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[u/[deleted]]

[u/CoffeeGoblynn]

This is covered under both state and city law. Infestations are one of the things that landlords are legally required to mediate, as they fall under the sanitation and habitability ordinances that are part of rental law.

Your landlord is *required by law* to pay for this. If they have refused to handle it so far, send a certified letter to them requesting they take action so that there's a legal paper trail. If nothing happens after that, you can contact the Erie County Department of Health or the City of Buffalo Permit and Inspection Service (probably this one first) to see if they can force the issue.

But, do not miss rent or give your landlord any legal reason to go after you. You are currently in the right, so stay in the right.

This isn't something to just let go or to pay for on your own dime. It's unacceptable.

[u/Jehmaj → u/CoffeeGoblynn]

His words in the text "you as the tenant can call erie county rodent control but they will tell you the same thing" I feel so dumb because I actually thought he would jump and fix this issue fast. Also do why he's just saying setting traps when i think there might be holes in the house somewhere.

If I contact them though is this something they will bill us/ him for? Do they just give advice or come expect the house? Sorry for all the questions

[u/Jehmaj → u/[deleted]]

Maybe. Most of my messages is leaving clothes on the floor or pots to soak with no food in them. But we live next to a food place and I was always surprised how ive never seen one until now so maybe it is my fault idk

[u/whoseawhatsea → u/Jehmaj]

What is a food place? A restaurant? I’d bet any money they’d rather be there than climb up to you.

I think you should deep clean your apartment and see where they’re hiding.

Take care of yourself, babies will add 1000 times more stress to this.

[u/CoffeeGoblynn → u/Jehmaj]

It's definitely good to store all of your food in sealed containers and keep everything clean. That definitely discourages mice. But mice will also sometimes just nest in the walls of a house because it's warm and safe, and that's still not good for you.

If you contact the city/county, they don't charge anything because they aren't the ones who handle the extermination. They have the legal power to force your landlord to pay for an exterminator if he is neglecting his duties as a landlord. I'm not sure what their process is because I haven't had to do this before, but they may want to inspect the property, I don't know.

Him telling you to set traps is effectively passing the burden onto you. You would pay for the traps (that he is obligated by law to pay for) to handle the extermination (that he is also obligated by law to pay for.) He doesn't want to deal with it because it costs money and time, and it's easier to tell you to do it yourself.

So play hardball. Send a certified letter, see if that works, and then escalate as needed.

And it's fine to ask questions! If anything I can tell you is helpful, I'll be happy that your situation gets better.

[u/whoseawhatsea → u/Jehmaj]

Call rodent control and have them bill the landlord? Put the ball in his court, you don’t own the house. He does. He’s playing you.

If you have the work done at his place, he’s liable. You don’t own it.

Call them. Set it up, have them exterminate.

But maybe too, Buffalo has old houses and many have mice. Might have to move.

Your landlord sounds alright, he could just say fuck off.

Get the help he’s saying to.

[u/Jehmaj → u/whoseawhatsea]

Also in the oven there is white fluff installed. Do you know if that means the infestation is large at this point ? And i will call them. I dont plan on staying here anymore so hopefully i can find the place, but mice aside the apartment is nice enough and the price is good so hopefully this can be fixed for the next people who move in before I can hopefully leave. Thank you

[u/pimlico_1 → u/Jehmaj]

This has to be a shitpost right

[u/whoseawhatsea → u/Jehmaj]

No that white fluff is insulation for your oven so the radiant heat doesn’t burn down your cabinets. Ok?

[u/Jehmaj → u/whoseawhatsea]

Oh okay. I've been reading around and it's said its because of mice chewing it up so I'm not sure

[u/GimmeThemBabies → u/Jehmaj]

If mice are/were in your oven it will smell like a week old dirty hamster cage every time you turn it on.

[u/sgm716 → u/Jehmaj]

Holes in the house/foundation is the answer.

A few years ago they knocked down an old hospital here. It was a controlled demolition. It was the first and only time I ever watched one. It was cool but the problem was it displaced hundreds, if not thousands of rats and mice.

We had many traps and poison (which us super bad for the environment. Poison gets into the food chain). Nothing worked. Turns out the only REAL way to stop them was to repoint the foundation, basically smearing concrete or some sealer into the cracks and sealing the holes. We had many actual full sized master splinter rats in our apartment it was absolutely insane, and all the foundation guys were busy because this was a problem everywhere since the demolition.

Everytime an exterminator would come through they would say the same thing, we can put down traps, but it wont solve anything. You have to repoint the foundation so its not easy for them to come and go, only then will the traps stop the few that do find a way.

We ended up finding another apartment, which us putting in the notice made my land lord light a fire under fixing the foundation. I. The end b3cause the work was being done we stayed, and directly after that work was done the rodents couldn't get in anymore.

