Rental Property and Mouse Infestations: Who Pays?

Questioner

Hello, We live in a rental home and now we have mouse holes outside next to our house that dig holes through the ground to the foundation of the house. According to the housing association, the costs of killing the mice by means of poison in the holes and syringes are at our expense. Is this correct?

Lawyer

In the first instance, the extermination of vermin is indeed at your expense. An exception to this is when it is not only you who are bothered by it, but also your neighbours. In that case, the landlord is obliged to contribute to a solution. If it is a social problem that affects the entire neighbourhood, the municipality is obliged to contribute to this. There is an exception to this duty of care. If the nuisance is caused by one's own fault, for example by waste and rubbish. Then the duty of care of the landlord or municipality lapses. but in principle you are primarily responsible for the extermination.

Questioner

Thank you for your answer, the school behind our house also had a problem with mice, but according to pest control it was a different type of mouse.