Vermin and pest infestation claims

Who is responsible for an infestation?

This is the question everyone arrives with, and the honest answer is that it depends less on the pests than on the reason they are there. Landlords and tenants both routinely assume there is a simple rule, and there is not.

When it is usually the landlord

• Where the infestation results from disrepair — holes or gaps in external walls, a damaged roof or soffit, missing airbricks or vent covers, gaps around pipework, or broken drains giving rats a route in.
• Where it results from the condition of the structure the landlord must maintain, rather than anything the household has done.
• Where the infestation was already present when you moved in — the property was let to you in that state.
• Where it affects a communal area, or a block the landlord owns and manages.
• Where the tenancy agreement or a landlord’s published policy says they will deal with it.

When it is usually the tenant

• Where it results from how the home is being used — food waste not stored or disposed of properly, or accumulations of rubbish.
• Where pests have been brought in, for example bedbugs in second-hand furniture or on luggage.
• Where damage caused by the household created the entry route.

These edges are argued about, and a landlord asserting that an infestation is “a lifestyle issue” is making a claim that has to be justified against the actual condition of the building. If there is a hole in the wall behind the kitchen units, the state of the bins is not the explanation.

Why the entry route matters more than the pests

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires most landlords in England to keep the structure and exterior of the home in repair. An infestation is not, in itself, a failure to repair — but the hole, gap or broken drain that let the pests in very often is. That is why the productive request is rarely “please deal with the mice”.

Treatment without proofing is the single most common reason these problems drag on for months. A pest controller who lays bait but does not block the entry route will clear the current population; the next one follows the same path in. If you take one thing from this page, ask in writing for the entry route to be found and sealed, and for the treatment as well — not instead.

Defects that commonly let pests in

• Gaps around waste pipes, service entries and cabling, particularly under kitchen units and behind bath panels.
• Broken, cracked or disconnected drains — a classic route for rats, and one that needs a drain survey rather than a visual check.
• Missing or damaged airbricks, vent covers and grilles.
• Damaged roofing, soffits, fascias and eaves, which give squirrels and birds access to lofts.
• Gaps under external doors, perished seals, and holes where render or brickwork has failed — see crumbling plaster and structural defects.
• Damp and standing water, which makes an environment attractive to insects; see damp and mould claims and leaks and water ingress.

Does my property have an infestation? Signs to look for

People often report “a mouse” when the picture suggests something established, or worry about an isolated sighting that turns out to be nothing. Describing what you have actually seen — rather than the conclusion — makes a report far harder to dismiss.

Rats and mice

• Droppings, usually concentrated along walls, in cupboards, under the sink or behind appliances.
• Gnaw marks on food packaging, skirtings, cabling or pipework.
• A persistent stale, musty, ammonia-like smell in an enclosed space.
• Scratching or scurrying sounds in walls, under floors or in the loft, most often at night.
• Smear marks — greasy dark trails along skirtings and around holes.
• Nesting material: shredded paper, fabric or insulation gathered in a hidden corner.

Cockroaches and insects

• Live insects when a light is turned on at night, especially in kitchens and bathrooms.
• Egg cases, shed skins or droppings resembling ground pepper.
• An unpleasant, oily smell where numbers are significant.
• Bedbugs: bites in lines or clusters, small dark spots on mattress seams and bed frames, and live insects in seams and headboards.

Note where and when you see things. An infestation that is worse in one room, or against one particular wall, points towards the entry route — which is exactly what the landlord needs to find.

The routes that do not depend on your tenancy

Pests are unusual among housing problems in having two routes that sit outside the repairing covenant entirely. Both are free, and both are worth knowing about before considering a claim.

Environmental Health and the HHSRS

Under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, councils assess homes using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. One of the hazards it covers is “domestic hygiene, pests and refuse”, which includes the way a dwelling’s design, construction and maintenance allow pests access into and within the home.

The important detail is what the system is aimed at: hazards arising from the design, construction and maintenance of the property — normally the owner’s responsibility to put right — rather than hazards arising from how occupants or neighbours behave. Where a council inspects and finds a serious hazard, it has enforcement powers against the landlord. This route is open to private tenants as well as social tenants, and costs nothing.

Statutory nuisance

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, premises in a state that is prejudicial to health or a nuisance can be a statutory nuisance, and a serious infestation may qualify. Councils can investigate and serve an abatement notice.

