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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    1

    Default Can You Break a Lease Due to the Presence of Rodents

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: TEXAS

    I've been trying to handle this situation by the book. We just started having a rodent issue about 10 days ago. I've been at this complex for over a year. I already had May's rent paid for. We are on time with our bills. So we had bags that had gotten chewed through and fresh produce. We keep our apartment extremely clean. I had called the complex manager to address the issue and they told me to put mouse traps down. In my lease there is an exterminator clause stating that they are to spray every 3 months and if there is a further issue, they will set up a personal appointment. They informed me this exterminator only handles bugs, which is not specified in the lease. In any case we bought mouse traps and poison. The next day more things on the counter had been chewed through. I contacted the complex again stating we are uncomfortable and wish to break the lease. She said we can't without 30 Days notice and paying $421 dollars (80% of our rent). I have everything in writing. So when I complained further, they sent maintenance out and they found that the mouse must be coming from behind the oven. They set up an additional trap and we decided just to stick it out and be extra diligent in making sure there were no dishes out and everything was extra clean.

    We ended up catching a mouse the next day. The complex maintenance came out and removed it for us and reset the trap just in case. They also claimed they sent an exterminator out to view the apartment, which there was no report shown as it was while we were at work but he looked around. So after setting up the trap we awoke this morning, nothing in the trap but all of our garbage and bags had been chewed through and there was a mess everywhere. I don't know how many mice or rats there are but now I am just disgusted and frustrated especially because I cook every single day and don't know what surfaces they are crawling on as they were able to get onto the breakfast bar and push everything off. They started handling the issue 8 days ago after I had threatened to go to the health department because at first they shrugged it off, we have everything documented and pictures. We don't want to take legal action we just want to move. I wouldn't even care if they kept the security deposit if they just released us from the lease. We don't want a hit on our credit. I feel as though it's and a health hazard. What would be the next step or what legally can we do? Thank you in advance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Continued Rodent Issue, They Say I Have to Pay a Fine to Get Out of My Lease

    Quote Quoting smarie89
    View Post
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: TEXAS

    I've been trying to handle this situation by the book. We just started having a rodent issue about 10 days ago. I've been at this complex for over a year. I already had May's rent paid for. We are on time with our bills. So we had bags that had gotten chewed through and fresh produce. We keep our apartment extremely clean. I had called the complex manager to address the issue and they told me to put mouse traps down. In my lease there is an exterminator clause stating that they are to spray every 3 months and if there is a further issue, they will set up a personal appointment. They informed me this exterminator only handles bugs, which is not specified in the lease. In any case we bought mouse traps and poison. The next day more things on the counter had been chewed through. I contacted the complex again stating we are uncomfortable and wish to break the lease. She said we can't without 30 Days notice and paying $421 dollars (80% of our rent). I have everything in writing. So when I complained further, they sent maintenance out and they found that the mouse must be coming from behind the oven. They set up an additional trap and we decided just to stick it out and be extra diligent in making sure there were no dishes out and everything was extra clean.

    We ended up catching a mouse the next day. The complex maintenance came out and removed it for us and reset the trap just in case. They also claimed they sent an exterminator out to view the apartment, which there was no report shown as it was while we were at work but he looked around. So after setting up the trap we awoke this morning, nothing in the trap but all of our garbage and bags had been chewed through and there was a mess everywhere. I don't know how many mice or rats there are but now I am just disgusted and frustrated especially because I cook every single day and don't know what surfaces they are crawling on as they were able to get onto the breakfast bar and push everything off. They started handling the issue 8 days ago after I had threatened to go to the health department because at first they shrugged it off, we have everything documented and pictures. We don't want to take legal action we just want to move. I wouldn't even care if they kept the security deposit if they just released us from the lease. We don't want a hit on our credit. I feel as though it's and a health hazard. What would be the next step or what legally can we do? Thank you in advance.
    If they do not fully resolve the problem, make good on your threat and go to the health department.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Continued Rodent Issue, They Say I Have to Pay a Fine to Get Out of My Lease

    " The complex maintenance came out and removed it for us and reset the trap just in case. They also claimed they sent an exterminator out to view the apartment, which there was no report shown as it was while we were at work but he looked around."

    The issue of being able to break a lease legally occurs when a request for a repair (or rodent) issue is made and management does not address the request.

    It does not sound as if this is happening here...just because you haven't caught a mouse this morning. Management has set traps (and were nice enough to dispose of the dead mouse in the trap and reset it) which would imply they are hardly "shrugging" the issue off.

    Gail

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