Rats and Mice in a Wichita Rental: Tenant and Landlord Duties

What the landlord must do under K.S.A. 58-2553

Section 58-2553(a) lists the landlord's maintenance duties. Except when prevented by an act of God, the landlord must:

• Comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety
• Exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of the common areas
• Keep electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning appliances supplied by the landlord in good and safe working order
• Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste, and arrange for their removal, unless a government entity provides them
• Supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat, with some exceptions

For rodents, the first two items matter most. Holes in walls, foundations and floors, broken screens and doors that do not close are building condition problems. Shared basements, laundry rooms, hallways and trash areas are common areas. Rodents moving between units through shared walls and pipe chases are a building problem, not a single-tenant problem.

What the tenant must do under K.S.A. 58-2555

Section 58-2555 sets out the tenant's duties. A tenant must:

• Comply with obligations imposed on tenants by building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety
• Keep the part of the premises the tenant occupies and uses as clean and safe as the condition of the premises permits
• Remove all ashes, rubbish, garbage and other waste from the unit in a clean and safe manner
• Keep plumbing fixtures as clean as their condition permits
• Use electrical, plumbing, heating and other facilities in a reasonable manner
• Be responsible for damage caused by the tenant's act or omission, including damage by people or pets the tenant allows on the premises

Day to day, that means food stored in sealed containers, trash taken out, no piles of clutter or garbage inside, and reporting problems promptly. A rodent problem that grows out of a tenant's own garbage or clutter is harder to pin on the landlord.

Agreements that shift work to the tenant

Section 58-2553 allows some duties to move to the tenant, but with limits. In a building with no more than four households that share common areas, a landlord and tenant can agree in writing that the tenant handles garbage removal and certain repairs, if the agreement is made in good faith and not to dodge the landlord's obligations.

For any unit other than a single-family residence, an agreement for the tenant to do specified repairs or maintenance is valid only if it is in a separate written agreement signed by both sides and supported by adequate consideration, the work is not needed to fix a failure to meet building and housing codes, and it does not reduce the landlord's duties to other tenants.

Single-family home leases often say the tenant handles pest control. Read your lease, and if it assigns rodent control to you, ask whether that covers sealing the building or only trapping.

How to give notice and what remedies exist

Start with written notice. Send the landlord a dated letter or email describing what you have seen, where and since when, and keep a copy. Photos of droppings next to a coin, chewed food and holes help.

Section 58-2559 gives tenants a formal remedy for material noncompliance with the lease or with 58-2553 that materially affects health and safety. The tenant can deliver a written notice that specifies the breaches and says the lease will end on a date at least 30 days after the landlord receives it. If the breach can be fixed by repairs or otherwise, and the landlord makes a good-faith effort to fix it within 14 days of receiving the notice, the lease does not end.

The statute also lets a tenant recover damages and seek an injunction for noncompliance. A tenant cannot use these remedies for a condition the tenant caused, or that was caused by people or animals on the premises with the tenant's permission.

These steps have strict requirements. Talk to a lawyer or a legal aid group before you rely on them.

Wichita housing inspections

If written notice does not get results, a housing complaint to the City of Wichita is the next local step. Housing complaints go to the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department through the city's Report an Issue tool or MABCD's complaint portal. The Wichita Beacon reports that tenants can file complaints about interior code concerns, and that the property owner is generally the responsible party for code violations.

An inspector can cite conditions like holes, broken doors and screens and accumulated trash, and give the owner a deadline to correct them. The reporting guide covers how the process works and what happens if an owner does not act.

If you live outside Wichita city limits, in Derby, Haysville, Andover or another nearby city, contact that city's code enforcement office.

Practical steps for both sides

For tenants:

• Report rodents to the landlord in writing as soon as you see signs
• Keep food in sealed containers and take trash out often
• Do not set out loose poison, especially with kids or pets in the home
• Let the landlord's provider in when access is scheduled

For landlords:

• Respond quickly and in writing, and schedule an inspection
• Treat the whole building when units share walls and pipe chases, not just one unit
• Seal entry points with hard materials, not foam alone
• Keep records of reports, visits and repairs

A building-wide plan usually costs less than months of unit-by-unit trapping. See apartment rodent control for what that involves.

Questions Wichita readers ask

Keep reading

• How to Report Rats or Mice in Wichita and What Happens Next

  Wichita does not run a rat program. Rodent conditions are handled as housing and nuisance complaints by the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department. Here is how to report and what follows.

• Wichita Trash, Weed and Yard Rules That Affect Rats and Mice

  Wichita uses private, city-permitted trash haulers, limits weeds and grass to twelve inches and abates properties with trash and junk. Here is how those rules connect to rodents, plus yard habits that help.

• How Much Does Rodent Control Cost in Wichita?

  National cost guides put a typical rodent job between roughly $150 and $900, with sealing, cleanup and follow-up visits adding to it. None publish Wichita-only numbers, so here is how to read the ranges for a Wichita home.

• All Wichita rodent guides
• Rat and mouse articles