For invoicing my landlord and land lady and filing a complaint ?

[Mousegotinmyhouse]

Sorry for the length, I don't want to drip feed.

Two weeks ago, after returning from a 5 day trip we saw a mouse run into a gap in the kitchen base boards and found droppings. We contacted the estate agent who alerted the landlord and landlady (who live above us), got permission for pest control to remove the baseboards, called a next day pest control who came out within 24 hours. We also paid for pest control even though it's a landlords responsibility. Partially out of good will, but mainly because I just wanted the issue sorted.

Pest control confirmed we are not the cause of the mouse infestation. In his report he wrote the kitchen was clean and that the reason for the infestation was that there was heavy rain, and the mice sought refuge in our flat by entering via where some pipes are, as the hole is far too big for the pipes. He then said old cupboard doors meant that the mice accessed food sources by getting into the cupboards where the bottom of the doors don't align.

We obviously had to get rid of a lot of stuff in the kitchen. Our black bin is emptied every 3 weeks and was already half full. We filled it with the unsealed stuff from the cupboards or anything mice had gnawed through, and any sealed food items or general non food items were triple bagged with heavily scented bin powder (in case animals can smell sealed packaged food) and placed neatly next to said bins.

There were 5-6 bags next to the bin in total (sounds a lot, but I freaked and got rid of anything at mouse level). I contacted multiple rubbish collection companies, all but one gave over 7 days wait due to difficulties caused by our rural area flooding. I managed to find someone who could collect the rubbish within 4 days. I have the booking confirmation etc to prove all of this.

This Friday -2 weeks after the rubbish was removed, I got a letter from the estate agents saying the landlords have complained that 10-15 black bags of rubbish have been sat out for a prolonged period of time. We were told it is aggravating the mouse problem.

This is where I may have overreacted. I called the agents and explained the rubbish was collected two weeks ago, and that yes it was triple bagged outside for 4 days, but I can't control how busy businesses are.

The agent told me that they and the landlord and landlady feel we should have taken it to the tip sooner. So i pointed out that it wouldn't have gone any sooner because I booked on Tuesday and it was collected on Saturday morning, and because my husband takes the only car, an hour away to work in the week he would have also done it on Saturday. I also pointed out the landlords would have complained if the rubbish was kept in the kitchen for four days rather than keep the bags outside. The agent said they and the landlord also feel we could have taken a day off to take the rubbish to the tip.

I suggested that if the landlord and lady felt so strongly about the availability of rubbish collection services, or desperately wanted the rubbish taken on a weekday when the tip is open then they could have always taken the rubbish themselves. Or offered to reduce this month's rent to reflect the loss of earnings for my husband if he took an unpaid day off to take it.
(I don't actually expect them to do those things, I wanted to counter their unreasonable expectations.)

I then emailed the estate agent a copy of the rubbish collection booking, the pest control report, and the invoice from pest control.

I filed a counter complaint about the landlords malicious complaint of "10-15 open black bags of rubbish" as there were 6 triple bagged bags that were removed 2 weeks prior to the complaint being made, and requested reimbursement for pest control as the report indicates the mice got in due to structural issues of the property, making it their responsibility to pay for pest control and any follow ups according to our tenancy agreement.

My husband bumped into the landlady today on our shared drive and she made it clear that she is PISSED that I've made a counter complaint and requested a reimbursement for pest control. But I don't actually think I've done anything wrong. I did the best I could with the resources available and quite honestly I don't really feel like paying for pest control if they're going to make malicious, exaggerated complaints.

Just to add - I didn't feel the need to put up and shut up in case the landlord/lady files a section 21 no fault eviction out of spite. We're relocating in the next 6 weeks due to a job change so it's a none issue if I'm honest.

YABU - you should have taken the rubbish sooner and sucked up the cost of pest control

YANBU - your landlords should pay for pest control, and shouldn't have complained given the fact the rubbish was gone as soon as possible.

Don't be a dick if you're not prepared to be told that.

Also a renter and agree with this.

What a string of bizarre overreactions,

Neither party have done brilliantly.

You've overreacted and thrown an unnecessary amount of things away, even you can see that in hindsight. Your landlords should have had a reasonable conversation when the bags were there if they had concerns - "hi, there are a lot of bin bags, this won't help the mice, what can we all do about it?".

None of this would have escalated if everyone just calmed down and behaved rationally.

FWIW, we're landlords, and if the pest problem was structural, we'd have paid for pest control and then fixed the issue that had been highlighted in the report, at a minimum.

I've noticed it seems to make people quite angry that I've stuck up for myself.

But the more I comment the more I stand by what I did. They could have recognised that I didn't have to pay for pest control, and talked to me like decent humans rather than make a borderline false complaint.

But daft for people to think I'd be happy paying money for something they should be doing 🤷🏽‍♀️

I’m not talking about the evidence, I’m talking about the process you took.

I couldn’t just get my garden sorted and then invoice my LL and demand they pay, it doesn’t work like that. I’m not saying that’s wrong or right (I think it probably should work like that on some circumstances.) That’s what I’m unsure will hold up in court. I don’t think the pests would include emergency work that would be more safety/structural/fire etc.

It also states that if we have to get emergency work done that can't wait for the agent or landlord we can invoice them.

are you sure it actually says that? Does it state what constitutes an emergency?

I am a landlord, a good landlord who gets on with all my tenants, but I am glad I am not renting to you.

1. Mice happen. Is it a Victorian property? If so mice will come in when it is cold or wet. The best solution is to get a cat, or buy lots of mousetraps and know things will get better in spring.
2. I am surprised the landlord is responsible. One tenant recently got bedbugs (no exotic holidays, clean person, just bad luck.) She was really upset. I offered to pay half, though actually, and I checked, I was under no obligation to. She recognised I was being generous.
3. You need to be careful about rubbish containing food if there are vermin around.
4. I can understand why the owners did not want to communicate directly with you. You sound pretty full on.

