View Full Version : Rats in the Attic!
We just moved into a house (rental). Three stories - a basement (unfinished), a main floor (kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, living room), and an upstairs area (half finished, half blocked off, unfinished attic).
We have discovered that we have rats in the unfinished half of the attic. We contacted the rental company, who came out and confirmed the rats. They said they would call an exterminator. That was two weeks ago. We have been calling the rental company to follow up, but haven't had any response back yet.
Luckily, we haven't had any in the main house yet (we have three cats, one of which is an amazing mouser, so if we'd had any in the house yet they would have caught something).
How long do we have to wait for the rental company to get their own exterminator out before we can reasonably call our own? If we get an exterminator on our own, can we take it out of rent? What can we do to reduce the smell/reduce the problem in the meantime? (the upstairs finished area is unusable currently because of the smell).
flowerseverywhere
5-20-11, 3:09pm
I would call your local officials and find out if there are any laws concerning this. I would think that if you have a smell and can't use part of your space, not to mention the health risks I would be looking for a new place. I would start by contacting your officials as above first to leave a paper trail.
I would call your local officials and find out if there are any laws concerning this. I would think that if you have a smell and can't use part of your space, not to mention the health risks I would be looking for a new place. I would start by contacting your officials as above first to leave a paper trail.
Well, honestly, we do NOT need the space. Before this we were living in 800 sf 2 bedroom apartment... and we didn't even use the 2nd bedroom except as a cat room. this house is around 3000 sf, and we aren't even using the upstairs, and the basement we are only using to store the bicycles.
And yes, the amount of space we have is RIDICULOUS! We were going to have two friends move in with us, but that fell through. Once we get the pest problem taken care of we are going to put out an ad for a roommate. We really don't NEED one financially, but the extra money would be nice and its not like we don't have the space.
We just heard back from the rental company, pest control will be coming over tomorrow!
Sends shivers up and down my spine just thinking about it Gizmo! Hope you get it resolved SOON! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared007.gif
I think the Tenant's Union in Seattle is pretty strong -- give them a call if this doesn't get resolved and see what your options are.
Where did you score a house that big at an affordable rent? Interested to know what neighborhood you are in. I still keep my eye on Seattle real estate....
lhamo
lhamo
Where did you score a house that big at an affordable rent? Interested to know what neighborhood you are in. I still keep my eye on Seattle real estate....
lhamo
Its near the south east end of Beacon Hill, on the border with Columbia City. I think the reasons it was cheaper:
1) The house needs some work done on it, so we are going to have lots of repair people over all the time - for example, the basement floods, which they are working on - so basically it has a huge basement that you can only use one small end of (we are using it to store the bicycles). The front steps are falling down, so you have to use the side door. Half the outlets don't work because when the alarm was installed a few years ago before we moved in, the guy just cut wires left and right and now they have to have an electrician come rewire the house. The driveway is -literally- a mud pit - you have to park on the street.
2) Its on a major street, right next to an AM/PM and a pawn shop, so you get a little bit of noise from traffic, pedestrians, and light rail.
For us tho, its WAY better than the awful apartment we were living at... and the rent is less than the apartment. Plus, when we first were looking it was supposed to be 4 of us moving in (the other couple we were looking with backed out). We may look for another roommate, but its nice that its cheap enough that we don't have to (we may have a hard time finding a roommate who would put up with all the repairs need plus having to deal with our cats).
Sad Eyed Lady
5-23-11, 8:11pm
One word - MOVE!
One word - MOVE!
Can't move. Literally cannot afford it unless my partner, me, and my three cats move into my car.
We had rats at the last apartment too, but management refused to do anything about them... or about the black mold growing in our closet, or about the people peeing on our car, or about the drug dealers, or about the people coming to our door trying to buy drugs, or even about our door that got bashed in with a brick.
This place is about 1000 times better, and will be perfect once we get this taken care of.
The exterminators came on Saturday. We actually don't have a big population, but its been ongoing for a while because the house has been vacant a long time. We just need to seal up one hole, cut off one branch that is giving them access, then replace the insulation in the attic once the population is taken care of.
poetry_writer
5-24-11, 3:16pm
Rat traps. Gross but effective. If you plug the hole that should stop the problem. A few traps will probably catch any of the nasty stragglers left over from the exterminators.
Rosebud21
6-13-11, 10:17pm
I second the rat trap. Cheap and reusable. Use peanut butter to bait them. The spring type are better and more humane than glue kind. Place them near the edges and not in the middle. Don't use the poisoned bait- it works but then they die were you can't find them and stink. Most exterminators use bait- bad idea.
I second the rat trap. Cheap and reusable. Use peanut butter to bait them. The spring type are better and more humane than glue kind. Place them near the edges and not in the middle. Don't use the poisoned bait- it works but then they die were you can't find them and stink. Most exterminators use bait- bad idea.
The exterminator put out the spring traps baited with peanut butter. So far after 3 weeks not a single one has been sprung. He said that a lot of droppings were old, so they may have moved on. He said the noises we have been hearing could be squirrels getting in there.
Working on getting our rental agency to plug the hole. Then we can go in and tear down the insulation. BF's dad used to do construction, and said that we can pull out the insulation (that is what is causing the smell - but we didn't want to pull it out if rats were still living in it) that is up there and it won't affect the heating/cooling of the house since it is older (1914).
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