Landlord & Tenant: AVVO Answer on Terminating the Lease Due to Mice.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | April 24, 2009

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

A tenant from Pittsburgh wants to know whether he/she can terminate a residential lease due to rodent infestation. Read the question and my answer on AVVO.

In a large apartment building, you can be extremely careful and never get rid of vermin. The feeding ground may be somewhere in the building out of your control. Don’t let the landlord blame you the tenant if you know you are not creating the problem. Still, if you wish to terminate the lease, be prepared to fight about it in court if the landlord sues you for back rent. This may involve more than a trip to the Magistrate. The loser has the right to appeal to arbitration and even to court. Whether you wish to undertake this risk may depend upon whether the lease states that you must pay the landlord’s attorney’s fees if you lose.

Good luck!

CLT

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Subscribe to our feed