Pest control and service charges in a London block usually divide along one line: the lease. Treatment of the common parts is normally the freeholder's or managing agent's job and normally recoverable through the service charge, while treatment inside your own flat is normally yours. Where the pests actually are decides which bill lands on your mat. The lease decides who pays for pest control in a leasehold block, and nothing else settles it. Most long residential leases in London split the building in two: the demise, which is the flat let to the leaseholder, and the retained or common parts, which the freeholder keeps and maintains. Pest treatment follows that split: work in the common parts is normally the freeholder's or managing agent's responsibility and recoverable through the service charge, because the lease permits recovery of the cost of managing those parts, while work inside the demise is normally the leaseholder's cost. Two qualifications matter. First, the service charge clause has to cover it, and a narrowly drafted clause may not stretch as far as the managing agent assumes. Second, the freeholder's repairing covenant sits alongside the pest work: if rats are entering through a defective shared drain or a broken airbrick in a retained wall, the repair is the freeholder's obligation and the treatment is the consequence of it. The demise boundary decides the bill because mice in a riser cupboard and mice in a kitchen unit are two different jobs with two different payers. Anything outside the demise is retained, and that line runs through places nobody thinks about until there is a problem: In mansion blocks in Kensington and Chelsea, with large basements and continuous risers serving stacked flats, mouse activity reported in one kitchen is often a riser population feeding at several floors. The survey has to establish where the population lives before anyone allocates the cost. Two limits control what a freeholder can charge to the service charge: the cost must be one the lease allows to be recovered, and it must have been reasonably incurred. A service charge is an amount payable by a tenant for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements, insurance or the landlord's costs of management, and the recoverable costs are the ones actually incurred rather than the ones budgeted for. The reasonableness limit matters most, and it has two halves: costs are recoverable only to the extent that they were reasonably incurred, and where they pay for services or works, only if those are of a reasonable standard. That does not mean the cheapest quote wins, but it does mean the cost has to be justifiable when a leaseholder asks. A block paying for a monthly bin-store visit that has never controlled the rats, with no reports and no proofing acted on, has a reasonable-standard argument to make. A block-wide pest control contract triggers consultation once it runs for more than 12 months and any one leaseholder's contribution would exceed £100 in an accounting period, because it is then a qualifying long-term agreement. A landlord must follow a formal consultation procedure before entering into such an agreement, and separately before carrying out qualifying works where any one leaseholder's contribution would exceed £250. Failing to consult can limit recovery to those thresholds unless the First-tier Tribunal grants dispensation. Block contracts are routinely signed for two or three years to get a better monthly rate. A leaseholder who receives a consultation notice about one should treat it as the one clear opportunity to comment on scope, visit frequency and reporting, because those terms bind the block for the contract's length. Location is the practical test, so map the problem before arguing about the invoice. A leaseholder who thinks a pest control charge is unreasonable has two routes, and the first is paperwork. A leaseholder can require a written summary of the relevant costs behind the service charge, and can then ask for facilities to inspect the accounts, receipts and supporting documents that sit behind it. For pest control that means the contract, the visit reports and the invoices. The second route is the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), which can determine whether a service charge is payable and whether the costs were reasonably incurred. Raise it in writing with the agent first, because many pest control disputes are really disputes about missing reports. A block-wide programme is usually cheaper per flat because one mouse population served by shared voids does not respect flat boundaries, and treating a single flat inside it treats a symptom. Mice travel along risers, subfloors and pipe runs, so a flat treated in isolation is repopulated from the shared void, and the leaseholder pays twice. A programme across the whole building sets bait and monitors at the population's actual harbourage, proofs the shared entry routes, and spreads the fixed cost of attendance across every flat. 247 Pest Control publishes mice control from £214 as a starting point for a straightforward domestic treatment, and names pest type, property size, infestation level, visits needed, treatment method, access and urgency among the variables that move a figure. A block can usually get an initial inspection far sooner than it can get a treatment programme agreed and authorised. 247 Pest Control states that same-day attendance is available across London and that it responds to emergency enquiries 24/7, while noting that attendance time cannot be identical for every call. An attending technician confirms the species, recommends the treatment the property needs, and gives the earliest date it can be booked. The visit establishes where the population sits relative to the demise boundary, which decides who instructs the work and who pays, and the treatment date then follows from the survey and from whatever authority the agent needs to commit service charge money. Turnaround in a block is rarely limited by the contractor and almost always by the authorisation, which is why an agent who can commit spend inside the day gets a riser treated weeks sooner than one waiting on a directors' meeting. Six documents settle almost every argument about pest control and service charges in a London block: Ask in writing and keep the reply. A block that can produce all six has a defensible charge; one that can produce none has an argument on its hands. Normally no, unless the lease specifically allows it. A service charge covers the landlord's relevant costs for services, repairs, maintenance and management, which points at the retained and common parts rather than the inside of one demised flat. Where a block-wide programme includes internal flat visits in its scope the position can differ, and the lease wording governs. Usually yes. An agreement lasting more than 12 months is a qualifying long-term agreement, and it requires formal consultation with leaseholders where any one leaseholder's contribution would exceed £100 in an accounting period. Failure to consult can restrict what the freeholder recovers to that threshold, unless the First-tier Tribunal grants dispensation, so ask to see the notice. Where the population sits in a retained riser, treating the riser is normally the freeholder's cost and normally recoverable through the service charge, while anything inside your flat is normally yours. The difficulty is proving where the population sits, which is why the contractor's report identifying the harbourage resolves the argument. Withholding payment is risky, because arrears carry their own consequences under the lease. The safer route is to pay under protest and challenge the charge, using your right to require a summary of the relevant costs and, if needed, an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Take advice on your own lease before withholding anything.Pest Control and Service Charges in a London Block: Who Pays for What?
Who pays for pest control in a leasehold block?
Why does the demise boundary decide the bill?
What limits what a freeholder can charge to the service charge?
When does a block-wide pest control contract trigger consultation?
Where are the pests, and who normally pays?
Where the pests are
Who normally pays
Recoverable through the service charge
What to check in the lease
Bin store, refuse chute, communal yard
Freeholder or managing agent
Normally yes
That the bin store is listed as a common part
Communal riser, service duct, shared boxing
Freeholder or managing agent
Normally yes
The demise plan, and where the boundary sits
Roof void or loft above the top floor
Usually the freeholder, sometimes the top-floor leaseholder
Normally yes where retained
Whether the roof void is demised with the flat
Inside a flat: kitchen units, cupboards, furniture
The leaseholder
Normally no
Whether internal voids are inside the demise
Shared drains within the site boundary
Usually the freeholder
Normally yes
Note that many sewers and lateral drains transferred to water companies in 2011
How can a leaseholder challenge a pest control service charge?
Why is a block-wide programme usually cheaper per flat than treating one flat?
How quickly can a block get someone out, and what happens at that visit?
What should you ask the managing agent for?
Frequently asked questions
Can a freeholder charge leaseholders for treating one flat?
Does a three-year pest control contract need leaseholder consultation?
Who pays if mice are entering my flat from the communal riser?
Can I refuse to pay the pest control part of my service charge?