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One of the phone calls I dread most is the one from a tenant saying they signs of rodents in their unit. She swears she has no food in the unit and would never store something like that. Apparently, it's clothing, furniture, and "machines". I didn't ask what kind of machines so I'm at a loss as to what she's talking about. She said all the plastic bags containing clothing have been chewed into, and there are droppings on the furniture. She said she hopes the wiring on the machines hasn't been chewed through. She's very angry and says I am costing her money because she will have to replace what's been damaged. I apologized that it happened and told her that if she has renter's/homeowner's insurance she should file a claim with them as we aren't liable for the damage. That made her even more mad. She said we should do something to make up for it and I said there isn't anything we can do; our rental agreement states we are not responsible for damage to unit contents for a variety of reasons. Her rent is due tomorrow and, while she hasn't said anything about it, I fully expect her to not pay saying we owe her that much. My thinking on this is to treat it like any other unit that isn't paid - lock her out and send a past due notice. I offered her the only other unit I have of the same size, an AC one, and she said no. She said she's going to talk to her husband and will call me back. I have no idea if she plans on vacating or what. I have a call in to our pest control company to get someone here ASAP to start dealing with this, while I will go after work to buy place pacs for inside the empty units in that building. She's been in the unit since December and no complaints until now so maybe a more recent tenant is the issue. I have no idea. This kind of thing stresses me out so much.
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Too many freaks, not enough circuses. -
I feel your pain. All you can do is get pest control out. Unfortunately, you don't realize you have issues until a tenant shows up. If she calls back you can coordinate with the pest control to have her open the unit and put bait/snap traps/glue traps etc inside as well. Otherwise it's an insurance claim. Also, bait all of your empty units."The comeback is always stronger than the setback."
Mom, Navy Vet, genealogist and voracious reader
Always sunny in California
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I have several other tenants in that same building who are in/out of their units frequently and no one has come to me about any issues, so it's either just her unit (doubtful), or no one else has noticed anything. I am going to buy enough bait to put in all empty units of all my buildings and set some snap traps in the empty units of the building she is in.Too many freaks, not enough circuses.Comment
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We have a facility that is surrounded on 3 sides by cornfields. It never fails, there will be a tenant that has been renting for 10+ years that will call and complain about their boxes or clothing items being chewed up by mice. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do outside of what you have already advised them on. You do not have to give them a waiver or anything else. If it is valuable enough to them, they would have had insurance on it. It is not expensive to carry.Comment
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I've told about the guy who stored imported pizza flour in plastics bags in his unit, it took us a couple of months to get that party under control. Then we had another tenant who stored hay bales (for the fall) and he ended up with rodents. It goes to show the weird things that people store w/o us knowing. Doesn't HAVE to be food."The comeback is always stronger than the setback."
Mom, Navy Vet, genealogist and voracious reader
Always sunny in CaliforniaComment
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At one of my sites I get a ton of frogs!
And of course they sneak in empty and occupied units!
You would be surprised how similar frog poop is to mouse poop!
The biggest difference is it can be just a tad bit wider and darker in color.
It is also more wet too!
When tenants tell me they see poop but no chewing of things, I then tell them it was a frog!
But in all seriousness..... when any tenant tells me they have evidence of possible mice---I tell them to take me to the unit ASAP.
Sometimes I can see why they may have mice!
I also remind every tenant that they should come and "visit" their unit at least once e a month!
Just so they can do their own visual inspection!
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can do today.Comment
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We have a lot of those Anoles here and their poop is similar. Not saying that's what this is, but I see them inside units all the time.
This tenant was last at her unit a little over 2 weeks ago and didn't call until this past Saturday when she spoke to my other employee. I didn't hear from her until today. If I were in this situation, I'd be dealing with it immediately. Not waiting weeks to notify anybody.Too many freaks, not enough circuses.Comment
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It is too funny that I do know!
It is amazing what a Google search can teach you!
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can do today.Comment
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"I would never store food" said the lying liar who had food in her unit! Uuughghghghghg!!!!! And she had the nerve to get mad at us about rodents in her unit! She "vacated" over the weekend and left all the trash behind. I opened it this morning and the smell was disgusting. What did I find at the back of the unit? Two white trash bags with food/food leftovers in them. One bag had a lot of empty water bottles and what looked like other food pkgs - I didn't open it. The second bag had a couple of liquid coffee creamer bottles in it along with some take-out containers that still had food in them! And now it was just squished around inside the bag. Oh, and a dead rat. That's all in the dumpster right now. I want to say I'm shocked but I'm really not. I took pic of the inside of the unit and of the 2 trash bags as close as possible to see what is in them and will upload them to her account. I really hope she calls so I can tell her what she likely already knew was there.
Oh, and it gets better. They couldn't get in because they were late with rent, so they followed another tenant in. Then, they went to the exit gate to try their code. Because I have that gate set to let delinquent tenants out, of course their code worked. Then, a little later they went to the exit gate again and let someone in. Someone who had a trailer to help them get their stuff out of the unit. They then both left a little while later. If they weren't already gone, they would be just for doing that.
I just can't with people anymore that do this! Why!? Why on earth do people store food!?Too many freaks, not enough circuses.Comment
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The good news is that she is gone! and it sounds like you didn't have too much trash to clean up. I would be sending her a very nicely worded email regarding her outstanding fees, a photo of the food she had stored that drew in the very rodents she was complaining about, and a notice that you were sending her to collections. She won't pay, but at least she is gone
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Reply to Simple EtiquetteCleaning up after yourself, put trash where it belongs!Yesterday, 02:54 PM
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