Rat problem

[PattayaKevin]

My house has rats. Whose responsibility is it in Thailand? The tenant or the landlord? I searched online about it and I got this information. 

 

Generally, as a property owner, you are responsible for pest and vermin control (such as rats, mice and termites).

 

I'm currently about 1.5 years into a 5 year lease.

 

I contacted an exterminator and they want 12000 to 15000 baht for a year contract. They don't do anything shorter than a year.

 

My contract doesn't mention anything about pests just that I need to maintain it like my own.

 

The landlord usually is very good at fixing problems in the house and property. 

 

I have a clause in the contract that I can give her 30 days to fix it otherwise I can give a date to end the lease not sooner than 30 days from that date. 

 

 

[sirineou]

In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats. This would be outlined in the rental agreement between the tenant and the landlord, Have you spoken to the landlord? He/She sounds like a reasonable person I am sure you can both come to a reasonable solution.

[JBChiangRai]

Rats can often be caused by lifestyle, make sure you are not putting garbage where it attracts rats.

 

The other problem with rats, is rats attract snakes.

[Crossy]

We had rats until a cat adopted us, evidently our rats were juicier than the neighbouring ones. Cat was assisted by a couple of sunbeam snakes (non-venomous constrictors).

 

Cat is now a fat cat, but no further rats seen.

 

Unless it's a really serious infestation there are plenty of rat baits readily available from your local outlets, use a "rat station" if you have pets / children who might eat it.

 

[ChipButty]

Average in Phuket is about 12,000 baht per year depending on the size of the property obviously, 

You can buy the stuff yourself if you have the time, 

 

Also you can buy from Homepro them ultra sound gadgets that you plug in, they worked for me, 

[Kwasaki]

Cats are free.

[Liverpool Lou]

16 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

My contract doesn't mention anything about pests just that I need to maintain it

"...I need to maintain it".

 

 

16 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

I have a clause in the contract that I can give her 30 days to fix it otherwise I can give a date to end the lease not sooner than 30 days from that date. 

"...a clause in the contract that I can give her 30 days to fix it..."

 

The contract seems contradictory.

[realfunster]

We always get rats this time of year in our roof space, I think the rainy season tends to bring them inside. 

 

We have the annual cat & mouse (or maybe rat..) games every year and manage to catch quite a few with the trap-door cage traps and the dogs pick off a few stragglers around the garden.

 

Do not use glue traps if you are tempted...

 

Eventually, they <deleted> off and we look forward to starting the cycle again next year...

 

Aside from self-catching action, good advice above on keeping your house/yard clean.

 

Of course, you can talk to your landlord who may want to help. I understand its frustrating but I think rats are a common and solvable issue here so it seems rash to talk of changing house for this reason alone. 

[Liverpool Lou]

21 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

My house has rats. Whose responsibility is it in Thailand? The tenant or the landlord?

What has she said about who's responsibility it is?  I'd say that pest control is the tenants responsibility. 

[Liverpool Lou]

28 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

Generally, as a property owner, you are responsible for pest and vermin control (such as rats, mice and termites).

You've answered your own question.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[JBChiangRai]

It's not unreasonable for the landlord to expect you to put down glue boards or rat poison, or traps.

 

My first thought about rats would be what is attracting them.  

[Liverpool Lou]

17 minutes ago, sirineou said:

In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats.

Where did you get that 'information' from?

[Liverpool Lou]

6 minutes ago, realfunster said:

Do not use glue traps if you are tempted...

Why not?  They're very effective.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[FritsSikkink]

10 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Cats are free.

Not if you take proper care of them.

[JBChiangRai]

I use both glue boards and poison.

 

You need to be a bit proactive and have a strong constitution with glue boards, recognise when you have caught a rat/rats and kill them afterwards, I drown them by putting the whole board under water.  

 

In my garage which serves as a storage area for the usual junk, I put poison in the boxes.

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

Not if you take proper care of them.

They take care of themselves around our way.

[FritsSikkink]

Rats are looking for food, so keep your house clean and dispose of your garbage properly.

Like said before by others, a cat will hunt rats.

[PattayaKevin]

I've tried rat traps and poison but they haven't worked.  The landlord mentioned that her other house is infested with termites and she made it sound to me that the tenants pay for the exterminator. I can't have cats because i have 4 dogs. I have seen a few more snakes than usual. All have been golden tree snakes and kukri snakes. Most of those tend to climb up over my wall which has an electric fence on top so they get electrocuted except for a few who sneak in.

