Council & Housing Association TenantsPest Infestation Compensation Claims
Mice, rats or insects in your home and your landlord keeps telling you it is your problem? If the pests are getting in through a defect in the building, it is not. We help council and housing association tenants in England and Wales. Check where you stand in 60 seconds.
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Signs Of A Pest Problem In A Rented Property
Pests do not appear out of nowhere. They get in through a gap, and in a rented home that gap is almost always a defect your landlord is supposed to have repaired. Holes in the brickwork, gaps around pipes, a broken airbrick, a cracked drain, a rotten door or a hole under the kitchen units are the usual routes in.
This is the problem landlords blame tenants for more than any other. Being told it is down to your cleaning does not change the law. If the building let them in, the building is the repair.
Signs To Look For In Your Home:
Mouse or rat droppings in cupboards or behind units
Scratching or scurrying in the walls, loft or floor
Gnawed food packets, pipes, cables or skirting
Holes in the brickwork, or gaps where pipes enter
Cockroaches or silverfish in the kitchen or bathroom
Bed bugs, fleas or an infestation left by a previous tenant
Wasp or bird nests in the roof, eaves or loft
A strong ammonia or musty smell you cannot trace
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Is Your Landlord Responsible For Pest Control?
It depends on how they got in. If the infestation is down to a defect in the property, a drainage fault, or a problem that was already there when you moved in, it is your landlord's job to deal with it and to seal the way in.
Treating the pests without sealing the entry point is not a repair. If pest control has been out three or four times and they keep coming back, the underlying defect has never been fixed.
Your Landlord Is Usually Responsible For:
Pests getting in through holes, gaps or broken airbricks
An infestation caused by a cracked or blocked drain
An infestation that was there when you moved in
Pests spreading from a communal area, bin store or loft
Pests spreading from a neighbouring property they own
Sealing the entry point, not just laying bait
Repairing the damage the pests have caused
Can I Claim For A Pest Infestation?
You May Have A Claim If:
You rent from a council or housing association
Your home is in England or Wales
You reported the pests and the problem was not resolved
It affected your health or ruined food and belongings
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Who Can Make A Pest Infestation Claim?
We act for council and housing association tenants in England and Wales. If you rent from a private landlord or letting agent, or your home is in Scotland, we are not able to take your claim. Your council's environmental health team and Shelter can both advise you instead.
The one thing to know
Sending pest control round is not the same as doing the repair. If nobody has sealed the hole, gap or broken drain the pests are using, they are likely to keep coming back, and your landlord may still be failing in their duty to repair the building.
Is Pest Control The Landlord's Responsibility?
This is the question most tenants get a wrong answer to. The honest position is that it depends on how the pests got in, and in social housing that usually points back to the landlord.
When it is your landlord's responsibility
- The pests got in through a defect in the building
- The infestation was already there when your tenancy started
- A cracked, blocked or collapsed drain is the source
- The pests are spreading from a communal area or bin store
- The infestation makes the property unfit to live in
- Your tenancy agreement says they will handle pest control
My landlord says the pests are my fault
Landlords very often say an infestation is down to how a tenant keeps the property. Unless you have genuinely caused it, that does not remove their duty to repair the defect the pests are using. A mouse cannot chew through solid brick. It comes in through a hole, and holes are a repair.
If you have been blamed, put your report in writing, photograph the entry points you can see, and ask in writing what the landlord has done to seal them. That written trail is usually the strongest part of a claim.
How Much Compensation For A Pest Infestation?
There is no fixed payout. Compensation is usually made up of two parts.
General damages
This covers the loss of enjoyment of your home. Courts often work it out as a proportion of the rent you paid while the infestation went untreated. Not being able to use your kitchen, or not letting children play on the floor, pushes the proportion higher.
Special damages
This covers money you actually lost. Food you had to throw away, cupboards and furniture that were contaminated, bedding and clothing you had to replace, and anything you paid for yourself in traps, sprays or a private pest controller. Keep every receipt.
