This happened in the Bay Area. The tenant is a close friend and fellow autism parent who I've known for years via the autism forums we both frequent.
Corporate Landlord is blaming the rat / mice (she's not sure which it is) on the tenant. She's been in the unit with her kids and spouse for nearly 8 years and first began to notice mice / rats in her apartment last Feb (2020). She immediately notified the leasing office staff. Pest control apparently came out, left glue traps around her unit, caught a few mice / rats and then left. She tries to keep the home as clean as possible but as I also know, our kids can be VERY messy and leave crumbs of food / juice everywhere. Her carpet is at least 8 years old at this point and a hot mess. She says she tries to clean it up but it gets messed up due to her kid running around with food and drink many times.
Twist to the tale: 2 weeks ago, a rodent fell on her when she was cooking in the kitchen! She notified maintenance who came out and saw the unit, then promptly blamed it on her lovebird (single bird, the other died a few years ago). She also noticed that her carpet had been bitten into in several places and learned from her farm-girl sister that this means that the mice / rats are nesting and that this was a quite severe infestation.
Property manager sent her a NASTY email, alleging that when their maintenance worker entered the apartment, he saw "bird seed and bird poop all over the carpeted areas of the apartment" which was attracting the vermin and that she needs to do a deep clean of her unit to prevent this in the future. Oh, and she needs to pay to replace the carpet as it had been destroyed by her failure to keep a clean home that led to the rodent infestation. She was also verbally informed that if she did not deep clean the unit and the carpet then she'd receive a 3-day notice to quit since she had caused the infestation.
The bird is ONLY fed in the closet, where he is unfortunately relegated to due to her son's roughness with it. She's been trying to rehome her bird for a while now. The bird is allowed to fly freely in the living room for about 2 hours a day after her son is asleep. Otherwise, he's in the closet. The bird seed is in tightly lidded containers and there is NO birdseed or bird poop all over the unit.
I know she needs a lawyer, but is it possible that the infestation happened due to my friend's kid's "lack of cleanliness"? She has NO other pets. There are 4 units in the building, and two of the other tenants each have 2 cats. One of the tenants with the cats had a fruit fly infestation all last week. My friend is upset because she has two older kids that will be graduating high school in 2022, and 2023, respectively and being forced to move now would be a real problem.
Pest control is a "joke". He came in last week, walked around the unit, pointed out crumbs in the carpet and rat / mice poop and told her to "deep clean" the unit. He didn't even leave traps out to catch the critters. She paid to install traps out of her own pocket and has caught about 7 rats / mice so far.
He did mention 3 entry points, one of which was sealed after my friend raised a HUGE cry over it. She gets emails continually blaming her for the infestation and is at her wits' ends. She did schedule a deep clean with the apartment's own vendors and worries if maybe she would be considered at fault by doing so?
What are her options? Lawyers are expensive and I was hoping to pass on some information to her if anyone could give her GENERAL advice on whether she can be forced to move and if the landlord can pin the infestation on her and make her responsible for replacing the carpet? Per the terms of her lease, she is not responsible for cleaning carpets after 5 years of residency, but the maintenance manager very kindly pointed out that that is only for cleaning and "normal wear and tear". This damage is not "normal" he says, so she's responsible.
Any advice for her? Again, is the infestation and subsequent carpet damage her fault / responsibility to cure?
I'll have her read any responses here herself. Thank you so much for your advice in this regard.
Corporate Landlord is blaming the rat / mice (she's not sure which it is) on the tenant. She's been in the unit with her kids and spouse for nearly 8 years and first began to notice mice / rats in her apartment last Feb (2020). She immediately notified the leasing office staff. Pest control apparently came out, left glue traps around her unit, caught a few mice / rats and then left. She tries to keep the home as clean as possible but as I also know, our kids can be VERY messy and leave crumbs of food / juice everywhere. Her carpet is at least 8 years old at this point and a hot mess. She says she tries to clean it up but it gets messed up due to her kid running around with food and drink many times.
Twist to the tale: 2 weeks ago, a rodent fell on her when she was cooking in the kitchen! She notified maintenance who came out and saw the unit, then promptly blamed it on her lovebird (single bird, the other died a few years ago). She also noticed that her carpet had been bitten into in several places and learned from her farm-girl sister that this means that the mice / rats are nesting and that this was a quite severe infestation.
Property manager sent her a NASTY email, alleging that when their maintenance worker entered the apartment, he saw "bird seed and bird poop all over the carpeted areas of the apartment" which was attracting the vermin and that she needs to do a deep clean of her unit to prevent this in the future. Oh, and she needs to pay to replace the carpet as it had been destroyed by her failure to keep a clean home that led to the rodent infestation. She was also verbally informed that if she did not deep clean the unit and the carpet then she'd receive a 3-day notice to quit since she had caused the infestation.
The bird is ONLY fed in the closet, where he is unfortunately relegated to due to her son's roughness with it. She's been trying to rehome her bird for a while now. The bird is allowed to fly freely in the living room for about 2 hours a day after her son is asleep. Otherwise, he's in the closet. The bird seed is in tightly lidded containers and there is NO birdseed or bird poop all over the unit.
I know she needs a lawyer, but is it possible that the infestation happened due to my friend's kid's "lack of cleanliness"? She has NO other pets. There are 4 units in the building, and two of the other tenants each have 2 cats. One of the tenants with the cats had a fruit fly infestation all last week. My friend is upset because she has two older kids that will be graduating high school in 2022, and 2023, respectively and being forced to move now would be a real problem.
Pest control is a "joke". He came in last week, walked around the unit, pointed out crumbs in the carpet and rat / mice poop and told her to "deep clean" the unit. He didn't even leave traps out to catch the critters. She paid to install traps out of her own pocket and has caught about 7 rats / mice so far.
He did mention 3 entry points, one of which was sealed after my friend raised a HUGE cry over it. She gets emails continually blaming her for the infestation and is at her wits' ends. She did schedule a deep clean with the apartment's own vendors and worries if maybe she would be considered at fault by doing so?
What are her options? Lawyers are expensive and I was hoping to pass on some information to her if anyone could give her GENERAL advice on whether she can be forced to move and if the landlord can pin the infestation on her and make her responsible for replacing the carpet? Per the terms of her lease, she is not responsible for cleaning carpets after 5 years of residency, but the maintenance manager very kindly pointed out that that is only for cleaning and "normal wear and tear". This damage is not "normal" he says, so she's responsible.
Any advice for her? Again, is the infestation and subsequent carpet damage her fault / responsibility to cure?
I'll have her read any responses here herself. Thank you so much for your advice in this regard.
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