Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2017 | Page 129

Legal
Rats! Who’s responsible?
By Terence Willey of Terence Willey & Co
Legal issues can often arise with
tenancies where rats, rodents or other
pests enter a property. The burning
question is: who is or can be held
responsible? Would a Landlord for
instance be responsible for the arrival of
such unwelcome visitors?
In the first instance it would be practical to consider
the nature of the tenancy, whether it was furnished or
unfurnished at the outset, and whether the rats were
present within the property at the commencement of
the tenancy, or had entered since.
The Landlord and Tenant legislation imposes very
positive obligations on a Landlord to keep in good
repair the exterior, interior and other installations for
a letting period of less than seven years. It follows
therefore that if rats enter a property because of lack
of repair and, for example, holes in external walls,
then that would be a breach of the Landlord and
Tenant Act 1985.
There is common rule law that if a property is
unfurnished, this implies that the condition of the
property will be free from pest infestation at the
commencement of the tenancy. If this proves not to
be the case, then it is open to the tenant to consider
whether he or she wishes to continue the tenancy,
and indeed consider suing the Landlord for damages.
Conversely, in an unfurnished tenancy situation,
the tenant would not simply be entitled to quit the
tenancy but purely to sue for damages.
As previously stated, if rats enter the property
during the course of the tenancy then the Landlord
would be liable if this is due to the Landlord failing
to comply with repairing obligations. This is dealt
with under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant
Act 1985. A tenant however should be aware that he
or she is under an obligation to use the property in a
“tenant like” manner and such obligation extends to
not damaging the property in any way or neglecting
the property during the tenancy. It has been found in
previous cases that the infiltration of bugs and fleas
into a furnished property was not “tenant like” owing
to a breach of the implied tenants obligations. It
follows therefore that if rats enter into an unfurnished
property because the tenant had failed to behave in a
“tenant like” manner and such filthy and unacceptable
conditions had attracted such rats and rodents,
then naturally that would be a breach and open to a
Landlord to seek remedy against the tenant.
It may be necessary for an inspection to be carried
out by the Local Authority Environment Department
or agencies specialising in the eradication of rodents
to firmly establish the position, with the production
of a written report. In some cases it can extend to
serious nuisance to or from neighbouring properties,
and where this occurs, urgent action should be taken
either by a Landlord or Tenant, to seek remedy and
where possible avoid litigation.
In the majority of cases, such issues can be
dealt with amicably between the Landlord and a
Tenant or between the Tenant and the Managing
Agent on behalf of the Landlord, but in the event
of such moving towards litigation then the above
circumstances need to be taken into account.
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