Paying for pest control is your responsibility as a tenant if it is defined in your lease and/or whether your actions caused the infestation or not. There are many different types of pests that can invade a rental home. Some particular pests, including ants, cockroaches, and fleas, are often attracted to a home because it is not kept clean enough. Ants and cockroaches find situations like bags of garbage left sitting or uncovered food stored in the home very appealing. Such insects thrive in environments with a plentiful food source and love to eat garbage and crumbs. Skunks, mice, rats, raccoons, and other animals are also strongly attracted by garbage left uncovered outside and can create havoc in a very short amount of time. If you have a dog or other pet, it might be bringing fleas into your house. Fleas carry diseases and can quickly infest every corner of a home.
As described above, it is often the actions of the tenant’s behavior that caused the pests to be invited into the rental home. Because of this, under the terms of most leases, the responsibility would be given to you, as a renter, to pay to have the unwanted pests removed. With that in mind, if you find a moisture problem in your rental home and you fail to report it, you could find yourself responsible for the pests that are attracted to such conditions as well. Usually, a professional exterminator will be asked to look into the situation to see if your living conditions caused the pest problem. If their investigations reinforce such an inference, then you may need to bear the expense for any and all necessary pest removal services.
Something that a renter can do, that would be very valuable, is to be proactive about their rental home maintenance. Renters can do a lot to ensure that their rental homes are pest-free. Seeing to it that the home is gets cleaned regularly, both inside and out, is maybe the simplest and most practical way to prevent unwanted pests. Keeping garbage and food (both human and pet) in containers with tight lids and disposing of any trash right away is another important strategy for outdoor pests.
A great way to deter pests that want to be inside the house is to ensure that you seal the food tightly and store them properly– place them in the refrigerator or pantry. Then you must also sweep up crumbs daily. For renters with pets, keeping your animal clean is the best way to avoid a flea infestation and all the problems that come with it. Thankfully, there are numerous kinds of flea prevention products on the market nowadays that are effective in areas highly prone to fleas and ticks. In order to avoid the expense and annoyance of having to bear the cost for pest extermination on your rental property, you should take the appropriate action right away.
Are you on the lookout for a Gardena rental home? Check out our available rentals and call us at 310-928-9728 for more information.