Infestations can be caused by disrepair in homes including damp, mould, leaking pipes, and holes where vermin can wiggle through. The weather is also a significant contributor. All throughout the year, the seasons affect the type of pests that come out to infest your home.
Although mice and rats are present all throughout the year, there are months when they become even more troublesome for renters. This begins in November, when they start hibernating indoors, up to February to keep warm in the cold climate. Wasps start coming out in May and stay until October.
Now that you have an idea that most pests are seasonal, you can prepare for them and protect your home as the weather changes. There are pest control calendars available on the internet that you can refer to all year long.
What is an infestation?
An infestation is an invasion of pests that can cause disease or damage to property. Clothes moths, for instance, will nibble on your clothes while hiding in the dark areas of your home. Silverfish may not be harmful to us humans, but they can cause allergic reactions from the scales they leave behind from their molting process. House flies and vermin can cause cholera and leptospirosis, respectively.
Causes of infestations
The weather may be a big contributor to the influx of pests, but another big factor to watch out for is disrepair in your home. Pests are attracted to damp, mouldy, and untidy environments. If you have so much clutter, chances are, insects and rodents could be lurking around, especially if your doors or windows don’t fit snugly with their frames.
Who is responsible for the infestation in your home?
Each tenant is responsible for looking after their rented home as well as their own health and safety.
If you have an outdoor garden, it must be well-maintained. Keeping it clean from clutter or weed will reduce your chances of being invaded by insects and vermin. It is also important to inspect your home regularly for hives or for any disrepair, especially ones that will provide an ingress for pests.
Another infestation cause is when pests from the neighbours’ homes move into yours. There is a reason why these pests transferred and this has to be addressed. Your neighbours could have done some spring cleaning and the vermin living in their houses lost their nests. Then your home attracted them because they found an ingress they can squeeze their way into.
Landlords, on the other hand, should be responsible for all their tenants’ health and safety starting with constantly maintaining the upkeep of all their properties. If you are new to the rented home and found rodents in it a few days after moving in, it might be something your landlord was not made aware of by the previous occupants, or the landlord chose to ignore repair requests that eventually provided an entrance for vermin to scamper through.
Also, watch out for signs of dead rats between walls, ceilings and floors. You will know that you have dead rodents by the foul odor that seeps through cracks and holes. It is the landlords’ responsibility to remove these. If they’re the sensible kind, they can address this.
Reporting the issue
Due to the ramifications they have on your health, insect and rodent infestations must be taken care of as soon as possible. Seek your landlord’s help by reporting the issues and requesting them to take action. Send your report via SMS and email so you will have a trail of your correspondence with them. Your letter of request for repair will be best sent via email as your exchange can be printed out and used as evidence in case your landlord refuses to cooperate and you decide to forward a complaint to the council.
Give the proprietor reasonable time to respond to your repair request. You can forward your complaint to your council’s Environmental Health section if your landlord continues to ignore your requests. The council should send a representative to investigate your property and issue an order to the lessor to fix the infestations if they support your claim.
If your landlord still does not heed the council’s order, you may either raise your complaint to the local government or file a housing disrepair claim.
The housing disrepair experts at Disrepair Claim can help encourage your landlord to address the infestations in your home. Likewise, you’ll get rightfully compensated for any damage to your personal belongings or your health. Give them a call for your first step to improving your life.