Legal Liability for Pests in Rental Properties

Questioner

I speak here on behalf of the residents of the ... we live in a rental house, as it is so nicely called, a terraced house from the foundation it is now the case that in our block many stone wasps live in the cavity wall on the street sides of the 1st floor because there are gaps between the facade stones in three places in each house Now the question is who is legally liable for this, is it the housing association or is the tenant responsible for this?

Lawyer

The minor repairs decision stipulates the following: r. the control of vermin, provided that no significant costs are involved and provided that the presence of such vermin is not a consequence of the structural situation of the living space; If there are significant costs and the presence of the wasps is the result of the structural situation, then the costs of wasp control will be borne by the landlord.

Questioner

Thank you for your answer, but I wonder what is meant by insignificant and significant costs. 50 euros can mean a lot of money for someone who receives benefits and is below the minimum, and someone with twice the average income laughs at an amount of 50 euros. what we are concerned about is who is responsible in my opinion and what I conclude is the housing association because the cracks are present in three places on the first floor of every house in the street. so it seems to me that there is a construction situation

Lawyer

This is a double condition, so the costs must be significant and the cause must lie in the structural situation of the living space. The costs of removing wasp nests seem to me to be worth mentioning in general; it is also not work that you can safely do yourself. You also indicate that the wasps can enter the cavity wall through cracks in the facade bricks (expansion joints?), so that the structural situation is certainly such that the nuisance can be considered a result of this. My advice is to discuss this with the landlord. If this does not yield any results and if the landlord continues to refuse to have the nuisance-causing wasp nests removed, first put the landlord in default in writing before having the wasp nests removed. If the landlord does not then take action against the wasps, you can have them removed yourself and offset the costs against the rent.