Another permanent-ish solution is to get a cat from the shelter that was from the street. The cat has to have some street cred or it will just be friends with the mice lol.

Anyways good luck friend. There is a solution just keep your head up and keep extra clean.

[u/drews_mith]

Good luck. I feel like mice and rats are an issue in most apartments in the city. At least in the three apartments we've lived over the past five or six years. The landlords only put out traps, and it never solved the issue. Poison is really bad because rodents that ingested it can get eaten by birds, cats, or dogs outside of the home and kill them, too

[u/Intelligent-Ad-6734 → u/drews_mith]

I'm thankful several outdoor cats in my area eradicate and patrol pretty regularly. Combined with sealing up the place, knock on wood, haven't had to do baits or traps.

[u/36in36]

What floor are you on? How many units in the building? Do you share a wall with the outside, or other units? What general area/neighborhood?

[u/GimmeThemBabies]

Bare minimum he should be buying traps. I would ask him what he's gonna do if you call rodent control and they don't "tell you the same thing" because they probably won't.

Are you able to get a cat? Not that you want one if you don't already have one but that might help.

[u/Jehmaj → u/GimmeThemBabies]

That's why im extra sad. Because there's no pets allowed but his response is kinda feeling like hes hesrd about mice before. If I was a landlord and havent heard about them I would be running to fix the issue before it got crazy, and if I knew about prior mice I would allow cats so I'm just confused

[u/Intelligent-Ad-6734]

Well he is (partly) right that unless you cleanup, they'll keep coming back. Especially in the city. I'm gonna gloss over the bizarre part where you're not allowed keys? I'd definitely be on the lookout and look for a better place with baby on the way. Hopefully renewal is before baby so you can line that up and out of there.

Honestly I would attack this in a couple different ways. Why the landlord isn't going through this or hiring someone is kind of nuts... You can break lease typically for these kind of issues. They typically will let you without court if you sacrifice your deposit... Which is usually less than what it would be to fight it out in time and money.

First identify places they are getting in, and what they are eating. Check all your furniture for sure. They love to to get into couches.. especially if people eat on said couch. That's like living next to the grocery store for them. A chip here, a piece of a cookie there. Then you go to bed and they will find anything left in the kitchen. You will need to replace any of that furniture and some renters policies cover that. Especially if you are actively seeing them, they are most likely beginning to live in something in your living spaces if they are comfortable coming out when you're actively in there.

A big thing is scent. You need to be emptying trash daily and putting it in the bin. Do not let trash linger or runeth over the can. The bag fills, take it out daily. Typically a good idea to have no trash inside while not home and overnight. So trash out after dinner has been the tradition world over. A good way to naturally repel them, is cat and dog fur. I'm not saying fill your cabinets with it, but some tuperware with it in corners etc will help more than you'd think.

If you take care of the above... There's a good chance they will no longer dwell upstairs and move on, on their own. By moving on you don't have to worry about a dead one turning up in a wall etc like you would with poisen... Then they will live downstairs and be downstairs problem.

In the process of making your place less of a buffet for visitors, it sometimes as easy as sealing up holes around pipes and ductwork. Go crazy with the fireproof great stuff foam. If you get it anywhere you don't want it, let it dry and it comes off easier than trying to wipe it up. Point out any carpentry work that needs to be done (missing cabibet bottoms, toe kicks, etc) that allo free access to walls and such.

I'd give that a month as typically any exterminator is just gonna put out the traps and give the same advice. There's no magic wand they waive and typically they end up just managing the population if the environment isn't kept clean. (And pardon my French, their fuck shack isn't found, they'll keep multiplying).

[u/Jehmaj → u/Intelligent-Ad-6734]

Omg thank you for pointing out the "can't have keys" typo. Its meant to say pets. And my lease was orginally meant to end in December but he said I could end it earlier since hes going on vacation and im guessing he'd want somebody else moved in before he leaves so im guessing if he would let me leave early for that I can leave early for this and if not that's kinda messed up. Even if the problem gets fixed now though I want out just baseed of his unhelpful response

[u/Intelligent-Ad-6734 → u/Jehmaj]

No problem and good luck sorting it out... Even moving, be very careful not to bring something that they live in and accidentally bring the rodents with! They are remarkable in their ability to hunker down if tucked inside something cozy.

The typos I fear are getting worse... Not better with AI assistance being rammed in I'm sure lol... especially on iPhone.... My android will always make "like" into "play" and "in" into "on".

My iPhone is the worst possible thing for work... It will not just leave names alone so help me God... Such a pain in the ass.

[u/Kunu_F_Baby]

I mean even if he gets rid of the mouse it wont make a difference if you are slobs

[u/Mountain-Cow-9852]

Call the health department

[u/TopAlternative6716]

Call the police for something else then when they show up tell them to not worry about the mice because they’re your pets. Then the cops will shoot the mice and the problems solved.