It can be a bit of a grey area, that is, who is responsible for paying for pest control for rental properties?
Of course the owner of the property is clearly responsible for any pest and termite inspections that are carried out or any pest preventative measures such as installing of termite barriers & baiting systems for termite prevention. The liability in relation to the control of any infestation of pests also rests with the lessor. (I wish I knew this when I was renting and forking out for pest control services out of my own pocket!). The Residential Tenancies Act states that the owner shall ensure that the property at the commencement of the tenancy is clean and fit to live in and that the property is to be maintained so that it remains fit to live in (not clean). The tennant would only be considered responsible for paying for Pest Control services if they have actively encouraged an infestation.
End of Lease Pest Control/ End of Lease Flea Treatment
Tennants are responsible for having a property professionally treated for fleas where the tenants have allowed animals on the premises, even if the animals have only been kept outside or have only been on the property for a short stay. Generally the Leasing Authority (Real Estate Agent) will not sign over a tennants bond until they have received a detailed receipt for this service coming from the Pest Manager, be that via the tennant or directly forwarded to the agent.
An agent is not allowed to exclude the tennant from sourcing their own Pest Controller. They can recommend a company and on permission from the tennant arrange for the service on their behalf but the tennant is able to source their own Pest Company independantly, as long as the treatment is carried out in accordance with the rental agreement (generally speaking, after the premises has become vacant).
Flea Treatments vary as do the final result so it pays to find out what you are paying for, particularly if you suspect fleas are present! The main tip is to ensure your treatment is carried out after the carpet cleaning and all other duties have been carried out.
Email this Post to a Friend
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice tip RE the fleas on the rental property – our tenants have dogs. Far out – the thought of getting termites wrecking our investment property is a bit scary. How often should you get the property inspected – particularly for termites? The property is upper North Shore in Sydney.
Quite bizarre – but about 20 minutes after making the above post I get a call from the tenant. She has seen small flying insects around a hole in a timber window caused by water damage. She thinks it might be termites – AHHHHHH! (they can fly!?)
Pest controller has been since for an inspection and it sounds like it was a false alarm – seeing the tenant today. V Strange co-incidence.
Don’t you hate it when there’s a trail of ants marching across your kitchen counter tops? Or when you find ants nibbling on crumbs in the cupboard or along the baseboards?
I’ve been living in my rental for about 2 months and thought I had mice in the roof. So being brave I lifted the hatch and threw ratsack up there, but two weeks later the noises are still there. I now think I have either a rat/s or a possum.
I’m hoping the estate agents say the owners are responsible for sorting this out!!
Hi Deb,
Generally we find that Estate Agents are reluctant to ask the Lessor to fork our for rodent pest control and usually this cost is covered by the tenant. It is a grey area in some respects as the Residential Tennancy Act states that your right as a tenant is that ;the premises are fit to live in and in a good state of repair’ and that unless an infestation is actively encouraged it could be seen as a maintenence issue where the lessor/ agent is responsible. The best thing for you to do is contact your local Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service, listed under the white pages under ‘Tenancy Advice’.
With every rodent control service we provide we also do an inspection of the roof void to see if there are issues regarding easy access to entry and multiple points of entry for the rodents to use. In such cases where we can identify entry points that would require repair, this could be seen as a health issue and certainly the lessor/ agent is responsible in these instances.
As for your pest, more than likely you may have a rat issue still but possibly possums and therefore an inspection is highly recommended. Possums are native to Australia and protected so you risk receiving a hefty fine if you intentionally harm or kill a possum. If it is rats then we can apply commercial grade product which is more potent than rack sack in that only one good feed is required to cease your problem (Rat Sack requires the rodents to feed multiple times and doesn’t have the same appeal as other rodent control products). It is important to note also that Rat Sack can have a transference effect, meaning that if another animal (say cat or dog) digests the dead rat then they too will be effected by the poison. The products we use do not have this transference effect.
I hope this helps!
Thanks so much for your advice, its greatly appreciated. To date I’ve heard nothing from the Estate Agents so will have to get you guys out to check it out.
I thought it would be down to us, but of course hoping it wouldn’t!