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Whose responsibility is pest control?

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ozzy92
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Posted: Thu Jun 26th, 2008 07:22 pm

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State laws vary, but in most places basic pest control is the responsibility of the land lord. You need to provide a "habitable" residence, which means it's not overrun with rats or c**kroaches

There can be some limits to this, i.e. if the tenant is leaving food every where, the bugs can live there forever.

You should probably add a clause to the lease for next time what pest control you intend to provide (yearly termite inspection, quarterly spraying, etc.), and what responsibilities the tenant has (not leaving food everywhere, etc.)

Personally, I like to spray around the house myself. I pay for a yearly termite inspection. This works well enough so far.

Most of this stuff is toxic, and says you should keep pets and kids away for a certain time. You should probably arrange with your tenant a good time for them to leave the place for a day, or keep the pets and kids inside for the day.

Last edited on Thu Jun 26th, 2008 07:24 pm by ozzy92

Laurana
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Posted: Mon Jun 23rd, 2008 08:52 pm

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Thanks for the suggestion!

The tenants also have 2 dogs and a 9 month old. Is this something that could be toxic to them? And if so, is it still ok to use it and just tell them that it is their responsibility to keep the dogs away?

OH landlord
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Posted: Mon Jun 23rd, 2008 08:29 pm

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To rid the house of ants, go get a product called Terro. Its a granule that is just sprinkled around the perimeter of the house. I've used it myself and it works pretty well. (My house is also slab.) Works in only a few days and is fairly cheap. Problem solved.

Laurana
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Posted: Mon Jun 23rd, 2008 01:50 pm

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We just got our first tenant and they moved in yesterday. She called and asked if we have any recommendations for getting rid of ants, as the house is on a slab.

It just made me wonder - is the LL or the tenant responsible for bug control stuff like that? I thought our lease clearly spelled out everything, but apparently not because it doesn't say anything about this.

I don't mind taking care of it (I don't think she does either) I was just wondering whose responsibility it is.

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