MICE in newly rented house!!

[NinjaMommy]

We moved in a week ago!
The day we moved in? We found a mouse trap behind a sofa, told the agent, and they said they'd get a pest control champ to email us... Nothing as yet. I have spotted one or 2 droppings on the kitchen floor but dismissed them(good old fashioned denial!) as being old ones.
Well, last night, I walked into the kitchen/dining room and one of the furry little critters scurried across the floor!!
We have 3 children, one of which is crawling and I'm now in panic mode that he's going to catch bubonic plague or something equally horrific!
I'm going bound into the agents office first thing today and DEMAND that rentokil is on my doorstep by close of business today! Am I well within my rights to do so? We're paying a lot of money to live here!!

I'd check your contract first - many specify that infestations are the tenants' responsibility although there is a bit of grey area if you move in and there are already pests in place.

If we'd been here a while, had been leaving food in work tops etc, ok... But there was evidence before we even lived here. Contract or not, this is their responsibility! Can you tell I'm quite cross?!

I'd demand they get the pest control people in asap too, and pay for alternative accommodation if they need to put down chemicals.

Have you got the owners contact details? Can you contact them directly? Either way, I wouldn't leave the estate agents office until they had agree to take care of the situation. And I'd bring the three kids with me, and let them run wild in the office and cause as much disruption and fuss as possible.

I couldn't have my kids crawling around the floor where there are mice droppings!

dear oh dear. What will you do if something really bad happens? Everyone gets mice at some point. Your ickle preshus is not going to catch plague. Nor are you. And kids are no more important than adults so playing that card doesn't work.

Clean up properly. You will need to use CHEMICALS other than dihydrogen monoxide to do this. No need to move out for CHEMICALS, the place isn't going to be fumigated.

Put all food in sealed containers unless tinned or in the fridge. Go buy some poison/traps. If you get humane traps, either drown the mouse in a bucket of water (which does rather defeat the idea), or take it half a mile away before release.

massive fuss about Rentokil and chemicals un-necessary at this stage. Do contact the landlord though but screaming 'pest controllers NOW' will not be happening.

yes, I know you won't like this. Doesn't change the facts. This is only what the pest control people will tell you.

Is it a very old house? If so mice will be trying to come in as the weather turns colder. We live in a Tudor cottage and this happens every year around this time.
We have plug in mice deterrent things which mice don't like. Garden centres sell them. Also soak cotton wool balls with peppermint oil and stuff in the areas the mice appear to be in. They hate the smell. Failing that get a cat if you are allowed one.

I've never had mice and if I had just moved in somewhere to find their were already pests that the landlord and agent clearly knew about I'd be angry too!! Especially if the rent isn't cheap!
I like the idea of taking all 3 kids with you to the agents office!!

doesn't matter what the rent is. Kids irrelevant. Landlord/agent may not have known about the pest problem. Or they may.

was the place properly cleaned before arrival? Is it an older house?

cats tend to bring IN more mice.

Get a cat?

There was a trap already when she moved in, so obviously the landlord did know!! I think it's reasonable to expect a house to be pest free when you move in actually!

As a landlord I wouldn't dream of renting out a home I knew had mice in it - I would get the place treated before I advertised it.

So, after going in to agents office this morning(without the kids in tow) I did make it clear it wasnt acceptable... (We have a cat(which caught a critter last night!) so he's on high alert!) and by 3pm a pest control chap was littering my house with bait stations. So, special(very apt) stamping my feet and 'playing the baby card' was as effective as predicted! My son was very premature and has lie immunity, so subjecting him to potential diseases from mouse urine, obviously isn't ideal. But you weren't to know that when you waded in with your quirky response...
When pest control moved the cooker they found old trays of poison and a dead mouse! Wonderful! So I suspect they were aware of the problem before we moved in!
It is a big, old house and no, it hadn't been cleaned properly. I discovered enough dog hair to stuff a few pillows, behind a dresser! Grim!

acer you got any houses to rent?! You sound like my kind of landlord!!