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Landlord and Tenant Pest Control Responsibilities

There is some confusion around who is responsible for rental property pest control, is it the tenant or the landlords responsibility to attend to a pest problem?

The fact is that legislation is not clear and is open to interpretation and the cause of the pest is often subject to dispute.

Pest control becomes the general responsibility of both tenants and landlords to maintain the property in a state of good repair, safety and tidiness.

Generally, as a property owner, you are responsible for pest management, for example, rats, mice and termite protection. There can be an a special case where the pest activity was caused by your tenant’s poor housekeeping or lack of cleanliness. If your tenant has not been disposing of waste or has contributed to increase the presence of pests, as a property owner you could argue that it is your tenant’s responsibility. But that as it may, what’s imperative is the timeline leading to the discovery of the pest issue.

The tribunals have found that if a tenant reported an issue very soon after moving into a rental property then this would be a reasonable timeframe to place the responsibility on the landlord to provide a suitable pest treatment.