Your landlord is responsible for keeping your unit in a habitable, or livable, condition. The landlord must keep the structure of the building sound, including stairways, floors, and roofs; keep electrical, heating, and plumbing systems operating safely; supply hot and cold water in reasonable amounts; and exterminate infestations of pests such as cockroaches.
Keep in mind, however, that if a problem is the result of your own carelessness — such as a vermin infestation caused by your poor housekeeping — the repair bill will properly be forwarded to you. If you don’t pay it, the amount may be taken out of your security deposit.”
So the question is, is a small family of mice in a garage considered a major problem that degrades the habitability of the rental unit. MOST LANDLORDS / PROPERTY MANAGERS WOULD SAY NO. As a minor problem, it would be your responsibility to fix it.
Now if you disagree with that, you can tell your landlord and stress to him that you have kept the place clean, you don’t eat out there, but you are worried that this might grow into something bigger. Maybe it will spread to the kitchen or something (where it would be definitely the landlord’s problem). You can also mention to him that you have placed traps out there and that the mice still seem to be there. Still, considering what problems you’ve been having with the landlord and the paying the rent to the mother and whatnot, I can’t imagine that he’d be that enthused to go there and fix the problem right away. Still, if you phrase the argument this way (and maybe send it to them in writing), you will at least have recourse.
Let me tell you something about landlords – they work very hard and actually do not make a lot of money. They have no problem making MAJOR repairs that cost a lot. It’s the hassle that they don’t like. If it’s a minor problem that can be easily taken care of, they don’t like being called in to do it. It ranks really low on their priority list. But if they see you trying and doing something about it, then they’ll respect you for it and treat you well (at least the good landlords will).
As for being greedy landlords, for every greedy landlord out there, I can name at least 10 who have been screwed over by their tenants. =shrug= But landlords don’t get to complain because they own property.
