Cockroach - Reduce rent ?!

keimfreiexliebe

Hi, I've moved into an apartment in August 09.
The rent is 775 EUR per month and I share with 1 person. (I'm a student so dont have a huge budget.)

Shortly after we moved in, we discovered there were several cockroaches or rather a number of small woodlice, crawling insects etc in the kitchen area. They only come out at night time/when it's dark.
We told our landlord straight away and he was very helpful, trying to get rid of them. He closed any possible gap but they are still there. He seems to understand we're bothered but for example never contacted an exterminator...

Now I heard, that you could get a rent reduction if you have a permanent problem like that. In genereal, I dont really want to move out of the apartment because it's well-located and also quite cheap but the cockroaches do annoy us.

Do you think there is a chance we can get a rent reduction if we talk to our landlord??

How Strange

You need to tell your landlord asap that he has to contract a pest control contractor to remove the cockroaches. Ideally the managing agents would do this on his behalf as they most likely have a pest control contract for bin areas etc.

This is a public health issue

Cockroaches can potentially infest the whole building if they aren't exterminated quickly. It takes about three or four visits to fully exterminate them as they lay eggs all over the place.

Forget rent reductions, get your landlord to get it sorted asap. If he doesn't then contact the local authority public health officer. They'll definitely chase him to sort it out.

Cookie_Monster

so woodlice rather than cockroaches?


No big deal.

if roaches than follow advice above.

Other than that just get out the hoover and suck up as much dirt from all the crack and holes to remove as much food material as possible. Woodlice are no danger.

keimfreiexliebe

well some of them are actual cockroaches but not as big as you sometimes see it in i'm a celebrety - get me out of here ^^ It's just lots of different little guys crawling all over the place and you cant blame it on us being to messy (which we arent) as they've been there since the day we moved in and didnt have any food/stuff in the house in general!

We obviously hover them up regularly but, as I said, it's a permanent problem. They apparently "live" in the mircowave (not joking!!), our landlord already got us a new one but now they've moved in there. But we need a microwave, so dont wanna get rid of it altogether!
I think i'm definitely gonna talk to him about it again. I'm going to mention the pest control as well as a rent reduction!

How much percent are rent reduction during the recession usually?

bangersandmash

keimfreiexliebe wrote: »

We obviously hover them up regularly but, as I said, it's a permanent problem. They apparently "live" in the mircowave (not joking!!), our landlord already got us a new one but now they've moved in there. But we need a microwave, so dont wanna get rid of it altogether!
I think i'm definitely gonna talk to him about it again. I'm going to mention the pest control as well as a rent reduction!

How much percent are rent reduction during the recession usually?

You've got cockroaches living in your microwave, yet you're both perfectly happy to continue to pay to live in the place? :rolleyes:

I'm not sure where you're living, but there are plenty of shared properties available in nice parts of Dublin for around the e400 mark that generally do not contain cockroaches or other vermin. Why would you even consider staying?

Kimia

Oh my good god, get out of there!

:eek:

Cockroaches. Seriously. They are disgusting, and they're living in your microwave?

Your landlord should have hired an exterminator ASAP - you could call the county council and report him for a breach of public safety!

Dublin_Gunner

Turn the microwave on.

That'll sort them out.


But seriously, I'd either
A - tell him to get it sorted or you will be gone.
B - report the issues to the health authority.
C - don't pay him rent UNTIL he has it sorted, and tell him thats whats you'll be doing.
D - Move somewhere else.
E - All of the above.

Its unacceptable, and its the landlords responsibility. End of.

Woodlice are easy to treat, you can get this white powder stuff, in pretty much any hardware store, or even costcutter / centra etc and it kills all creepy crawlies. Just put some down around where they usually are, ad hoover upp after a day or two.

keimfreiexliebe

I know it sounds crazy but we really wanna stay. It's great location, cheap and the flat itself is really nice as well (large rooms, double beds/nice furniture) etc. I dont think it should be that hard to get rid of the cockroaches, we/he just need to know how. (What he did so far didnt work apparently.)

In general, I was moreso interested in rent reduction... So do you guys agree we should ask him for one? Or is 775 for a 2 bedroom apartment on the north side cheap enough??

Dublin_Gunner

You're approaching this the wrong way.

