Can You Sell A House With Rodents?
(Last Updated: 19/10/2022)
19/10/2022
8,504
3 min read
With mice being such a common occurrence, this leaves homeowners with a very important question: can you sell a house with rodents?
Do you have to disclose a rat problem when selling a house?
When selling your property, you are liable to disclose any infestation problems to your potential buyers. If the infestation is ongoing, the structural integrity of the house could be compromised, so buyers should be made aware of this risk.
Similarly, if you are buying a house, it is essential you get a home buyers survey. This is a good way to find out if your property has rat and mice infestation - your RICS surveyor has training and years of experience in noticing any tell-tale signs.
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What do you do with a rat infested house?
Professional fees for dealing with rat and mice infestation can cost as much as £500 or more if repeat visits are required. The cost of repairing structural damage - including replacing damaged furniture, clothes and textiles - can be much more, possibly many £1,000s.
If a surveyor finds evidence of rat or mice infestation, the buyer can demand, on average, a 9% reduction in asking price; for an averagely priced property in the UK, this is equivalent to £20,000 and upwards.
A valuer who finds evidence of rat and mice infestation might advise a lender to insist on a specialist report as a condition of the mortgage. A retention can be put on the loan until eradication work is carried out and verified.
How do you prove your house is against mice?
To prove that your house does not have a mice infestation problem, you will need to book a house survey. When valuing a property, a surveyor will make a thorough investigation and will be able to recognize if there is an infestation or not.
Based on their findings, they will be able to refer you to a specialist. When dealing with pest control on your property, you need to be careful with how you proceed.
It is recommended to get the help of an expert, since causing unnecessary harm to an animal can get you fined or even imprisoned. Are you unsure how to proceed? We can help you with that.
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Written by:
Andrew Boast
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Reviewed by:
Caragh Bailey
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