You are leaving anyway. I would chalk it up to experience.

Mice have a tendency to chew through electrical cables so would be a shock/fire risk which makes their eradication a bit of a priority in my book. Plus they are permanently incontinent so wherever they have been they will have left a trail of urine. Perhaps not the same sort of priority as chewing electrical cables but still important to my mind.
@Mousegotinmyhouse I stand with you!

You are saying pest control advised you to triple bag all the food and leave it outside? Do you have that in writing? If so you could show it to them I guess.
The fact is you are kind of falling on your own sword with this, you know it, and as you are leaving soon you don't care. Which is fine.
I doubt you will miss eachother.

Why did you throw away sealed food? You realise that all the food you buy, all the sealed packages have been in warehouses with rats and mice running all over them. You ever buy a can of juice? The top of that can will have had mice or rate urine all over it. As will all other packaging. That’s why food is packaged. Why throw it out because you had some mice in the house? It’s already been covered in mice back in the warehouses.

And why the hysterical reaction to mice in the first place? I like rurally. We get mice. It happens round here. You sort it out, but it’s like ‘meh, I think we have mice, let’s sort that when we’ve got a day off.” No one cares.

If you live rurally there's always mice. You also said yourself you got a bit carried away with the amount you threw out at mouse level (which is anything from basement to attic tbh). Yabu.

Mice can get in anywhere, it isn't an indicator of poor maintenance. How in earth did you end up with 6 bags of rubbish? Surely a few nibbled items would be less than a bag? On the other hand it isn't really any of the landlords business if there's a bit of rubbish outside for a short while. I can't imagine mine would notice or care if it was a one off

We also paid for pest control even though it's a landlords responsibility. Partially out of good will....

They could have recognised that I didn't have to pay for pest control, and talked to me like decent humans

Yet your LL lives above you! When you saw the mice, didn't you go upstairs and ask whether the LL has noticed any issues whilst you'd be away? Rather than asking them to sort it, which you said yourself is their responsibility, you went ahead and paid yourself! You expect THEM to talk like decent humans, yet you never went and spoke to them about getting pest control out or sorting the hole!
Did you ask if they had space for 1 of your rubbish bags- that was filled with SEALED food. Tell me you aren't referring to tins? 🙄

Are you expecting a reference from them?

So much fuss over mice. We get them every year, most houses are not mice proof. You should take responsibility for rubbish and put down some traps

I'm also astonished at the overreaction to a few mice! 😄

What a waste. Absolutely no need to throw away sealed items or plastic boxes! Also having mice is not an emergency or something to panic about. They aren't actually harmful. Not ideal admittedly but you could have dealt with it in a calm and sensible way. An emergency is a gas leak or severe water leak not a few droppings and bit of nibbled food

I don’t know how some people get through normal life events with reactions like this to something which barely raises a shrug from most people.

Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing.

I think most people are missing the point, OP is not pissed off about the mice, paying for the pest control or even the complaint about the rubbish.

She is pissed off because the landlord lied about the quantity of rubbish, the length of time it remained outside and the complaint was received long after the rubbish had been removed.

She makes no mention of the LL's complaining about rubbish before so this appears to be a one off event rather than a pattern that they have become increasingly annoyed about. The rubbish situation was clearly not ideal but the OP did the best she could whilst waiting for the rubbish to be taken away.

What have the landlords accomplished by complaining in the way they have? The problem was solved by the time they submitted their exaggerated complaint.

I'd make sure you dot the i's and cross the t's when you leave, I suspect they will find reasons to recoup whatever they have to pay you for pest control by withholding a portion of your deposit.

Anyway the poll is with the OP.

Your communication with your landlord and on here leaves a lot to be desired. When you’re calm, reread this thread. You don’t come across well.
Why didn’t you contact the landlord about the rubbish to say it was in hand but would be dealt with so that they didn’t have to complain? Alternatively, why couldn’t you have put it in your car (given it was dry foodstuffs)until you were able to go to the dump. It seems crazy having had mice you would leave food out anywhere, triple bagged or not.

OP posts on AIBU, then refuses to accept they have been unreasonable 🤣 why ask then?

Not unreasonable to ask for the money back for pest control if your contract supports that, but yes, unreasonable to leave rubbish outside knowing there was a pest problem ongoing already.

As I said in my post, I contacted the agents to seek permission to remove the baseboards and contact pest control. The landlords gave permission which means they were aware, and considering they didn't mention covering the cost, they must have been fine with me paying it.

I also went through the agent to report the hole, as I didn't know it existed until pest control came out. And for the record, it was a multi-choice form they've requested we fill out on the estate agent site for repairs. I literally just added a note saying that pest control have said not to close the hole for 10-14 days to allow time for mice to depart.
I'm guessing you don't understand how estate agents work in renting.

And yes, I went through the estate agents rather than speak to them, because on the off chance one of the base boards broke (old kitchen), then I'd rather it be in writing the landlord had agreed to the removal of the baseboards and associated risks.

Your communication with your landlord and on here leaves a lot to be desired. When you’re calm, reread this thread. You don’t come across well.

This is from the OP, she seems more self aware than many people.

This is where I may have overreacted.

Her reaction was after their pointless complaint not before.

I've accepted reasonable comments. But posting in AIBU doesn't mean I have to agree with everything that's being said.

In hindsight yes, we could have left as much rubbish in the car as the boot allowed for. I wish I'd thought of that.

^ see you made a reasonable comment and I've accepted it happily.