Dear RLA,
I am glad I have someone to contact as not really sure where I stand here. I have attached some recent correspondence from a tenant of mine.
she complained of mice last year so I had a builder go and fill all the holes and then revisited to ensure 100% of holes in the flat were blocked. I also put down bait and installed sonic deterrents.
I believe I have acted in a responsible way and continued to go to the property to check there were no dead mice in the bait boxes, but only really because the tenant was so appalled about the idea of facing a dead mouse. I guess I should not have set a precedent.
I have owned the property nearly five years and it has only been on one occasion that a mouse turned up dead in the kitchen, which a friend disposed of for her.
The tenant has left the flat unoccupied and will be back in a couple of weeks and she wants to me to pay for Rentokill which would cost around £400. This is not going to happen because I feel I have fulfilled my responsibility as a Landlord.
I obviously feel that to send round my builder to check the traps in her absence is going to cost me money and that she is trying to get out of paying for the fridge defrost issue (below). Do you have any advice?
Thanks
Luke
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Hi Luke,
Thank you for your email. I am completely aware that the freezer situation is my responsibility but it’s not something I’ve ever done before regardless of how long I’ve been away. Turning off the switch was what you recommended me to do, but saying this isn’t putting the responsibility on you but rather explaining why this wouldn’t have come to mind.
I completely expected to pay Darius for this but being that it won’t take long, I hope for it to be a reasonable amount. Please let me know how much Darius quotes just so I know and am comfortable with it.
As for the mice situation, when this thing started last year I suggested calling pest control and you said not to as you didn’t want to pay for that when you’d be doing the same thing. You also said that if the problem persisted, we could consider calling pest control. I am just going with your initial recommendation here so if you feel it isn’t something you want to deal with anymore, I’m happy to call pest control on your behalf. I think it’s quite reasonable that the traps be checked regularly and have nothing to do with how long I’m away especially since when you’re around you have been happy to come and check. :)
Please let me know what Darius says after you’ve had a chance to talk to him. Thank you.
Best,
Rafya
On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 8:50 PM, Luke Job <
[email protected]> wrote:
Thailand all good thanks.
Sry to hear about the freezer but in all honesty this is something that you should have thought about yourself and is not really up to me to have to deal with in all fairness to me.
I am happy to pass on your request o Darius but you are going to have to pay this time as I am not really convinced this is something that is anything to do with me.
As for the traps, I am responsible to put down bait but if you have left the country it doesn't suddenly become my responsibility to go round and check everything is okay
If you know what I mean. I'm sorry Rafya but I have to draw the line somewhere and I don't feel this is very fair but am happy to go through the terms of the lease in further detail should you require.
I will nevertheless pass on your request to Darius and see what he will charge to do this.
Best Regards
Luke
Sent from my iPhone
> On 12 Sep 2014, at 02:57, "Rafya Khan" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi Luke,
>
> How are you? Have you settled back into life in Thailand? Still loving it?!
>
> I woke up in a panic today because it occurred to me that you had asked me to turn off my electricity before I went on holiday but there was some food in the freezer which I'm sure is an absolute mess by now.
>
> I have had to extend my trip in Canada by two weeks so I'll be back at the end of the month but I was wondering if you could please ask Darius to stop by the flat and throw out the stuff in the freezer and turn on the main switch?
>
> Did you get a chance to go see the flat before you left to Thailand as you mentioned you would? Because it's also really important that the mouse traps are checked fairly regularly after the little visitor I had before I left!
>
> Please let me know once you've had a chance to speak to Darius.
>
> Hope you're having a great time in Thailand! :)
>
> Take care,
> Rafya
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