Landlord refusing HVAC duct cleaning after a dead mouse

[Shinna]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I will greatly appreciate advice what to do in the following situation.
I moved into a townhouse in March 2020. The landlord won’t let me know the date of the last time the HVAC ducts and furnace were cleaned in the house. On 21-OCT-2021, I found a dead mouse in the furnace while changing a filter. I asked the landlord to schedule the pest control service, as well as HVAC ducts and furnace cleaning. The landlord agrees to the pest control service and says that she will think about the HVAC ducts cleaning only after the pest control inspection to make sure mice don’t have point of entry to the house. I’m concerned that if the cleaning isn’t done ASAP I’m wasting time and risk breathing contaminated air as a mouse was already inside the vent system and started decomposing there.
I was wondering if there are any regulations or requirements as how often the HVAC ducts should be cleaned, and whether a dead animal inside the furnace is a trigger for an ad-Hoc cleaning.
Thank you for the help!

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I will greatly appreciate advice what to do in the following situation.
I moved into a townhouse in March 2020. The landlord won’t let me know the date of the last time the HVAC ducts and furnace were cleaned in the house. On 21-OCT-2021, I found a dead mouse in the furnace while changing a filter. I asked the landlord to schedule the pest control service, as well as HVAC ducts and furnace cleaning. The landlord agrees to the pest control service and says that she will think about the HVAC ducts cleaning only after the pest control inspection to make sure mice don’t have point of entry to the house. I’m concerned that if the cleaning isn’t done ASAP I’m wasting time and risk breathing contaminated air as a mouse was already inside the vent system and started decomposing there.
I was wondering if there are any regulations or requirements as how often the HVAC ducts should be cleaned, and whether a dead animal inside the furnace is a trigger for an ad-Hoc cleaning.
Thank you for the help!

Does your lease address HVAC duct cleaning?

Here is a link to Pennsylvania’s Law Help Organization with an overview on what tenants must do if they wish to deduct from their rent any eligible repairs:

https://www.palawhelp.org/resource/deduct-repair-tenants-right-to-a-safe-and-dec

It appears from what you have said that the landlord currently is taking appropriate action and has not ruled out duct cleaning after receiving the inspection report from pest control.

Here is a link to the CDC on the possible risk of airborne transmission of hantavirus:

https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/technical/hanta/airborne-transmission.html

 

[FarmerJ]

you said it was dead so was it fresh dead or dead and dehydrated ? Your LL is correct in a plan of addressing it by making sure that more didnt get in and closing routes in to the unit. Allow your landlord to address this and monitor for further problems and try to keep your communications to the LL about this in writing sent via certificate of mailing or confirmed mail delivery and staple your postal receipt to your copy of the letter (s) for your records.

 

[STEPHAN]

How did the mice get into the ducts? Is there damage?

 

[zddoodah]

I was wondering if there are any regulations or requirements as how often the HVAC ducts should be cleaned, and whether a dead animal inside the furnace is a trigger for an ad-Hoc cleaning.

There are no laws on this.

 

[quincy]

There are no laws on this.

Well ... there is the warranty of habitability that is a legal duty imposed on all landlords. This warranty of habitability includes a duty of the landlord to provide a safe and sanitary living space for his tenants, free of pest infestations.

Although it appears to me, from what has been said, that Shinna’s landlord is addressing the dead-mouse-in-the-duct situation quickly and adequately, Shinna can contact the local code enforcement office to see if what is being done by the landlord is enough to ensure a safe living environment.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

One dead mouse/rat doesn't make the place uninhabitable. If it did most of NYC would be classified as such.

 

[AlmostThere]

One dead mouse/rat doesn't make the place uninhabitable. If it did most of NYC would be classified as such.

As well as most rural homes, and a good perecentage of suburban homes.

 

[Shinna]

There are no laws on this.

Well ... there is the warranty of habitability that is a legal duty imposed on all landlords. This warranty of habitability includes a duty of the landlord to provide a safe and sanitary living space for his tenants, free of pest infestations.

Although it appears to me, from what has been said, that Shinna’s landlord is addressing the dead-mouse-in-the-duct situation quickly and adequately, Shinna can contact the local code enforcement office to see if what is being done by the landlord is enough to ensure a safe living environment.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Shinna]

How did the mice get into the ducts? Is there damage?

I don’t know how it got there. The furnace front door is always closed. It could have been through the attic. The pest control service said they won’t inspect the attic though.

 

[Shinna]

you said it was dead so was it fresh dead or dead and dehydrated ? Your LL is correct in a plan of addressing it by making sure that more didnt get in and closing routes in to the unit. Allow your landlord to address this and monitor for further problems and try to keep your communications to the LL about this in writing sent via certificate of mailing or confirmed mail delivery and staple your postal receipt to your copy of the letter (s) for your records.

The mouse was freshly dead and started decomposing. In my understanding a dead mouse inside the furnace was a trigger for an ad-hoc cleaning of the ducts. The landlord refuses to schedule this cleaning and repeatedly ignores my question when the ducts and vents were cleaned last time. Based on the copy of the service log no maintenance works were done to AC or Heat after 2018. Neither can I see any record of cleaning the system since the lig started in 2011.

 

[Zigner]

The mouse was freshly dead and started decomposing. In my understanding a dead mouse inside the furnace was a trigger for an ad-hoc cleaning of the ducts. The landlord refuses to schedule this cleaning and repeatedly ignores my question when the ducts and vents were cleaned last time. Based on the copy of the service log no maintenance works were done to AC or Heat after 2018. Neither can I see any record of cleaning the system since the lig started in 2011.

Doesn't matter.

 

[Shinna]

Does your lease address HVAC duct cleaning?

Here is a link to Pennsylvania’s Law Help Organization with an overview on what tenants must do if they wish to deduct from their rent any eligible repairs:

https://www.palawhelp.org/resource/deduct-repair-tenants-right-to-a-safe-and-dec

It appears from what you have said that the landlord currently is taking appropriate action and has not ruled out duct cleaning after receiving the inspection report from pest control.

Here is a link to the CDC on the possible risk of airborne transmission of hantavirus:

https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/technical/hanta/airborne-transmission.html

Thank you! The links are helpful!

 

[quincy]

I don’t know how it got there. The furnace front door is always closed. It could have been through the attic. The pest control service said they won’t inspect the attic though.

If there are mice in a given area, these mice will find a way to get into a residence. They do not need much of an opening at all.

I have for years lived in farmhouses surrounded by fields and field mice have always overwintered in my houses, despite my best efforts to seal off entry points and control the indoor mouse population. My suburban and urban friends have mice residents, as well.

We avoid the use of chemicals like D-Con because of our young children and pets. Our most satisfactory mouse deterrent has been having cats (although, admittedly, our cats prefer torturing the poor mice by swatting them back and forth like a toy rather than killing them).

As a note, mice can have 10 or more mouse babies every month, and these baby mice can start having their own mouse babies within a very short period of time.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

The pest control service said they won’t inspect the attic though.

Then they are likely wasting their time coming out.