Where to Report a Mice Infestation in Canada: Landlords, Cities and Health Inspectors

Where Do You Report a Mice Infestation First?

A mice infestation in a rental home is reported first to your landlord or property manager, who has to arrange and pay for the treatment. Cities and tenancy boards expect you to have asked the landlord before they step in. Homeowners usually have no one to report their own house to, but they can report a neighbouring property.

Renters

Renters report mice to the landlord, who has a legal duty to deal with them. Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board states that a landlord "must also take steps to control pests such as cockroaches and mice." Alberta Health Services says your landlord must, by law, keep the home pest-free and hire a professional as needed, and Montreal's regional public health office says the landlord must hire a licensed exterminator and pay the costs. For a closer look at who pays in each situation, read about mice in a rental property.

Apartment Buildings

Apartment buildings often have a set reporting process, so use it. In Ottawa, the Rental Housing Property Management By-law (No. 2020-255) requires landlords to keep an integrated pest management plan with a reporting process for suspected infestations and standing treatment plans for mice and rats, and to re-inspect treated areas after treatment. Ontario's maintenance standards (O. Reg. 517/06, s. 46) also require a residential complex to be kept reasonably free of rodents, with openings screened or sealed to keep them out. Mention any activity you see in hallways, the laundry room or the garbage room as well.

Homeowners

Homeowners deal with mice in their own house themselves or through a licensed pest control professional, since no agency takes reports about an owner-occupied home. You can get a quote from a recommended local exterminator through Pest Agent's referral form. If the mice come from a neglected neighbouring property, the city's property standards office is usually the place to report it: Toronto's property standards (Chapter 629), for example, require properties to be kept free of pests, including rodents, whether they are rented or owner occupied.

How Do You Report a Mice Infestation to Your Landlord?

Reporting a mice infestation to your landlord works best as a dated written request with photos that you keep on file. The Landlord and Tenant Board says the first thing a tenant should usually do is ask the landlord, in writing, to fix the problem. Written proof is also what a city inspector or a tribunal will ask to see later.

Write the Request

A written request can be an email, a letter or the building's maintenance or work order form. Say where you saw mice or droppings (the steps in how to find mice in your house help you name the right spots), since when, and ask for a licensed pest control professional to inspect and treat the unit. Keep a copy, and log every call or conversation with the date and time, as the University of Toronto's student housing office recommends.

Evidence of Mice

Evidence of mice makes the request hard to ignore. Take dated photos of droppings, gnaw marks on food packages or baseboards, nesting material and any live or dead mice, and note the rooms where you found them.

The signs of mice are easy to miss at first, so check behind the stove, under the sink and inside the lower cupboards before you write.

Rent Payments

Rent should keep being paid in full while you wait. The Landlord and Tenant Board warns that a tenant should not withhold any part of the rent and that a landlord may apply to evict when rent is not paid on time. Montreal's public health guidance says the same for Quebec. Ontario and Quebec tenants who apply to the tribunal may be able to ask to pay their rent to the tribunal instead until the case is decided.

Your Part During Treatment

Tenants are expected to cooperate once treatment is booked. In Ontario, the landlord generally must give written notice at least 24 hours before entering, with an entry time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and you must prepare the unit and give access. A unit so dirty that it attracts pests can in some cases be grounds for eviction, according to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Our checklist on how to prepare for a mouse exterminator covers what to clear and store before the visit.

Where Can You Report a Landlord for Mice?

Reporting a landlord for mice goes to your city's property standards or bylaw office and to your province's tenancy board, or to public health in Alberta. Each office acts on a different power: the city can inspect and order work, while the board can order repairs, reduce your rent or end the lease.

Ontario

Ontario tenants can report the problem to their municipality, apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board, or do both. The municipality can inspect, issue a work order with a deadline, take the landlord to court or, in some cases, do the work itself and add the cost to the landlord's property taxes. At the board, you usually file a Tenant Application about Maintenance (Form T6) and bring copies of your evidence: printed photos, your written requests, your log of calls and any municipal work orders. The board may order the treatment, grant a rent abatement, order the landlord to pay for damage to your belongings or end the tenancy, and it answers questions at 1-888-332-3234.