 

On a side note we had an agreement that she would build me a swimming pool in the yard. That got to the point where the swimming pool company came drew up the plans and gave her the price and she said it was too much. If she built the pool my rent would have gone up 7000 baht a month. 

[worgeordie]

The rats that come into house ceilings at this time of year are Tree rats, 

not dirty sewer rats ,but they are a nuisance ,chewing wires ,running about

making a noise, 

 

Just caught one in ceiling yesterday  , a wiley little <deleted> ,been trying to

catch him for a week , put the sticky trays up with nuts on , he's been moving

them about ,too clever to get stuck, so put up a wire trap with piece of chicken

for bait ,caught him in half an hour, despatched him to rat heaven , 

 

regards Worgeordie 

[FritsSikkink]

4 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

They take care of themselves around our way.

I have one who stays in the house which i feed and get to a doctor when needed. Several other wild cats are around the shared garden who take care of themselves but the youngsters die quite often.  

[JBChiangRai]

The other way to look at this is your responsibility is to return the house in good condition.

 

If the rats destroy the furniture or cause damage, you can't do that.  Actually, I'm surprised the landlord lets you have 4 dogs.

[worgeordie]

6 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

my wall which has an electric fence on top

220 Volts , or like a cattle system ?  bit extreme .....

 

regards Worgeordie  

[sirineou]

23 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Where did you get that 'information' from?

Chat GPT . When asked  "My house has rats. Whose responsibility is it in Thailand? The tenant or the landlord? "

It replied:

"In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats. This would be outlined in the rental agreement between the tenant and the landlord. It is recommended that you notify your landlord immediately about the rat problem and request their assistance in resolving the issue. "

Edited June 21, 2023 by sirineou

[PattayaKevin]

[Liverpool Lou]

10 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Chat GPT . When asked  "My house has rats. Whose responsibility is it in Thailand? The tenant or the landlord? "

It replied:

"In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats ... "

Ah, so nowhere of any authority or particular accuracy, then...

"ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, and gained attention for its detailed and articulate responses ... However, a notable drawback has been its tendency to confidently provide inaccurate information".

[Kwasaki]

27 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

I have one who stays in the house which i feed and get to a doctor when needed. Several other wild cats are around the shared garden who take care of themselves but the youngsters die quite often.  

We don't keep pets, family next door has a dog and neighbours have cats, there are some wild ones too so mice and rats never seem to be a problem. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, PattayaKevin said:

I contacted an exterminator and they want 12000 to 15000 baht for a year contract. They don't do anything shorter than a year.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/mousetrap-i3067557725-s11243468489.html

 

I use these, and they work really well, just buy 2-3 and put them down around the areas you see the rats. I just used a crust of bread as bait, and the rat was trapped within 1/2 day. 80bht each.

Edited June 21, 2023 by BritManToo

[PattayaKevin]

36 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/mousetrap-i3067557725-s11243468489.html

 

I use these, and they work really well, just buy 2-3 and put them down around the areas you see the rats. I just used a crust of bread as bait, and the rat was trapped within 1/2 day. 80bht each.

I just ordered a few of that kind to try.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

The rats that come into house ceilings at this time of year are Tree rats, 

not dirty sewer rats ,but they are a nuisance ,chewing wires ,running about

making a noise, 

 

Just caught one in ceiling yesterday  , a wiley little <deleted> ,been trying to

catch him for a week , put the sticky trays up with nuts on , he's been moving

them about ,too clever to get stuck, so put up a wire trap with piece of chicken

for bait ,caught him in half an hour, despatched him to rat heaven , 

 

regards Worgeordie 

If you bait the trap good, not too much of a problem.

A few years back one of the neighbours rented a piece of land the other side of our wall and put up a chicken coop, shortly after we had rats in the roof space. Wife bought a trap and we started catching them and she would take them out and set them free. Seemed to be endless turnover and then one day one got the tail caught in the trap door and bit it off. Wife got rid of it and I couldn't believe it when it reappeared a few days later, we had been trapping the same ones over and over. Apparently they can find their way back some distance, wife started taking them somewhere there was already rats and the numbers stared to decrease. Guy never paid the rent on the land so chicken coop disappeared and been rat free a few years now.

BTW I had put a camera in the roof space with motion activated recording so I could see what was going on.

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, sirineou said:

Chat GPT . When asked  "My house has rats. Whose responsibility is it in Thailand? The tenant or the landlord? "

It replied:

"In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats. This would be outlined in the rental agreement between the tenant and the landlord. It is recommended that you notify your landlord immediately about the rat problem and request their assistance in resolving the issue. "

Chat GPT has no legal status and data isn't updated since 2021, so wouldn't trust that too much.