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Original poster

Landlord/Agent won't pay cost of rat removal

39 replies

Newlywed84 · 01/11/2023 09:27

Advice please!

Woke to a rat in my child's bedroom at midnight - agents emergency help line went unanswered. Tried calling landlords pest control - also unanswered.

Was advised by another pest control that leaving it in the room would make it chew it's way out - so I had no choice but to pay £350 for an emergency company to come catch it. It was inside my kids bed!!

Landlord has now closed access points, but agent and landlord now refusing to reimburse me.

I feel the agent is at fault here - emergency line was unanswered, what choice did I have, who would sleep with a rat locked in their kids room?

I'm waiting to sign my new contract - so terrified of losing the house, I can't move right now! I'm a single mum having recently moved and caused my two kids huge upheaval - I need to stay.

But I feel so angry I'm left with this cost!

Any advice, do I have a decent argument here? Thinking I should go after agent rather than landlord since it's their failure to me as a tenant to provide help in an emergency?

OP posts:

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 13:43

How did it get in? Front door? Is it a terrace?

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 13:43

I'd think about moving.

Wibblywobblylikejelly · 01/11/2023 13:44

You have assumed responsibility by sourcing and paying the contractor.
You did not use an approved one by the LL and did not have his approval to use him on his behalf.

He will easily argue he could've gotten it cheaper.

Also I. Not 100% sure one rat in one day would be classed as an emergency.

I agree with others the pest control saw you coming.

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 13:47

Go for the agent. They have plenty of money. They should have answered. It's it a 24 hour advertised line? Then it's their responsibility.

Sparklfairy · 01/11/2023 13:54

I had a similar issue with a leak, rather than pests.

I came home to find the police outside my door looking sheepish - they had forced entry. Water was dripping (slowly - not a flood or a danger, just an annoyance!) from my flat into the one below while I was out.

It was a bank holiday, but the neighbours downstairs rang the normal agent office line. When there was obviously no answer as they were closed, they panicked and called the police making up a story that they could hear me being attacked I found out later

Because I have a brain, I called the emergency line, but it's just one bloke and he said he was too ill to come out. So I rang about 20 emergency plumbers until one eventually one took pity on me and agreed to help.

A few drips and a lot of stupidity from the neighbours meant that a basic repair bill jumped to a full fire door replacement and an emergency plumber callout charge to the landlord, as well as the repair of the minor leak. The agent handled everything, I just gave them the paperwork. There was no fuss and no argument.

I'm not 100%, but if the agent provides an emergency line that they either ignore or don't come out for, you're allowed to get your own emergency pest control and they have to pay for it. Your legal responsibility is to protect the property (or words to that effect). Leaving the rat to chew its way out would have caused far more damage!

TeenagersAngst · 01/11/2023 14:02

It's problematic because the law doesn't make clear what happens in this exact situation. The LL is expected to deal with a vermin infestation but the devil is in the detail - this happened at midnight in a child's room and damage may have been caused by leaving the rat there.

I would be interested to know how the agent would have handled it had the emergency line been answered. But the LL is within their rights to refuse to pay for emergency repairs which they did not authorise.

disappearingfish · 01/11/2023 14:06

I kind of agree with others. I would have settled your kid in another room and then emptied the bedroom of as much as possible before calling the LL in the morning. If you were a home owner and respond for the bill you probably would make a calculated decision on emergency call outs.

Do you have renters' insurance and does this cover it?

disappearingfish · 01/11/2023 14:06

*respond = responsible

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 14:30

The agent should pay up to secure the contract. The LL will want you to stay.

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 14:32

The agent should have answered. I think that you should mention it to the agent. You could pay a reduced rent for 6 months to cover it. Or the agent covers it. Can you contact the agent and explain? What if the LL and agent and you split it three ways.

TeenagersAngst · 01/11/2023 15:23

Flyhigher · 01/11/2023 14:32

Do not pay a reduced rent unless it is agreed - this may only store up more problems for you which it sounds like you don't need.

Muddle2000 · 03/11/2023 13:55

Regardless of the contract if either party has been negligent then they are responsible I think

Muddle2000 · 03/11/2023 14:07

I think it was a child is significant

TheGander · 04/11/2023 18:18

This isn’t much help but my friend is a LL and has sucked up the cost of all pest removal. Her tenants have an issue with rats they sometimes hear under the floorboards ( they have never entered the house). After dropping £££s on pest removal companies, she has found that the one thing that works is putting transponders under the floorboards that emit sounds at a frequency rodents hate.

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