Does My Landlord Have to Approve a Cat for Mousing?

If you rent a home and you’ve found signs of mice, then the first thing you probably did was call your landlord to try and find a solution. Maybe your landlord called an exterminator and the one they chose wasn’t available soon enough, or maybe you’re stuck in a rental situation where your landlord just doesn’t seem to be that interested in keeping your home pest-free. What are your options?

Chicago building code does state that the owner or operator of the building is responsible for pest control. Not only must they comply with the requirements of this code, but it also states that they must maintain a clean and safe condition in the shared or public areas of your building.

If this wasn’t done properly and pests have infested the common areas of your building, the landlord is responsible for hiring exterminators to get rid of mice (or any other pests). If there are mice in more than one dwelling (say, yours and your neighbor’s) then they must take care of the exterminator fees for the individual spaces.

Some people wonder about getting a cat for mousing. Sometimes, people even hire cats by the week or month to get rid of cats in their homes! If your landlord has stipulations on pets, specifically cats, you will have to get this mousing cat approved since there are other options, such as pest exterminators. But you could always bring up the option of getting a cat specifically for your building—that could help your landlord out a lot and benefit everyone living in your apartment complex! Talk to your landlord about why you feel that a mousing cat would be a good option and see if there’s a way you could have a clause in the rental agreement for mousing-specific cats.

Alternatively, if you want to hire your own exterminator in Chicago, Mice Mob is here to help! We’ll be out to your place ASAP and can not only get the mice out of your rental, but we can help you get set up to prevent more rodents from coming back the next time around.

If your landlord is looking for a good exterminator (one who will come out and get the job done more quickly), you can pass our information on to them, too, so we can help the other people in your building or neighborhood.