Dealing with pests, vermin or infestations in your home

Contact the council’s environmental health team if you need help dealing with pests. If you rent your home, your landlord must do repairs to keep your home pest free.

Your landlord’s responsibilities

Your landlord must deal with pests caused by repair problems.

For example, pests such as mice, rats and flies can be caused by:

• damp or wet conditions

• loose tiles or roofing

• holes in the skirting, walls or floorboards

Your responsibilities as a tenant

Keep your home clean and tidy to reduce the risk of infestations.

You're responsible for reporting repair issues as soon as you notice them. Follow our guidance on:

• reporting repairs to your private landlord or letting agent

• reporting repairs to the council or a housing association

If your neighbour is responsible for the pest problem

If your neighbour causes pests in your home or shared areas, they should deal with it.

Try speaking to them and explain how the pest problem is affecting you.

Follow our guidance on dealing with antisocial behaviour if you need some tips.

If speaking your neighbour does not work

Contact the council’s environmental health team.

They can order your neighbours to:

• deal with the pests

• do any repairs

• change their behaviour to stop future pest problems

If they do not follow the order, environmental health can deal with the pests then charge your neighbours for the work.

Getting free or low cost pest control

If the pest problem is caused by something you do or fail to do, then it could be your responsibility to deal with it.

Follow these steps to deal with a pest or infestation issue at a low cost.

Step 1: try to deal with the problem yourself

The British Pest Control Association has guidance on dealing with different pests in your home.

Step 2: if you cannot deal with the problem yourself

Contact the council and ask the environmental health team for help. They can deal with pests for you.

There may be a charge for the work they do.

Step 3: if the council will not help

You may have to get a private pest control firm to deal with the problem.

You'll have to pay for this and it will usually cost more than the council.

If you need help to pay for pest control or other costs, you could:

• apply for a crisis grant for money in an emergency

• search for charitable grants on Turn2Us

• check if you can save money by getting help to pay energy bills

Search on Yellow Pages for pest control in your area.

Moving out if you cannot get rid of pests

If you rent your home, make sure you end your tenancy correctly.

If you have nowhere to go, contact the council. Make a homeless application if pests mean you cannot live safely in your home.