You can also take this route yourself. Section 82 lets a person aggrieved by a statutory nuisance complain directly to the magistrates’ court, which can order the nuisance to be abated and the necessary works carried out. For a nuisance other than noise you must give the person responsible at least 21 clear days’ written notice before going to the court, and you will need a dated record of the problem. It is a real remedy rather than a theoretical one, though it is a court process — worth taking advice before starting.

For social tenants, the landlord’s complaints procedure and then the Housing Ombudsman remain free and are usually the first step. See free help options for the full picture.

Reporting it so that it counts

A repairing duty is generally only engaged once the landlord knows. Our guide on reporting repairs to your landlord covers the mechanics; these are the points specific to pests.

• Report in writing, even after phoning, and keep the reference number.
• Describe what you have seen and where, with dates — “droppings under the sink and gnawed packaging in the base unit, first noticed 3 March” rather than “we have mice”.
• Ask for two things explicitly: treatment, AND an inspection to find and seal the entry route. Ask for both in the same message.
• If rats are involved and treatment has already failed once, ask specifically whether the drains have been surveyed.
• Say if anyone in the household is more vulnerable — a young child, an older person, someone with asthma or a compromised immune system.
• Record every visit: who came, what they did, and whether anything was sealed as opposed to baited.
• If you are told it is your responsibility, ask for that in writing with the reason. A recorded refusal that turns out to rest on a mistaken view of the cause is useful later.

Evidence that helps

Infestations are harder to evidence than damp because the pests move and the signs get cleaned up. Our evidence guide covers the general approach; these points are particular to this problem.

• Photograph the signs, not just the room: droppings, gnaw marks, smear marks, damaged packaging, the gap or hole you suspect.
• Photograph the entry route itself if you can find it, and photograph it again after any work — sealed or not sealed is often the whole argument.
• Video is better than a photograph for anything moving, and for sounds in a wall or loft.
• Keep a dated log of sightings by room. A pattern over weeks carries far more weight than a single day.
• Keep every pest control report, works order and appointment card, including ones where nobody attended.
• Keep receipts for anything you had to buy or replace — traps, bait, sealed containers, food that had to be thrown away, a mattress in a bedbug case.
• Note rooms you have stopped using and any effect on sleep, cooking or the household’s health.

Compensation: what is realistic

This is the most searched question on this subject, so it deserves a straight answer rather than an encouraging one.

Where a landlord knew about disrepair that caused an infestation, failed to put it right within a reasonable time, and that affected your use of your home or damaged your property, compensation may be possible. It is normally approached as compensation for the period the home was not as it should have been, together with any specific losses such as damaged belongings — not as a fixed sum for the presence of pests. Our page on housing disrepair compensation explains how that is generally worked out.

What no one can honestly do is tell you a figure from a web page, and you should treat any site that offers one with caution. The amount depends on the severity, how long it went on, what was affected, and what the landlord did once told. Equally, an infestation caused by how a home is being used, or dealt with promptly once reported, is unlikely to support a claim at all.

What we can set out is what a claim is normally made up of, which is a different question from what it is worth:

• **Loss of use** — the reduced value of living in a home affected by an infestation, for the period after the landlord knew and did not act. This is usually the largest part.
• **Damaged belongings** — furniture, clothing, bedding and soft furnishings that have been gnawed, soiled or had to be thrown away.
• **Food** — food contaminated or destroyed, which with a rodent problem can be a repeated cost rather than a one-off.
• **Health effects** — where the infestation has made someone ill or made an existing condition worse. This needs medical evidence, so tell your GP what is happening at home and make sure it goes in your records.
• **Money you have had to spend** — including replacing what was ruined.

Keep receipts and photograph anything before you throw it away. A binned mattress with no photograph is very hard to include later.

If you have paid for pest control yourself

Where the infestation is the landlord’s responsibility and you have paid a pest controller out of your own pocket, that cost is part of what you can raise. Shelter’s advice is to ask the landlord to agree a **rent reduction** to cover it rather than simply taking it off what you pay.

England and Wales

In England, the repairing duty comes mainly from section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, with the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requiring the home to be fit to live in, and HHSRS enforcement sitting with the council. See housing disrepair claims in England.

In Wales, most occupiers hold an occupation contract under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and the landlord’s repairing and fitness obligations sit within that framework. The terminology differs — contract-holder rather than tenant — but the practical position on infestations caused by disrepair is comparable. See housing disrepair claims in Wales.

Statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies across England and Wales.