If anyone in the household was bitten, or a condition such as asthma was made worse, a personal injury element may also be considered.
What affects the amount
- How long the infestation went untreated
- How severe it was, and what kind of pest
- How many rooms you could not properly use
- Whether children or older people live in the home
- The value of food and belongings you lost
- Whether anyone was bitten or became unwell
- How many times you reported it and were ignored
We cannot tell you what your claim is worth until we have seen your evidence. Every case is different.
Your Landlord's Legal Responsibilities
Several different laws can apply to a pest infestation in social housing, which is part of why landlords get away with passing it back to tenants.
Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
Your landlord must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair. Holes in walls, gaps around pipework, broken airbricks, defective drains and rotten doors are all part of that, and they are the routes pests use to get in.
What landlords often say
“It is down to how you keep the place. Sort out your cleaning and how you store your food and the mice will go.”
What the law says
Where an infestation gets in through a defect in the building, such as gaps, holes, broken drains or general disrepair, that is a repair issue for your landlord. Being blamed does not remove their duty to put the defect right.
Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018
Your home must be fit to live in for the whole of your tenancy. A serious infestation can make a property legally unfit, and you can take your landlord to court directly under this Act.
Fit to live in means what it sounds like. If mice, rats or insects are in your home in numbers that make it unpleasant or unsafe to live there, the property may count as unfit, and you can take your landlord to court about it yourself rather than waiting for someone else to act.
Housing Health and Safety Rating System
Domestic hygiene, pests and refuse is a recognised hazard category under the Housing Act 2004. Your council's environmental health team can inspect the property and require action. If your landlord is the council itself, environmental health cannot serve notice on them, but the Housing Ombudsman can still take up your complaint.
Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949
Councils have a duty to keep their district free of rats and mice so far as is practicable, and you can report an infestation to them. Property owners can be required to take steps to deal with rodents on their land.
Statutory nuisance
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, an infestation that is prejudicial to health can be a statutory nuisance. This route can be used even where the landlord is the council, though it is worth taking advice before starting it.
What to do if your landlord will not deal with the pests
Awaab's Law deadlines
24 hours
Where an infestation has made the home unsafe, that is an emergency hazard and must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours.
30 Nov 2026
Domestic hygiene hazards, which cover infestations, come under Awaab's Law from 30 November 2026.
Reasonable time
Where pests are getting in through a defect in the building, Section 11 already requires that repair within a reasonable time.
- Report it in writing by email, letter or the tenant portal, and keep a copy
- Photograph the pests, the droppings, the damage and any holes or gaps
- Ask in writing what has been done to seal the entry point, not just to bait
- Keep a diary of every visit, who attended and what they actually did
- Keep receipts for food you binned and anything you had to replace
- Report it to your council's environmental health or pest control team
- Make a formal complaint through your landlord's complaints procedure
- Escalate to the Housing Ombudsman once that complaints process is exhausted
- Get free legal advice about a housing disrepair claim
How To Make A Pest Infestation Claim
From your first enquiry to getting repairs done and compensation paid, here's what to expect.
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1
Complete Our Form
Fill in your details so we can confirm eligibility and understand your situation.
2
Share Your Evidence
Send us photos, videos, and any messages you've sent to your landlord about the issues.
3
Letter of Claim
Your solicitor sends a formal claim to your landlord, starting the legal process.
4
Property Inspection
An independent surveyor inspects the property to assess and document the disrepair.
5
Repairs & Compensation
Your landlord arranges the necessary repairs and you receive any compensation you are owed.
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Pest Infestation Claims: Frequently Asked Questions
Usually, yes, where the pests are getting in through a defect in the building. Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 your landlord must keep the structure and exterior in repair, and that includes the holes, gaps, broken airbricks and defective drains pests use to get in. If the infestation was there when you moved in, or is coming from a communal area, that is also their responsibility.