Asked by Gawain
Hi there, I rented a unit and moved in about six months ago. Initially, there were some live and dead cockroaches around the house (under cabinets, on the sofa). The landlord's agent told us then that it's normal to see this after the unit's been vacant for some time. We thought that was reasonable. We also thought the issue would clear once the roaches already in the unit were caught or died.
However, since then, we have continued to see live and dead cockroaches almost every day, particularly in the kitchen. The situation has gotten worse over time. At one point, I caught four cockroaches in an hour in the kitchen. Sometimes, the cockroaches would enter the living room, or we would see cockroaches in the living room. We have been documenting each encounter for the past two months.
At the start, not knowing this was a problem, we used the kitchen regularly and cooked once on the weekend. Now, we've shifted any dry foods to the living room, leaving only things like seasoning bottles in the kitchen.
The landlord has stepped in to help address the issue. They have paid for pest control, and are going to pay for contractors to come seal gaps in the kitchen works that might be entry points for roaches. However, it is still distressing as a tenant to have to deal with not just the cockroaches on an almost daily basis, but the resulting disruption from the works to address the issue.
When we first agreed to the rent, we did not take into account that there might be a cockroach issue. Now it feels like we are overpaying, on top of having to deal with the roaches and the disruptions. We are quite confident the cockroach issue had already existed prior to us moving in, seeing as there were already dead/live cockroaches from the day we moved in. In this circumstance, can I ask for a rent reduction?
However, since then, we have continued to see live and dead cockroaches almost every day, particularly in the kitchen. The situation has gotten worse over time. At one point, I caught four cockroaches in an hour in the kitchen. Sometimes, the cockroaches would enter the living room, or we would see cockroaches in the living room. We have been documenting each encounter for the past two months.
At the start, not knowing this was a problem, we used the kitchen regularly and cooked once on the weekend. Now, we've shifted any dry foods to the living room, leaving only things like seasoning bottles in the kitchen.
The landlord has stepped in to help address the issue. They have paid for pest control, and are going to pay for contractors to come seal gaps in the kitchen works that might be entry points for roaches. However, it is still distressing as a tenant to have to deal with not just the cockroaches on an almost daily basis, but the resulting disruption from the works to address the issue.
When we first agreed to the rent, we did not take into account that there might be a cockroach issue. Now it feels like we are overpaying, on top of having to deal with the roaches and the disruptions. We are quite confident the cockroach issue had already existed prior to us moving in, seeing as there were already dead/live cockroaches from the day we moved in. In this circumstance, can I ask for a rent reduction?
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