at our holiday caravan (with the correct permissions from the councils involved), but this in turn means we cannot work until the house is treated and cannot stay here either.

Who's problem is this to fix? Happy for my head to be given a wobble if needs be but I'm struggling to see how this is my fault!!

I’m a landlord. In the summer, a tenant reported a wasps nest. I checked the regs and if the nest was there on commencement of the tenancy it would be my responsibility. He’s been there years, so it was his. This is a similar situation, I think.
I have had moths in a student house before and paid something like £250 for a pest control company to get rid of them. In the short term you can buy moth and larvae killer from Amazon or Wilko, I think. I do think it is probably your responsibility, sorry. Try to work with the landlord though - you don’t really want him to be charging you for a whole carpet, I don’t think you can charge for damage to carpet after 7 years, so he definitely can’t charge you for like for like replacement. Don’t quote me on that though.

Happened to us with a wool carpet, we just replaced it with a much cheaper same coloured synthetic one.

I don't know how you could be sure they weren't already there when you moved in? They can be difficult to spot when it first starts and it's not always obvious what's causing the problem. You probably need to check under the furniture in the rest of the house too as it probably isn't confined to the one room

In our place it would be down to us as we’re in the property, not the landlord

Your landlord is right, it is your problme, yours to fix or to pay for when he has it fixed! I'm a clerk, if I were doing your check out I would apportion remedial work to you!

In fact there could be 2 charges - one for removal of any moths, larva, eggs and another for the damage done. The first at cost and the second depending on how much damage, age of carpets, condition when you moved in etc.

But they are harmless to you and your DC. And they are in no way any indicator of your being a good or bad housekeeper. They thrive in undisturbed areas, like heavy furniture, which nobody moves in real life! And it isn't too hard to get rid of them, though you might prefer to get that done, by a professional, as you leave!

Discuss it with your landlord. You should be able to sort it out between the two of you!

If you want a guesstimate on the damage charge let me know

Age of carpet
How it was described on the inventory
How big the damaged area is
What kind of carpet it is - vague guees at cost per sq.m

It's easy enough to work out a ball park figure and REALLY won't be much, he CANNOT charge for replacing the whole carpet only any loss and, if the damage isn't too bad, the carpet still functions as a carpet, it just doesn't look as nice, any charge will be minimal!

You shouldn't charge a tenant for moth damage @CuriousaboutSamphire unless they have been negligent in some way eg they didn't report the problem, didn't treat the problem, or the carpet clearly hasn't been cleaned regularly. It's just wear and tear.

@orangenasturtium

You shouldn't charge a tenant for moth damage *@CuriousaboutSamphire* unless they have been negligent in some way eg they didn't report the problem, didn't treat the problem, or the carpet clearly hasn't been cleaned regularly. It's just wear and tear.

No! Flattened areas, furniture indentation marks - they're fair wear and tear.

Moth damage to carpets that showed no sign of infestation at check in, and after 2.5 years, is more than FWT. It's just unfortunate as carpet moths are 'posh vermin' found in clean homes with good quality carpets!

As a clerk I'd have no choice but to flag it up and to ascribe it as a tenant issue. After that the tenant and the landlord can work it out, via professionals and the arbitration scheme. They decide whether it is negligence and therefore chargeable or not!

I have no expertise on moth infestation, nor can my report wait for a few weeks for investigation to be undertaken. In fact it is often a clerks check out that starts the process - that being what they are for!

I read many case studies from all of the arbitartions schemes and am aware of how they view it

TDS

Moth damage is particularly difficult to deal with in a dispute unless the problem is evident either during or at the end of the tenancy.

It can often be difficult to establish that a tenant was responsible for the presence of the moths, but if the damage was noticeable, the tenant generally has a duty to report it and allow the landlord to address the problem to mitigate their loss.

If the tenant has not reported damage, which was obvious both during and at the end of the tenancy, it is likely that the adjudicator will conclude that they were responsible at least for allowing the problem to worsen and the loss to the landlord to increase.

The person conducting a periodic or check-out inspection should be aware of the possibility of damages caused during the tenants’ stay.

It isn't unsafe
It is damage caused by not hovering enough- we have some massive moth damage in our rooms that are not regularly used
Don't get wool carpets in your next property
Hoover daily until they are gone
Don't have food in room with wool carpets
Check your clothes- they will be in those as well
Get these
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Thanks everyone.

Would it make any difference that they carried out a thorough inspection of the property less than 2 months ago and even made notes about every carpet in the house? For the carpet in question it just had 'slight wear from normal footfall'.

Also, we're moving at the end of the month so baby's room, dining room and some of our bedroom are full of moving boxes and stored furniture, so I totally get that usually we could just hoover constantly and play in another room, the only room with useable floor space at the moment is that one!

Just be grateful it is only 1 room. We have holes in 4 rooms, hall , landing and a big rug.

In our defence we were not living in the house for 6 months.

These were under furniture - how could I know?!
You were not, but that's not an excuse for your LL having to pay. Your LL can't pick up all the costs associated with maintenance that you didn't foresee.

It's frustrating but he is not responsible by default.

Holy shit I'd run a mile.
I'm pretty sure I move all my furniture at some point over the month to vacuum.
How does it happen? Does a moth decides to stay and multiples I'll be paranoid about the built in wardrobes I can't move them.

As. LL, I paid to treat an infestation. I suspect the carpet is ruined but the tenant had been there for several years and remains there. I wasn’t happy about it but it nipped it in the bud. It was in my interests and cost less than £100. I wouldn’t expect a tenant to pay for treatment and a carpet.

LL here. It is very grey. I think the compromise is that you deal with the infestation and manage it, and the LL agrees not to count the carpet damage against you when you move out.

These things happen, its annoying but there's no fair way of apportioning blame - both could give a compelling argument which absolves them of blame but if your contract is silent, you've no way of knowing for sure. You're better off swallowing the cost rather than spending time and money making your arguments. Reaching a way forward is the priority and unfortunately its more of a priority for you than the LL.