Pest control turns up at three points in a property's life: when a tenant moves out, when the owner sells, and when a landlord gets a property ready for the next tenant. The jobs overlap but the reasons differ, so here they are one at a time.
Moving out of a rental
Most Queensland leases ask the tenant to leave the property in the condition it was in at the start, fair wear and tear aside. Where pets have been kept, the lease usually requires a flea treatment at the end of the tenancy, and many property managers ask for a general pest treatment as well. Check your lease and your entry condition report, then ask the property manager exactly what they want and whether they need a receipt or a certificate.
- Timing: book the treatment after the furniture is out and the carpets are cleaned, and before the exit inspection. Fleas live in carpet and bedding, so treating an empty, clean home is what works.
- Paperwork: we give you a receipt that names the property, the date and the treatment, which is what a property manager needs to sign off the bond.
- Fleas without pets: fleas can arrive with visiting animals or be left over from a previous tenant. If you are seeing them, they need treating regardless of what the lease says.
See end of lease pest control for what the treatment covers and how fast we can turn it around.
Selling a home
A buyer's building and pest inspection is the point where pests cost sellers money. Evidence of termites, live or old, rodent activity in the roof, or a cockroach problem in the kitchen gives a buyer a reason to renegotiate or walk away. Dealing with it before the home is listed is far cheaper than dealing with it in a contract.
- Get your own termite inspection first. A written report with photos tells you what a buyer's inspector will find. If it is clear, it is a selling point; if it is not, you can treat on your own timetable. A termite inspection starts from $225.
- Treat what is there. A general pest treatment before the photos and the first open home means no webs on the eaves, no ants in the kitchen and no cockroaches surprising a buyer.
- Keep the records. Reports and receipts from past inspections and treatments, kept in a folder, answer the questions a buyer and their solicitor will ask.
Getting a property ready for a tenant
A landlord has to provide a property that is clean and fit to live in at the start of the lease, and a property with a pest problem on day one is a dispute waiting to happen. A general pest treatment between tenants, and a flea treatment where the previous tenant had pets, is the usual routine, with the receipt kept on the file for the entry condition report.
Property managers who look after a number of homes often put them on a yearly program instead, so every property has a current treatment and a record of it. We do that for agencies across Toowoomba; see commercial and real estate pest control.
Who pays?
- End of lease flea or pest treatment: the tenant, where the lease requires it.
- Pre-sale inspection and treatment: the seller.
- Treatment between tenancies, and routine yearly treatments: the landlord, usually through the property manager.
- Termite treatment found during a sale: negotiated between buyer and seller; having your own report first puts you in a better position.
How to get it done quickly
Tell us the date you need it by, whether it is a flea treatment, a general pest treatment or a termite inspection, and whether anyone is living there. Exit inspections and settlements have fixed dates, and we work to them. Razor Pest Control has done end of lease, pre-sale and between-tenancy work across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs since 2012, and the paperwork comes with the job.