Just Saw a Mouse in My Apartment: What Should I Do Next?
Is this you… you’re alone in your apartment, relaxing on your sofa, watching TV. Out of the corner of your eye, you see something that makes you realize you’re not actually alone. A mouse sprints across your kitchen floor, over countertops and disappears before you even realize what happened. Yes, you scream to yourself, I just saw a mouse in my apartment!
Finding a little intruder can be unsettling. Mice are often hard to spot without physical signs left behind as evidence. And, like other pests, they can sneak inside your home without warning.
Mice may not even be living in your home. But rather, passing through to one of your neighbours’ units who might not prioritize cleaning the same way you do. Seeing or hearing mice can lead to something much bigger like an infestation.
Unfortunately, seeing a mouse in your apartment isn’t uncommon, especially in urban environments. So what should you do first?
Tell Your Property Manager or Landlord
Your property manager or landlord doesn’t want mice in the apartment just as much as you don’t. He or she may call pest control, such as Pestcheck, to come out and take care of the problem for you. If the infestation resulted due to a lack of building maintenance, the landlord might call an exterminator to come in.
In other cases, the landlord may ask you to hire an exterminator and then refund the extermination costs or deduct it from your rent. If the infestation came about due to your lack of care for the property, you might be left carrying the bill.
While it’s not fun to deal with mice in your home, you can take the appropriate steps to resolve the situation and prevent it from happening in the future. Just remember to tell your property manager immediately when the tell-tale signs emerge, as this will help stop them in their tracks.
And if the mice problem becomes a pressing issue and you’re making numerous calls to the leasing office, you could move out or see what your tenant rights are.
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