Toronto

Toronto tenants submit a written service request to the landlord, then contact 311 (or email 311@toronto.ca) if nothing happens within a reasonable time. A Bylaw Enforcement Officer investigates and can order the owner to correct violations. Under the RentSafeTO program, which generally covers apartment buildings with 3 or more storeys and 10 or more units, the owner must answer non-urgent requests such as rodents within 7 days. Condos, townhomes and units in a private home are not part of RentSafeTO, but the general property standards still apply.

Quebec

Quebec tenants who get no response can send the landlord a formal notice (mise en demeure) by registered mail, with a deadline to act. In Montreal, the next step is to call 311 to reach the borough's permits and inspections division, whose building inspector visits and contacts the owner. At the same time, you can file with the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), which can order the work, award damages, reduce the rent or end the lease. The comité logement in your neighbourhood can help you through each step.

British Columbia

British Columbia landlords must keep rentals in line with the health, safety and housing standards required by law (section 32 of the Residential Tenancy Act), and pest infestations generally fall on them. Notify the landlord in writing first. If they refuse to act within a reasonable time, apply for a repair order through the Residential Tenancy Branch's dispute resolution service, where you can also ask for a rent reduction until the problem is fixed. Many BC cities also have a Standards of Maintenance bylaw and may send a bylaw officer to inspect.

Alberta

Alberta tenants whose landlord does not fix a pest problem can call Alberta Health Services' Safe Healthy Environments contact centre at 1-833-476-4743. Public health inspectors enforce the Minimum Housing and Health Standards, which generally require the owner to keep rental housing free of insect and rodent infestations. In serious cases, inspectors have declared homes with a mouse infestation closed for tenant accommodation and ordered the owner to hire a licensed pest control operator.

Other Provinces

Other provinces follow the same pattern: a written request to the landlord, then the municipal bylaw or property standards office, then the provincial residential tenancy office. Call your city's information line or the tenancy office before you file, since forms and deadlines differ from one province to the next.

Where Do You Report Mice in a Restaurant or Grocery Store?

Mice in a restaurant or grocery store are reported to the local public health unit, whose inspectors check food premises and follow up on public complaints. In Ontario, the Food Premises regulation (O. Reg. 493/17) requires every food premise to be protected against the entry of pests. Toronto Public Health handles rodent complaints about food businesses through its DineSafe program. Give the business name and address, the date and time, and what you saw (live mice, droppings or chewed packages), plus a photo if you have one.

What Should You Do While You Wait for Action?

While you wait for the landlord or an inspector, clean droppings safely and cut off the food that keeps mice in your unit. These steps lower the health risk without getting in the way of the professional treatment.

Safe Droppings Cleanup

Droppings cleanup needs care, since hantavirus spreads when people breathe in particles from the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents. The Government of Alberta recommends airing the room for at least 30 minutes and wearing rubber gloves. Soak droppings and nests with 1 part bleach to 9 parts water for 10 minutes before wiping them up, as the Public Health Agency of Canada advises. Never sweep or vacuum droppings. The full method is in our guide to cleaning mouse droppings.

Food Sources

Food sources are what keep mice coming back to a kitchen. Move cereal, grains, snacks and pet food into hard sealed containers, wipe up crumbs at night and take the garbage out often. The list of what attracts mice to your house shows what else to remove.

Store-Bought Poisons

Store-bought poisons are best left on the shelf in a rental. Montreal's public health office advises tenants not to try to solve the problem themselves, since over-the-counter products can interfere with the exterminator's work, and the US EPA warns that misused rat and mouse poisons can harm you, your children or your pets, so always read and follow the label. If you want to catch mice in the meantime, the steps in how to get rid of mice explain how to use traps.

For everything else about these rodents, Pest Agent's mice guides cover identification, prevention and treatment.