Pests information sheet

A pest infestation in your home can be extremely distressing and can be difficult for landlords to resolve. Pests can include:

• bed bugs
• cockroaches
• flies and fleas
• rats and mice

You should tell your landlord as soon as possible if you see signs of an infestation in your home. This could include:

• droppings, footprints, or odour
• noises
• damage to property or belongings

Check if anything in your home is encouraging pests, for example uncovered bins or food left out.

Contact your landlord straight away to report a pest infestation or potential infestation in your home. You should:

• report any outstanding repairs – for example cracks in walls or floors, missing roof tiles, broken doors, windows, or pipes where pests may enter
• ask your landlord who is responsible
• tell your landlord about any impact on your health, damage to belongings, or support needed
• report signs of a pest problem in communal areas

Contact your local authority’s environmental health department if the pest infestation is coming from a private property.

Your landlord should have a policy for treating and responding to a pest infestation. Whether a landlord is responsible for treating pest infestations may depend on where the infestation is coming from or the cause.

Your landlord should have a published policy that explains how they will respond. This could include:

• clearly setting out who is responsible for treating the pest infestation
• carry out any required repairs
• arrange a visit or inspection from pest control or involve the local environment health team
• provide an action plan or update during any works

Find out more about how landlords should respond to reports of pests.

Landlord expectations 

Reporting pests is a service request. This is different from making a complaint about your landlord.

People often call both ‘a complaint’, but they are different.

You can complain if you’re unhappy with how your landlord has handled your service request.

A complaint might be about:

• the level of investigation or action taken by the landlord
• the time it took the landlord to investigate or respond
• any action it should not have done, or you are unhappy with

To do this, you must use your landlord's formal complaint procedure.

Help from your local council

If your landlord does not respond to your report of pests, you can get advice from your local authority’s pest control team and ask for an inspection.

In some cases, the council will tell your landlord to fix the issue. However, councils cannot use enforcement powers against themselves. If you’re a council tenant speak to your landlord and discuss your options.

Landlords' response to formal complaints

Your landlord must reply to a complaint in line with its complaint procedure. Our Complaint Handling Code sets out the timescales a landlord must respond to a complaint.

Stage 1:

• acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
• respond, in writing, within 10 working days of the date the complaint was acknowledged

Stage 2:

• acknowledge a request to escalate the complaint within 5 working days of it being received
• respond, in writing, within 20 working days of the escalation request being acknowledged

You can bring a complaint to us for investigation if your landlord does not resolve your issues through their complaint procedure.

Tell us:

• what went wrong
• what your landlord should do to put things right

We need your landlord's stage 2 response before we can help. This is their final answer to your complaint.

You can refer your complaint to us within 12 months of your landlord's stage 2 response. We’re unlikely to investigate complaints referred after this deadline unless there are good reasons for the delay.

Help if your landlord does not reply to your complaint

We can help you get a response from your landlord if they do not follow their complaint procedure or our Complaint Handling Code.

Send us a copy of the complaint you raised to your landlord. This helps us understand if your landlord follows its complaint procedure.

The easiest way to do this is by using our helpful online form. The form will ask you about your complaint and you can upload supporting evidence.

Online complaint form

You can also phone, email, or write to us.

The British Pest Control Association (BPCA)

Pests and infestations - Shelter England