Do councils have a legal duty to deal with mice?

[AllAboutHallowsEve]

Hoping someone can help me. I'm a council tenant in London living in a one bed flat with my young child.

I've had ongoing problems with mice for a year now. Council pest control come and put poison down but refuse to do anything else.

At the moment I'm catching an average of 4 mice a week. Its horrific. Yet still they come. I cant get a cat (no garden and flat too small).

I desperately need the council to repair my kitchen units and fill in holes as I'm physically unable to do this myself, but they are useless. I cannot afford to do this privately. I'm finding it all very stressful and upsetting.

Does the council have a legal duty to repair my kitchen to prevent mice?

Has anyone successfully complained to their council on this type of issue? I was thinking of complaining to environmental health and my MP if council refuse to make repairs.

Any advice gratefully received!

The mice will keep coming if there is food.

Maintain scrupulous cleaning, keep food in containers they can’t get into, get rid of any other sources. If those other sources are in your neighbours flats you have a problem neither you or the council can readily solve so buy lots of traps to try and control the population.

Councils have a duty to ensure housing is fit for human habitation. Pest problems can be deemed to make housing unfit. Councils usually have a duty to maintain exterior walls etc, but not kitchen units (depends on tenancy agreement). Speak to Shelter, they are a very good source for landlord and tenant issues.

Thank you both, much appreciated.

My council dont care. Tbh in a flat situation it has to be tackled by every flat at once (and ongoing basis) otherwise it wont make a dent. Even if their way in is also sealed up, getting rid of those already in the building will be a struggle.

I get one in every couple of months for a week or so worth of nights so it isn't so bad (apart from when you get up to pee at 5am like I did last week and one of the little bastards runs over your bare feet when you've just sat down haha).

But four per week and that being only the ones caught is pretty bad. Could you phone the council and talk to them? Or talk to all your neighbours about everyone setting up traps?

Thanks Panda. I think I will write a note to everyone in the building and ask them to all call pest control if they are having same issues. I'm really at my wits end.

Yeah maybe say you are getting pest control that week so if they could all do the same around that time and also make extra effort with traps too then that would be good.

Do youneed any advice on how you, or a friend or other helper, could fix the holes? Or have you already got that covered?

I've tried using wire wool but I think they are coming through gaps in the kick boards in the kitchen, and in awkward places like behind my cooker. I think I may need to spend a weekend moving things out and really tackle it. But ideally I'd like the council to do it properly and end this nightmare once and for all.

Yes to wire wool. Do you noticed them coming from a particular corner, for example?
Do an audit of each room. Start with the room where you see them the most, find all the holes, write them down, fix as many as you can in an afternoon.
Describe the gaps in the kickboards? Horizontal or vertical gaps?
I’m only asking because it sounds like it might take time for the council to fix the problem. When I’ve had this problem myself it’s such a great relief when I don’t see any for a while. I’ve got a bit of a phobia about them though so when I don’t see them makes me really happy. I live in a farming area with lots of wheat around so it’s a constant problem for me.

Your landlord has a legal duty to ensure all gaps in the exterior of the property are closed up so the mice cannot enter. The best way of forcing them to do this is to make a formal complaint to your landlord using their complaints procedure to the letter. And do it in writing. You might also contact your local councillor and explain to them your complaint at the inaction of your landlord. They are very useful to have onside. Unfortunately once all the entry points to the property are closed up, you still need to deal with the ones actually in your property. When you catch the mice what do you do with them? If you release them, take them a couple of miles away so they don't come back. You can lay mouse bait yourself where the mice are known to run. It costs around £10 and should be enough to kill them all. Unfortunately mice breed very quickly. Pull out the kickboards and lay the bait behind and also behind the cooker. They can squeeze into the smallest of spaces so make sure you lay the bait around all the spaces. Check to see if the bait is gone after 3 or 4 days. Lay more if its gone.

This won’t help you long term and I’m afraid I’ve no idea about the legalities. However, mice don’t like the smell of peppermint so try sprinkling some peppermint oil or even making bowls of mint tea and leaving by entry points. I had a similar issue (though not as many by the sounds of it) and I did this and got a couple of those sonic repellent things and this seemed to sort it.

In my case it was that there were no backs to my kitchen cupboards, just the cupboard shell with a door on the front and a gap of about six inches between the back of the shell and the external wall. Every time I used my food caddy they were in. Even when I moved it higher they still got to it. I removed this as well, once I worked out what they were coming for.