Search Q&A
Mice in the house
I have been having trouble with mice in my apartment for some years now. They come and go as they please. One time, it worked with a trap, but ever since, it doesn't work anymore. They also won't eat the poison anymore. Now I asked my landlord and landlady to consult a specialist. However, they informed me that this was a problem for the tenant, and they signalled that they would only help me find a specialist. But I don't agree that I would have to pay for a professional to solve this problem. Does anyone know what the legal situation is here? Any paragraph I could quote?
It is indeed a problem for the tenant.
Your landlord is right.
Happy to help.
You should speak to the syndic.
You're in an apartment. Unless you are on the ground floor, it is virtually impossible for one apartment to have mice without the others having a problem too. The mice must be accessing your flat through the building somehow. That is the landlord and ultimately the syndic that needs to be involved.
Also, if you're at the stage where they "won't eat the poison anymore", then you probably have a major problem. It is highly likely that you probably have many more hidden away that you're not seeing.
They're eating the poison, and going away back to their nest and dying there. However, you keep seeing mice because there are many more and they keep coming. Not because the poison isn't working.
Remember that mice can breed every 20 days and a typical litter is 6-8 mice. Two mice, in a comfortable environment can easily multiply to many thousands in less than a year.
All that the specialist pest-control companies do is put down some kind of poison, as far as I can tell. And poisoning is quite cruel as the mouse will die a slow and painful death. I did catch a mouse with a so-called humane trap recently, where it goes for bait and a door closes behind it. But the mouse was dead when I found it anyway due to dehydration... Mothballs placed strategically are said to deter them. In the end I found that if you cover any food (fruit, for example) they will stay away as that is what they after, obviously.
