“Dear PoPville,
I wanted to ask for advice from longterm DMV residents who might know a thing or two about waging a war against both rats and corporate landlords. I live in an apartment building that has an ongoing rat infestation; our community message board is blowing up with posts from tenants on every floor (in a ten-story building!) talking about dealing with rats in their apartments and in community spaces. We’ve had posts about rats scratching in the walls at night, chewing holes through the walls, being sighted in apartments and common spaces like the laundry room, gym, and elevators, coming up through sinks and chewing through rubber gaskets (!), even posts about rats getting stuck in the AC units, dying, and then rotting. Our management’s response has been tepid at best. Back in May,
they sent an initial email to say that they were aware of the problem and that treatment is ongoing and tenants should be patient. They sent maintenance to the apartments of people who complained and patched holes; they also punched holes in walls where scratching had been reported, pumped poison powder into the walls, and sealed them back up again, the goal being that the rats would get coated in the poison, die in the walls, and decompose. Not ideal, but okay, if it solves the problem.
It has not solved the problem. As I said, it’s been a month since this initial push and the infestation seems to be getting worse. Management has also gone dead quiet about the issue and despite numerous postings on the community message board, they have provided no follow-up emails about what they’re continuing to do to treat the problem, how they propose to prevent it in future, or what tenants should do in the meantime. They are also slow to respond to some of the issues people have been having; one person reported that they lived for two weeks (!!) with black flies in their apartment while a rat rotted away in their AC unit and management didn’t send anyone to help dispose of the body or replace the unit. Management has also stopped responding to emergency maintenance calls about rats because they claim rats don’t fall under the category of an emergency.
Before anyone starts, I KNOW. This is downtown DC and rats are plentiful. I could live with encountering the occasional rat in the building’s courtyard or in the garage. But to have them widespread throughout the building, in the walls, in people’s apartments, dying in the AC units, is, in my very humble opinion, beyond what any tenant should have to put up with.
So- what should we tenants of this building do? Band together and call a housing lawyer? Ask for a housing inspection? I’m not sure withholding rent is a good idea but I’m open to the concept if it gets management to solve this problem.“