WE’VE all been there with unwanted houseguests – the friends who promised they’d only crash on your sofa for a couple of nights; the in-laws who just won’t go away. But what about when those unwanted houseguests are of the four – or six – legged variety? More UK homes than ever are becoming riddled with unwanted household pests like bedbugs, ants, cockroaches, rats and mice and while it’s up to the tenant to keep their home bug-free and alert landlords in the case of any instance, many are falling far short of this responsibility.
Here are seven of the worst cases of household pest infestations that should have every landlord and agent speed dialling pest control. Warning – the following might make your skin crawl.
Student digs for a group of UCL students were so infested with rats and mice that the 87 of the worst affected tenants went on a rent strike back in 2015. Although the students were initially threatened with academic sanctions and exclusion from their courses, an inquiry found in their favour and the university was ordered to pay each tenant £1,300 or the equivalent of an entire term’s rent.
It was takeaways all round in Newham, thanks to slum landlords renting badly ventilated properties to tenants on the poverty line. In one property, rats the size of pint glasses took over the kitchen rendering the entire room out of bounds.
Bringing new meaning to the phrase slow runner, one group of millennials in Essex were horrified to find trainers they’d left by their back door full of snails. It’s thought that by leaving the door partially ajar and not cleaning their kitchen surfaces after food preparation they’d created not just a haven for creepy crawlies but also an open door policy.
Agents or landlords wishing to educate their tenants as to the best ways to keep their homes clean and critter-free can download Fixflo’s FREE e-book: Tenant’s Guide: How to Prevent Pest Infestations.