The Cockroaches are the issue, not the rent reduction. I wouldn't pay ANYTHING to live in a place infested with roaches.

Tell him to get them sorted, or you'll be gone, and in the mean time you will withhold rent until the problem is sorted.

Then you can attack the rent issue.

keimfreiexliebe

hehe yeah you're probably right.

My main problem right now is that I'm not 100 percently sure with what kinda creepy crawlies I'm dealing with. As I said, some are definitely cockroaches, but a lot of them are "ordinary" still disgusting and very annoying other crawlers... I got some trap in the shop the other day which I will try to use as soon as I'm back in the flat (on holidays atm).

Dublin_Gunner

Take a pic, post it. I'm sure between us all we'll figure out what they are!

Kimia

Believe me - you will find another place for the same or less rent WITHOUT cockroaches.

What if you guys get a girlfriend - do you really think she'll be ok staying in a place with roaches just because 'it's a great location'. Seriously!!?? :eek:
What if they laid eggs in your bed, or on your jocks on something?? :eek:

I can't stress how horrifically unsanitary your place sounds. MOVE OUT.

keimfreiexliebe

Hehe, well we're both girls anyway and apparently quite tough ^^

For some reason the crawlers seem to stay in the kitchen area, I told you they like the mircowave. But I will definitely try out that trap and already contacted our landlord that we need to meet up if the trap doesnt work!

Thanks for everyone's help so far

How Strange

Ah come on, two girls living in a flat which is infested with all sorts and you want a reduction in the rent rather than getting the problem sorted.

You're not living in Calcutta (no offense to anyone from Calcutta) so why would you want to live there. I don't care if the place was for free, if I saw one roach in the place I'd be out the door.

As it doesn't seem to bother you all that much then just stay there and ask your (obviously dubious) landlord for a reduction.

Graces7

Cannot believe what some will put up with from landlords!

This is a business arangement; report him to HSE immediately.

It is against the law ro rent out places in that condition,

PS wondering if this is a wind up? Beggars belief.

eth0_

That is disgusting and doesn't say much about the OP if she's prepared to live in a cockroach infested flat 'because it's cheap and in a good location'!

OP, there are LOADS of nice flats and it's a renters market right now. MOVE!

PLIIM

If its cockroaches you'll bring them with you wherever you go next.
They lay eggs in your clothes, inside dvd players, laptops, pcs, even in food boxes.
They'll hatch out in a while and invade where you live then.
They are impossible to get rid of. They will follow you for years.
Get pest control and make sure they fumigate your belongings too.

tHE vAGGABOND

as the previous poster said, to be honest if they are cockroaches your going to have to just burn everything.

In your position leave this second - dont spend another moment in the house, regardlss of how handy it may be for you. There are a massive amount of places to rent out there atm. Im stunned your even thinking about it. [and tbh, Im half wondering if the post is a wind up].

I know a bloke who got them in his gaff [he suspected they came in via one of those gigantic 'unbranded' bags of rice some people get these days]. He spent a fortune trying to ged rid of them, eventually he had to just gut the kitchen and burn *everything* [so it was just an empty room with not a single thing in it], and take up the carpets [etc] in the downstarirs of the gaff - and suck it up and just put in new kitchen and lay new carpets [etc].

eth0_

Not sure burning everything is the answer...you see infestations in restaurants on those environmental health TV programs and i've never seen any of them 'burn their kitchen' to get rid of them. Besides, i'm sure cockroaches don't neatly contain themselves within the 4 walls of the kitchen, they'll have gone for a wander around the house too.

It's definitely something you need to get a professional to deal with, though. But if I were the OP I would definitely get out of there.

tHE vAGGABOND

they'll have gone for a wander around the house too

In my mates case your absolutely correct, hence getting rid of carpets and some other things too..

mikemac

Get out of there OP! :eek:
Call your landlord, explain the situation and give a moving out date and arrange to meet up regarding your deposit.

If you get grief and you probably will, call in the relevant health authorities.
Even if you get a savage rent reduction you can do better! No shortage of decent places to rent these days, you'll find somewhere.

And since you are a student this is a good time to look. The start of January is a hard time to let places and also, it's not August when you are competing with thousands of other students.